Photos or no phones/photos /videos allowed

I would like to have an unplugged ceremony. For one sometimes people post pictures on social media before you do and without letting you see the pictures. I hate when people take pictures of me at the wrong angle showing parts of my body I’m insecure about or with my eyes half open. The pros a guest or family member might capture a beautiful moment that your photographer didn’t because there will be a lot going on it’s hard to capture everything at once . I have decided on a unplugged ceremony . I will be making signs today .

Im having an unplugged ceremony. Why? Because I want people in the moment, I want to look out at the people who are there supporting me. Not only do I want people to pay attention I also have a select few family members who are really selfish and would do what they want (i.e my aunt having her third wedding a week before my own after I announced my date to the family first). Some people are good at being respectful and in the moment, but others may not be. Its like the rule if you bring something to eat in class you bring for everyone, or if one child gets something the other one does as well. Keeping it a whole affair with being completely unplugged, everyone should abide out of respect to you and your better half and no one wants to be that odd person out. I would say think of your family members and your partners, if you know they'll abide by the rule or be respectful regardless of something being said then do whatever you want, but if you second guess whether they'll be a phone or camera in the mix of your wedding photos maybe rethink the decision. I mentioned it in my wedding website about the ceremony being unplugged as well as a brief reason why. My venue also have a sign i can put near or in the ceremony space so people understand.

For us we eloped so no issues. However if we didn't we would have preferred for guests not to take photos because that's the photographer's job. My photographer has spoken about this with me and our thing is we would give some photos to our guests anyway for them to keep. We had a photographer and videographer on our day. Another thing is guests getting in the way not realizing they are trying to capture "the moments".

In my opinion you should be the one who is actually doing the sharing first of photos and video.

For all the reasons others have stated, we are having a bit at the beginning of the ceremony that we'd like people to be present and not to take photos during the ceremony - we've been to a bunch of weddings where this has been said and it's completely fine. We went to one where an Aunty disappointedly put her full-size first gen ipad away, and it's like... that thing is huge and you are blocking the view of others as well as potentially ruining the photos. Just put it down!

But, on the flipside, we've felt that the message was sometimes so strongly worded that we've been left feeling like it's not ok to take photos of the day at all, even after the ceremony, so we made sure to put something into our wording to make that a bit clearer. We're thinking of having our celebrant say something like..

"Whilst we are excited to share photos with you, we would like you to be present and in the moment with us for the ceremony. We therefore ask that you refrain from taking photographs during this time, as there are professionals in place to take those shots. We welcome you to take and share photos after the ceremony however, and use the hashtag #ourweddinghashtag"

Unplugged for the ceremony (the professionals have that covered and seeing phones everywhere is just not what I want to see-I want to see faces!). The reception is fine, as it's more a party over formal at that point.

I would not be happy if someone told me I couldn't use my phone but I'm also not the type to take pictures of someone else's wedding ceremony either, so moot point I guess lol

We're doing an unplugged ceremony. For every reason already mentioned, I don't want peoples phones in view of our professional photographer, I don't want photos of my ceremony posted to Social Media before we get the professional ones back, and also I want people in the moment.

I know so many people (mainly FMIL) who is CONSTANTLY taking pictures at every occasion or is asking other people to take pictures/videos for her (she did this to me at FBIL wedding, before the reception FH and BIL found a piano and they started playing with his dad singing, I was just sitting there taking in the moment, letting the photographer get what she wanted whil FMIL is pestering me to take a video, I didn't want a video, I wanted to enjoy the moment I was in. At my other FBIL semi elopement, FMIL was SO focused on making sure her video was good (Against brides wishes, which was relayed to her) that she didn't take in the actual ceremony part of it all.

I want people to truly bask in the moment, and take in all our love without being focused on their phones.

We will have a sign, and officiant will make a statement before the processional starts. I want to see everyone I loves faces as I walk down the aisle, not their cameras.

I just got married this weekend and there were about 40 guests sitting down during the ceremony (it was a small-intimate wedding). My husband's cousin who was our officiant told everyone "Before we begin the ceremony please turn off or silence your phones at this time. Also, the bride and groom has requested that there be no pictures or video recording during the ceremony as it will distract the photographer." Which worked! One of my cousin was sitting in the back and she said that there were no phones out so that was really nice.

View Quoted Comment I agree with this. The pictures posted above are very clearly staged and not representative of real life.


I have never attended a wedding that didn’t allow guests to take their own pictures because it was always encouraged. But guests know to keep phones and cameras from blocking others’ views. Those who don’t are the disrespectful type who won’t listen to anything period. Also, guests largely ignore expensive signage of all types. Couples at weddings I have attended were gracious and thankful to get photos from guests before the pro photographer had theirs printed so I don’t understand that hostility. Also I don’t understand what the purpose of hashtags and such for social media is if guests are forbidden from posting pictures and whatnot that they have taken since that defeats the purpose.

View Quoted Comment

Beautiful photo!

We are doing an unplugged ceremony, which will be announced by a large sign and by our officiant before the ceremony begins. We spent a lot of money on a quality photographer as well as a second shooter and don't want those photos to be littered with people's phone screens. We also want our guests to be present at our ceremony and not distracted by their phones. Additionally, we don't want people posting photos of our wedding on social media. Both my fiancé and I are very private people and we don't want a bunch of random photos of our special day on the internet - unpopular opinion, but that's how we feel. We are purchasing the full rights to our photos and we are more than happy to share our professional photos with our family and friends for them to print should they choose.

The only reason is it gets in the way of the photographers. Pictures after the ceremony are 100% okay with me. I just don't want to see a million phones in my pictures and wedding video.

View Quoted Comment Actually, the photos posted were real photos from real weddings (see link). The fact that it was thought they were “clearly staged” or “not representative of real life” really showcases how people are not aware of just how problematic cellphones have become at weddings. People think they are being respectful and discreet with their photos/videos, but as you can clearly see… that’s not always the case. Especially when multiple people are doing/thinking the same thing. As you can see from many of the photos in the link, people are keeping their arms/hands/phones out of the aisle, out of the air, close to their bodies… but they are still quite visibly ruining the professional photographer’s photos. People pay a lot of money for professional photos and videos, and most people don’t want cellphones littering their pics. And it’s really not fair to place photographers in the position of having to compromise their shots (or miss out on them altogether) because guests have their phones out. Just think… it only takes aunt Jane snapping one photo at the wrong time for a photographer to miss capturing the first kiss or the groom’s expression when he first sees his bride. Those are precious moments that can never be re-made.
https://www.yourperfectweddingphotographer.co.uk/article/23-photos-runied-unplugged-wedding/

View Quoted Comment Love!!! Thank you. Will do the same.

I just got married last weekend and didn’t do the unplugged ceremony only because of what happened to my new SIL at hers. She had one of those fairytale weddings every girl dreams of. It was in the closest thing to a castle I’ve ever seen. We all stayed in this mansion overlooking the lake next to the chapel. Her photographer (who does photography for Kristin Cavellari now) was with us the entire weekend snapping away at every event. She is the brides cousin so she took a ton of pictures. Everything about the wedding went perfect. The night the photographer got home she went out to photograph an event and someone broke into her house and stole her laptop among many other things and due to the photographer being in such a hurry she hadn’t had time to back up the wedding pictures so she lost them all! Needless to say at my wedding I let her snap away but she worked with our photographer and only shared the pictures with me. I can’t imagine losing my wedding pictures and the ones she got of ours is better than any gift we could’ve gotten. I know most the time things aren’t that easy with certain pushy family members I just always try to warn brides of that story.