Is anybody planning or have planned an "unplugged wedding" ?

Ive never heard of this idea, but think its a good one.

I dont know what a TOG should normally do, but in our case, I dont think she either got our attention nor kept it when some pics were taken. When cutting the cake for example, we had 20 people take pics at the same time. I had to keep reminding hubby to look at the paid TOG so we had at least 1-2 pics where we BOTH looked at her.

Would the TOG usually ask everyone to take their pics after her or is it normal for her not to say anything? I dont really know, but wish I'd known beforehand & we might have had more pics where we actually looked at just her camera.

We requested an unplugged ceremony. Our priest isn't keen on photography of any kind and doesn't allow videography at all. He agreed to the professional photographer as long as there were no photos taken during the homily. So we also requested that no photos were taken by guests in the church at all, that way the vicar was kept happy and we didn't end up with everybody watching the ceremony through a lens or photos of people holding cameras up. And lots of people said it was nice, not being distracted by phones or cameras and concentrating on the ceremony.

Also with regards to people taking photos at other points of the day, the TOG wasn't thrilled when other people used flash and ruined his shots so he asked people to wait till he'd finished. Lots of our guests were annoyed by that though, they seemed to feel getting their photos was more important than the photos for D and I. I don't like having my photos taken much, and it did bother me being photographed all day, but we got some really lovely shots by the guests of the reception and evening do. Although i'm very glad we didn't let them photograph the ceremony.

I rrally like the idea of this and hadn't thought much about other people's photo taking ruining our shots. Rememebering to look at our tog and not the others is something which I must remember - we've had some many other pics ruined because of this alone let alone some else's flash. Will have a chat nearer the time with our tog to see how he likes to play it

Really like this concept, how easily do you think people will deal with out their gadgets for a few hours?!

Guest photographers have rarely done harm to my shots, in fact I encourage them to shoot when I shoot because if I don't then they will only put the B&G through even more formal shots which most of my couples really don't want. As for holding attention then its really down to the official shooter to manage that - it isn't difficult and if I need to then its a case of "over here - sorry folks but they're paying me more !".

The only real problem I have is that I spend a lot of time shooting photographers rather than guests and that gets frustrating and leaves me wanting to plead "FGS put them away for a few minutes and give them a break !"

Wish I had an answer other than just to make the best of what I can ....... I guess its where we are at in 2012 (but I will kick the next person I see holding an i-pad over their head all the way through the service) !

I really think some will have some sort of ceizure so be sure to have a first aider on station !!!

TBH, weddings are now over documented and done so very badly with rubbish equipment.

I've seen 6 people on a table of ten record the speeches with their iphones, only to stop halfway through when they got bored...no pictures of that table watching the speeches and smiling then....

Another recent trend is people bringing ipads. Crazy.

I'm surprised unplugged weddings aren't more common. I've seen some shocking photos of the bride and groom on facebook. They worry about making sure they look good in the photos that I take yet 500 blurred, noisy and REALLY unflattering ones appear online for all and sundry to see...usually when then are on their honeymoon and when they don't have access to facebook.

I'm sure they would be more popular if there was a little poem to sum it up. Anything and everything to do with weddings seems to take off once it has it's own poem....

All jokes aside this will probably be the way we go when we get married.

During "key" moments I'll happily ban all other forms of photography/recording & shoo guests away. From a photographers point of view I want to make life as easy as possible for our own photographer because I want the best results. Even the most amazing togs in the world i'm sure occasionally struggle with over enthusiastic or stubborn guests jumping in shot etc

I don't really have any desire to see rubbish phone photos of myself popping up all over facebook before the day is even over either. Recently we had a bride quite upset because guests were uploading photos to facebook during the ceremony and as a result evening guests saw her in her dress before they had even arrived.

The ipad thing is ridiculous. Aside from the fact that the camera quality is terrible, they're so obtrusive.

Having had my wedding I don't think it's necessary to make this request. At least it wasn't for my guests.

I've got some amazing photos of people enjoying the speeches, no one used a camera during the ceremony and I've got oodles of photos and video footage of people enjoying themselves and chatting throughout.

To make this kind of request to my guests would have appeared controlling and over zealous!

I'm having mine unplugged btw.

