My personal view is that everybody is stressed at a wedding. The secret is to know what you're doing and do it.

For the speeches a decent microphone, on a stand, in front of the speaker is the only way to go. Chances are they'll have some sort of PA anyway. So all you have to do is fix your microphone next to that for the PA. In my experience DJs and firms which do weddings aren't that good when it comes to sound quality so, in this case, I wouldn't risk taking a feed directly from the sound-guy's PA mixer or amp. The often use cheap microphones or singers' mics which are great for singers but not so hot for speeches.

Mark's a documentary man so his estimate of what a shotgun mic will do, is slightly different to mine. I would try to have an absolute maximum distance of six feet between microphone and speaker. Three feet would be good, two feet is better. The mic will work at twelve feet, neither of us is wrong, it's just a matter of preference.

I would also suggest using a hypercardiod or cardiod rather than a shotgun for the speeeches. Again, personal preference.

For a wedding, to get the sound right, you will need a guy running around with headphones. If he's good, he won't do much running and will plonk himself in a quiet corner and do everything with radio mics. If that's too expensive then just get radio mics for the bride and groom (you can rent them and it won't cost a fortune). If you find out who's making the bride's dress, pay them a few quid to sew a pouch in the side of the bustle (the big bum bit) for the transmitter. The bride won't argue if the dressmaker has done that but she'll whinge like mad if she has to tuck a transmitter in her knickers.

The groom will also wear a radio mic once he knows his missus has one.

For the rest... are you interested in going on a Videoforums course this summer?