Wedding Audio Visual — Sound, Screens and the Person Running Them

What the category actually covers

An audio visual professional is responsible for making sound and image reach people who are not standing next to the source. At most weddings that means four separate problems: the ceremony, where two people speak quietly outdoors into wind; the toasts, where nervous people hold a microphone at chest height and turn away from it; any playback, from a slideshow to a video message from someone who could not travel; and the background music before a band or DJ takes over.

Those are different problems with different equipment. A ceremony needs a small, discreet system and usually a lapel or headset microphone. A toast needs a handheld with a forgiving pickup pattern and someone watching the level. A slideshow needs a screen positioned where half the room is not looking at the back of it.

Your venue's system is probably not enough, and the reason is boring

Most venues have speakers. Very few venues have a system designed for speech in a room full of soft bodies and hard surfaces. The ceiling-mounted system that plays dinner music perfectly will turn a best man into a wash of consonants, because music tolerates reverberation and speech does not.

Ask the venue three concrete questions rather than the general one. What is the system rated for in this specific room, at this guest count, with the room dressed? Does it cover the ceremony location, or only the reception space? And is there a physical input a musician or officiant can plug into, or does everything route through a locked cabinet only staff can open? The third answer is the one that produces last-minute panic.

Microphones: the choices that matter

For vows, a lapel microphone on the officiant picks up both parties reasonably well if they stand close, but it also picks up a necklace, a lapel pin, and the rustle of a jacket. A headset is less pretty and much more consistent. A stand microphone between the couple is the most reliable and the least invisible in photographs — which is a genuine trade-off, not a technical one, and worth deciding on purpose rather than discovering in the aisle.

For toasts, a handheld with a windscreen forgives more than anything else. Ask whether there is a spare on a stand nearby, because the single most common toast failure is not a dead microphone; it is one person walking off with the only one.

Drop-off versus a technician on site

Plenty of companies will deliver equipment, set it up, and leave. That is legitimate and cheaper, and it is fine for background music. It is a poor fit for any moment where a failure is unrecoverable: if feedback starts during the vows and nobody at the event knows which knob stops it, the answer is that nobody stops it.

If you go without a technician, decide in advance who owns the equipment on the day. Not the couple. Not a parent. Someone who has physically touched the system before guests arrive, knows where the mute is, and has the delivery company's phone number in their hand.

What to tell them about your venue

Nearly every quoting question is about the room and the schedule. Where is the ceremony and where is the reception, and are they the same space turned over? Is any part outdoors, and is there power there or does it need a generator or a battery system? What are the ceiling height and the surfaces — glass, stone, and wood behave very differently. Is there a noise curfew or a decibel limit written into the venue contract, because that is a hard constraint that changes the whole design. How many guests, and how many people will speak.

Send those details once and the quotes you get back will be comparable. Send only a date and a guest count and you will get five numbers that mean five different things. If you would rather describe the room once and let audio visual professionals respond, you can post the details on Provow.

Audio/Visual — Common Questions

What does an audio visual professional handle that a DJ or band does not?

A DJ or band brings enough equipment to do their own job in the space they occupy. An audio visual professional is responsible for sound and image across the whole event, including the parts the entertainment is not present for. Ceremony sound in a different location, microphones for readings and toasts, a screen for a slideshow, playback of a recorded message, and coverage in a cocktail area or a room the band is not playing to are all outside a typical performance setup. Some DJs will cover the ceremony as an add-on; ask specifically rather than assuming it is included.

How do I know whether my venue's in-house sound system is enough?

Ask what the system was designed for. A system installed for background music in a dressed room is rarely adequate for quiet speech at the same guest count, because reverberation that flatters music destroys consonants. The practical test is to stand at the far corner of the room while someone speaks at conversational volume through the system, with the room as empty or as full as you can arrange. Also confirm whether it reaches the ceremony location, whether there is an accessible input, and whether staff will be present to operate it, since a good system nobody can adjust is not much better than no system.

What should I ask about microphones for the ceremony and the toasts?

For the ceremony, ask what type is being used and on whom — a lapel on the officiant, a headset, or a stand between the couple — and how it will look in photographs, because that trade-off is aesthetic as much as technical. Ask whether vows will be audible if the couple speaks quietly and faces each other rather than the guests, which is what actually happens. For toasts, ask how many handhelds are available, whether there is a spare, and whether someone is watching the level when a nervous speaker holds the microphone at chest height.

Do I need a separate technician on site, or can the equipment be dropped off?

Drop-off is reasonable for background music and for events where a sound problem is an annoyance rather than a loss. It is a poor fit for ceremonies, toasts, or anything with playback, because those moments cannot be repeated and a failure has to be fixed in seconds by someone who understands the system. If you choose drop-off, name the person who owns the equipment on the day, make sure they handle it before guests arrive, and get a phone number that will be answered during your event.

Who is responsible if the equipment fails mid-ceremony?

That depends entirely on what you signed, which is why it is worth reading before the day rather than after. An attended booking usually puts the responsibility on the company, and their technician is there to solve it. A drop-off booking generally does not: once equipment is delivered and working, most contracts treat operation as yours. Ask directly what happens if a microphone dies during the vows, whether spares are physically on site or in a warehouse, and what the response looks like. A company that answers that question in specifics has thought about it before.