No cameras allowed, phones yes, to make calls with. The only photos I want are from the person I'll be paying.

I'll be honest though, I'm quite hardcore on this. As an observer of guests with cameras a lot of the time they take the photos for their own selfish motives. I see guests with DSLR's who when I speak to them only bring them because 'they'll never get used otherwise' so in essence, they are bringing it as a source of entertainment for themselves and also disrupting the flow of the day in the process with no real tangible benefit to the Bride and Groom.

I can 1000% understand mum and dad getting their camera and phone out to capture their son/daughter so they have something to look at after the wedding...I TOTALLY understand that and I also concede we can't capture everything but those who dump the images on facebook appear to me as being an attempt at attention seeking? They certainly aren't nice images.

Two weeks ago I was at a wedding where I kid you not, it was like being in a branch of Jessops, every 10th person had a £3000 camera, I turned up and one of the musicians was setting up group shots of all the boys together and shooting with a 7D. Jazz hands, group shots, individual portraits...all that stuff. This in itself wasn't an issue, but I turned up to specifically take the shots of the boys who now were already suffering camera fatigue and wouldn't be able to give their best for the paid professional. 'What, we need to have our photo taken AGAIN?'

When the couple walked back up the aisle, I took a lovely shot of them..... with a load of cameras in the frame.

I get paid the same regardless....however I would like to deliver a diverse portfolio of quality images to a couple.

How are you going to ask people not to take photos? Are you giving an explanation as to why? Trying to think how I could possibly word it without people thinking I'm getting on my high horse? Even a little message in the order of service asking people to respect our tog and not to take pictures til he's finished, I think people would get the hump with. Our church is reslly small and like Chris says the all important shot of walking down the ilsr as man and wife with other flashes going off... Can these be edited out somehow?

I wish! My family wouldn't have listened. I'd have LOVED an unplugged wedding, I don't much like having my photo taken and the thought of loads of people doing it at once and then taking the photos away makes me come out in a cold sweat.

We asked people not to photograph the ceremony. They didn't listen.

I agree with Kharv.

I actually can't believe so many people think this is a good idea. I love that we have so many informal photos, our TOG could only be in one place at a time and we would have missed so much. I also found out a couple of weeks ago that someone managed to record my Dad's speech, it might not be the best picture quality but we couldn't afford a VOG as well so I wouldn't have this if we had banned all gadgets. Who cares if there are a few dodgy pictures on facebook? It's a wedding not the launch of your modelling career, I've got the professional ones too.

I would also be upset as a guest if we were asked not to take our own photos.

ETA- I think this even though I hate having my photo taken and don't like any of the photos of me ?

If you "ban" cameras then it always results in guests being hostile towards the official photographer because they assume it his/her doing - and I don't want that !

The best I've seen is where couples have made it known that there will be an opportunity to take photos at a designated point after the service but that they request that cameras are not used away from that point. The other was where the ushers were empowered with the B&Gs requirements and were left to step in and break up major photo shoots if they broke out and, in particular, at certain times the B&G specifically wanted some chill out time.

I'd like to think that the B&G sharing their preferences that guests don't attempt to record the occasion would be enough for most to act accordingly. Its hard to imagine that guests would knowingly go against the preferences of the couple on their big day.

As a documentary photographer, I don't care if the guests shoot or not. I capture the day as it unfolds in front of me, changing very little about it, including guests with cameras. About all I change is insisting that I am allowed to get into the position I want to be in to shoot, and sometimes that means a polite word with a guest.

If you set your lighting gear up intelligently (use good radio triggers instead of optical slave) then your flashes will not fire off every time a guests flash does etc. etc. TBH, with the advent of affordable radio triggers, I can't see what the problem is any more.

Ipads, camera's videographers, phones - are all part of some weddings, and to that end, I get a shot of them too.

As for guests with great cameras - doesn't phase me at all. Once in a blue moon, there is one who knows how to use one, and in those cases, I make sure they have the space to get their shot, and I expect (and get) the same back in return

Photo issues aside it would be interesting to see what a signal jammer in the middle of the wedding breakfast would do.

People might actually talk to each other ?

