I decided to write this article explaining why drones at weddings are bad. “Drones, your wedding, and the law.”
In a very clear nutshell, in the United States, the use of unmanned aircraft’s for commercial use is currently illegal.

I have had a few potential clients recently ask me why I don’t offer drones at weddings.
Firstly as a creative, I want to say that when my clients book me, they book me because they love my finished product. You should always choose a wedding photographer and videographer based on their finished product, and whether it suits you and your wedding style. You’ll probably notice that while my wedding videography has a focus on detail, varations of shots, and a focus on telling your story, it does not have swooping aerial views. I think that a lot of wedding stories are lost in the ‘techno wow’ of what people can do. Just because the technology exists to change your hair to fluro green in your wedding video, doesn’t mean we should do it, and just because the technology exists to fly a noisy mini helicopter over your guests, doesn’t mean it should be done. There is a saying “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.”

Remember the episode of The Simpsons where Homer Simpson edited a video full of star transitions? Imagine how silly your wedding video would look if everybody did that. Hence the point that just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.

Let’s move on to the next point. Danger. There are plenty of videos on youtube of brides being hit in the face with “drones”.
But I want to provide you with some resources to read about the law and the wedding videographer with a drone.
The Website Video University gives some guidelines here.
“Do not fly within 3 miles of an airport. Do not fly your aircraft for any commercial purpose.”
Gigagom gives the following information.
“lawsuit pitting the FAA against a civilian drone operator is underway in Virginia, where a photographer got in trouble with the agency for flying a drone over the campus of a university that had paid for his services…The FAA fined him $10,000 for operating an aircraft……”
The next point I want to add is that a pilot licence is a requirement. A post from Gigagom states “Operators must be at least 17 years old, pass an aeronautical knowledge test and obtain an FAA UAS operator certificate
Drones must be under 55 pounds, can’t fly higher than 500 feet or faster than 100 mph, and can’t fly over people”.
Gigagom also provides a White House press notice that explains that full disclosure must be given by said professionals with an air craft licence to map their flight path.
There is an active discussion of photographers and videographers on BHPhotoVideo about the legal requirements of a pilot licence to fly a drone for any sort of financial gain, (including wedding photographers and videographers.)
Furthermore as some point out the FAA are looking for photographers and videographers who have work online that shows that they may be breaking the law. Prosectutions are happening. It’s just not worth having a drone at your wedding.
In the United States of America it is not lawful for drones or unmanned aircrafts to be used at weddings by your videographer or photographer.

For those of you in Australia reading this, you can see some of hte information here.
SMH provides information about the law in Australia.

Video Maker shares the following information.
“According to Les Dorr (a spokesperson for the FAA out of Washington, D.C.) “…if you are taking video for your own personal use (including YouTube) and you’re not going to do anything else with it, and you adhere to model aircraft guidelines, you’re okay…” He continues, “…you cannot sell the video, and you cannot take money for shooting the video.” Why? Because using unmanned aerial systems for commercial purposes is illegal.”

So you see it is a very black and white issue. Drones or unmanned aircrafts are not for any commercial use. The Federal Aviation Administration have been very clear that that includes any paid work, including weddings.