First off you have an AWESOME attitude. KUDOS!!
I can tell you first hand that you can not "Hobby/Recreate" for someone else. While your intent is good and pure that doesn't change the fact you can't do it "FOR" someone else regardless of compensation etc.. Now if you had worded it a bit differently like:
"I'm going to be at a wedding. I'd like to take my UAS up and get some pics and video for my OWN benefit." then your intent is Hobby/Recreational. And then, at a later time you can GIVE the data to them. At the TIME of the flight you were flying to YOUR enjoyment and not intending to provide a product for someone else. INTENT is key. It's also important to note that DATA collected during a genuine HOBBY flight can be given and/or sold at a later time so long as the INTENT of the flight was purely recreational.
Precision flying in fairly close proximity to people is not where you want to "cut your teethe" when flying. Way too much room for error and an incident.
What's also important is to note that DRONES aren't the best camera platform for Wedding Venues. I've been doing Photography for a long time and I LOVE the flying camera aspect but it has a time and place. We do Weddings but we have to be very specific with the following details:
A) This is not your PRIMARY/Only picture/video source. Aerials are better as an ADDITION to the total package and not all inclusive in any way.
B) The TOP of the wedding party's heads don't make a very attractive picture as people from above look "Blah" at best. Shots from an angle are much more appealing but sometimes hard to capture depending on the actual venue.
C) The drone is LOUD and will catch people's attention every time it's flown. The sound is annoying and the LAST thing you want to be happening during intimate parts of the wedding. The Bride/Groom (
really the BRIDE) needs to be the FOCUS of the day and people will instinctively look UP at the drone. Some become totally transfixed on it and ignore the event at hand totally.
D) You can NOT fly directly over any person except yourself and anyone directly involved with the safe operation of the aircraft. Not even over a pinky toe.
E) The amount of risk for injury, incident, distraction you bring to an already TENSE and STRESSFUL situation is just not worth it unless you are well compensated. It gets UGLY in a heart beat when dealing with an unhappy wedding party/guest.
Lastly.... the odds of there ever being some type of Official/FAA interaction from such a Drone Use is very low unless somethin goes wrong. At that point you've opened yourself up to a ton of liability etc that you clearly don't want or need.
IMHO you're much better off leaving the drone at home or somewhere and skipping the idea of Droning at the wedding.
I'm speaking from an official stand point on the not able to hobby for someone else. As I'm an FAA Safety Team Representative & Drone Pro (Charlotte NC Region & West) I'm one of the people who could be called out if there was an incident etc involving a drone, at least in my region anyway.
@Phantomrain.org I see your point but it's flawed. I'll be more than happy to discuss this topic and provide documentation if needed. You can NOT hobby for someone else at all.