Shoot the whole thing with those spy-like pen cams strategically placed all over, and go down (relatively) as a legend.

How does the bride feel about these restrictions? If they want their wedding ceremony filmed, they should look for a different officiant.

I know some officiants do have some guidelines for photographers/videographers. I've found primarily when shooting catholic weddings, the officiant does not want anyone shooting behind him. It's good to be respectful of the officiant, but you may need to have more of a discussion with the bride and groom about what they're looking for in your filming, and relay your concern if they want the ceremony filmed.

At the end of the day, It is the Bride and Groom's special day. They need to make these type of decisions so that they are aware of any potential conflicts that may arise on the day.

I actually put in my contracts with brides that it is THEIR responsibility to clear up any potential conflicts, and should there be a conflict in my filming their wedding that they neglected to handle, I am not responsible for any missed footage.

Do your best to make them aware of conflicts, but the responsibility is theirs as they need to coordinate with all vendors.

We had a similar situation with our own wedding. As it happened we didn't want a video, we just wanted to enjoy the day. We did an audio recording, which I think we listened to once. Funny, really - sometimes it's nice to just experience the day as it happens, and not see it again from outside.

But if it's important to the bride and groom, I'd agree - they must decide to go elsewhere if video of the ceremony is important to them.

Good ideas, folks.

Going forward, I wonder if it makes sense not to even ask in advance what is permitted at the church. Just show up and try to do what I want. At least then I can plead ignorance.

The last wedding I did was like this. I didn’t ask about church guidelines, I just showed up. The church manager (or something) was there and said there was no video/photography allowed. Then I explained that I could just set up a tripod at the back and quietly record everything, and she said okay.

In the end, it's all about being clear on your priorities, relationships, roles and goals.

If you want to keep coming back to the same church to film in the future, you probably don't want to antagonize the people that run it. In the same way that the cinematographer typically is not the one dealing with permits, etc. on larger narrative productions, you don't want to take on that role in filming a wedding unless you have to.

As several people have mentioned, discussing with a bride and groom what the potential limitations are and asking them what their priorities are is really the way to go. There is no reason to make them feel stressed out about their relationship with the officiator if they are fine with less coverage and there is no reason for you to push if they can handle the negotiations more easily based on a pre-existing relationship.

So the key would be clear communication with your client from the get-go and then giving them the chance to help you get them what they want without making them feel stressed or overwhelmed (and maybe getting them to assign someone you can talk to when it gets closer to the event so that they don't have to think about that when they have more important things to give their attention to. :)

The customer is always right. Get it in writing in case they change their minds and want to know where the kissy footy is.