Can you fly a drone freely to film the wedding?
The short answer
Freely, no. No drone simply takes off over a wedding. Whether it can fly depends on several things at once: what drone it is, who is flying it, where the wedding is held and how many people are underneath. And at a wedding there are a lot of people: family, friends, children running around the garden, all in the same place at the same time. Exactly what calls for the most care.
Who flies, with what drone and where
That's why the useful question is a different one: who is flying, with what drone and where. A cousin with a brand-new drone and plenty of enthusiasm is not the same as someone who knows the rules and knows where to position themselves so as not to fly over anyone.
Photo from evsimon.com · Book your wedding
A wedding day in Asturias
Picture an ordinary day in Asturias. A ceremony at a manor house (palacio) near Gijón. Guests at the entrance, in the garden, on the terrace. Each of those spaces changes what can be done from the air. Some estates have houses right next door. Some places have their own rules, and the estate or manor house will tell you about them if you ask. And there are days when the most sensible thing is to leave the drone in the case.
Insurance, training and paperwork
Then there's the paperwork, which hardly anyone looks at. Who is going to fly? Do they have insurance for that flight? Do they have training? The Spanish aviation safety agency, AESA, offers a free online course and exam for drone pilots on its website. Be careful with courses advertised elsewhere: AESA warns that, apart from that training, the others are not official and are not accredited by any public body. Someone saying they have a qualification is not enough. Ask them to show it to you.
Is the drone worth it?
Is the drone worth it? Often, yes. A shot from above shows what you can't see from the ground: the coastline, the whole manor house, all the guests together on the steps. But it is just one more tool. It doesn't replace the work on the ground, which is where the glances, the hugs and the nerves before the "I do" happen.
Photo from evsimon.com · Book your wedding
How Evan & Natalia Simon work
Evan & Natalia Simon do wedding and corporate event photography and video in Asturias, across the rest of Spain and in Europe, for couples and brands. They take on few weddings and choose them carefully. At each one, the drone is planned in advance, never improvised on the day.
What to do next
The next step is simple. First, look at your contract with the wedding venue and with your photographer. Does it say anything about the drone? Who is responsible if something goes wrong? Second, ask your photographer directly: who flies, what drone they use, whether they have insurance and training, and at which moments of the day it makes sense to fly. Third, if a guest is planning to bring their own drone, talk it over beforehand with the photographer and the venue. Have questions about your wedding in Gijón or in another corner of Asturias? Evan & Natalia Simon offer a free call to talk it through calmly, with no obligation.
Links
More useful links: seguridadaerea.gob.es, seguridadaerea.gob.es, seguridadaerea.gob.es.
