dark church - how do you get a full congregation shot?

[Christina]

I was shooting at a jazz club last night, and was able to get decent exposures around ISO 1600/3200 1/80 f1.8 with my 85mm and similar with a 50mm. But the DOF is then so shallow, I couldn't get more than one musician in focus at a time.

This made me wonder about the commonly scene ceremony shot where the photographer is in the back of the church, shooting with a wide angle lens, so you see all the congregation and the bride and groom, and all are in focus. How do you manage this in a dimly lit church without extra lighting? (I don't have any church weddings on the horizon, but I am curious.)

[tim]

Wide angle lenses just have more DOF than long lenses. At 17mm or 12mm I just don't worry about DOF.

[form]

Once you get past the point of infinity focus, which isn't much more than a meter away in many cases with ultra-wide lenses, everything is pretty much in focus.