How to Use an LCD Projector for a Wedding Slideshow

A wedding is often the first time some of your friends and relatives have met your new spouse. A fun way to introduce your guests to your husband or wife is through a slideshow shown at your wedding or reception. You can compile digital images of your childhood, courtship and engagement, and set it to music. An easy way to project your slideshow on a large screen is to use an LCD projector.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Digital slideshow
• Laptop
• LCD projector
• Power outlet
• VGA cable
• RGB cable or speakers (optional)
• Screen

1. Create a digital slideshow using whatever software is available on your laptop computer, like iPhoto or PowerPoint.

2. Place the LCD projector and laptop near a power outlet, but don't power on the projector or your laptop yet.

3. Use a VGA cable to connect the laptop and LCD projector. The correct port on your laptop is marked with a square icon. On PCs, the port is in the back and is often blue. Plug the cable into the RGB 1 port on the LCD projector.

4. Some LCD projectors have speakers, but they often don't have the same quality as external speakers you can buy for your laptop. If you choose to use the LCD projector's sound system, use an RGB cable to connect your laptop's "line out" jack with the projector's audio ports. If you buy external speakers for your laptop, plug them in where you normally plug in your headphones.

5. Power on your projector and the laptop. After the LCD projector warms up, it should sense your computer's connection and automatically show your desktop image. But if not, use the input button on the projector or the projector's remote to select the correct input.

6. You may need to click "Funtion + F3" to display the computer monitor on the screen. Keep clicking these buttons to toggle between showing the monitor on the screen, on your computer or both.

7. Set up the screen, play your slideshow and enjoy!

Tips & Warnings

• If you have hired a professional videographer for your wedding, a slideshow may already be part of your video package. Arrange with your videographer to have the slideshow available on your laptop, such as burned to a CD or DVD. Or, you can find out what kind of LCD projector will be available at the wedding site. Some LCD projectors can be used with DVD players, so you may not need to bring your laptop if your slideshow is burned to a DVD and the wedding site's DVD player can easily be connected to the LCD projector.
• If you are using a MacIntosh, it may treat the LCD screen as an extension of your computer's monitor instead of an identical image. Click "F7," the button with an icon of overlapping boxes, to get an identical image. If this does not work, go to "System Preferences," "Displays," and click "Detect Displays. You may also need to click "Arrangement" and click the box for "Mirror Displays."