Although I would like our guests witness our wedding ceremony through their own eyes and not through a lens, the celebrations that follow thereafter, in particular the evening do, I'm happy for people to snap away. I came across an app (dare I say it!) that you can ask your guests to use and it organises all of your guests photos in real time, its called something like Wedding Party - what are you thoughts on things like these?

Not sure about the app but I do like the idea of replacing the obligatory on-table disposable cameras with blank CDs and a request that all guests burn their images of the day onto the CD and forward it on to them !

Just to reiterate, as a photographer, my issues aren't really with other shooters bothering me because they don't, my issue is with the other shooters bothering and upsetting the B&G. Couples very often stress to me that they don't want their day filled with posed shots which is not an issue for me as I'm also largely a documentary style shooter and can just stand back but most guest shooters only know one style of photo and that usually involves shouting "cheese" and posing the couple up ..... exactly what they didn't want to spend their day doing !

I would HATE that, especially as me and my fella don't have facebook ourselves.

I wonder if I could ban facebook uploads.....haha

I can see peoples gripe BUT i'm from a 'plugged' generation. it would be hypocritical of me to say this to my guests plus im big support of the freedom of the internet and in a somewhat nerdy way i kinda like the idea of a running documention of the wedding going onto the internet, hell i will properly be tweeting myself under the table when my mother isnt a looking

Were not going to ask people not to take photos however we are going to ask people(mainly the OHs sisters) not to upload any picture to facebook that day. I really dont want my evening guests coming saying "Oh we already seen your dress on fb earlier"

If they are being a nuisiance when the TOG is taking photos they will be told to move

I took photos on my compact camera at the last wedding we went to - I knew the couple well and didn't think for a second that I might be a problem! When I got round to it a couple of weeks after the wedding, I looked through the photos, got rid of bad ones and cropped/editted where necessary before puting them on FB. The newlyweds didn't seem to mind too much - they had them as profile pics/cover photos before too long!

I've not taken photos at weddings when I'm there as a plus one or don't know the couple well, as I didn't think it was appropriate. Also, if everyone had been snapping away with cameras all day, I might not have bothered taking pics, but as it stood I didn't feel like I was contributing to the break-up of a wedding flow.

Most people have discresion and use it when taking photos at weddings - if there's anyone you think might not be so respectful, I'd have a word with them before the wedding. Asking ushers to be on the look out is a fab idea too, but I think banning is a bold step that might not sit too well with some guests.

Agreed 100% on that point. As a photographer, I don't mind guests having cameras or taking photos at all when we're photographing a wedding. It makes little difference to us aside from the point Chris mentioned about there being guests with cameras in the background of some otherwise lovely photos at times.

As a bride however, for my own wedding I just don't want it. Perhaps it's (i'm) selfish but how guests may feel about it is of little concern to me. There's something incredibly exciting about the wait after the wedding for the photos, almost like a right of passage- having something so big and so amazing to look forward to.

Maybe i'm mad, maybe it's my line of work, but I want that little wait. I want that excitement and anticipation. I want the build up and to have a final product in my hands at the end of it all. I don't want it interrupted or tarnished by poor quality photos of myself at odd moments, not looking at the camera, or shots with shadows and a million and one other "faults" i'll of course notice, because it's my job. It may not be the start of my modelling career, but it's certainly not how I want to remember my day.

I realise i'm romanticising the whole idea, but i've seen enough crummy wedding photos to know that personally I'd prefer if the only cameras clicking away were the professionals on my own wedding day.

I completely agree with having no photos during the ceremony, and at mine, we didn't need to tell people this. But however good your official photographer is, they won't capture all the little moments of the whole day. I'm not that fussed about photos on facebook, though again all my guests were sensible enough not to upload them during the day!

I did. As I said earlier in the thread, we had an unplugged ceremony, and we had a facebook ban on photos until we asked for them/had uploaded our own photos. EVERYONE respected our choice and I don't regret it at all. We asked them politely to please put away their cameras and phones so that they weren't watching through a lens as we wanted to preserve the sanctity of the marriage ceremony and for them to actually experience it first hand rather than through a lens. With regards to facebook, I simply said that we wanted to extend the excitement and anticipation of the wedding for as long as possible and really wanted people to see the professional photos before anything else. I didn't want unflattering photos of me all over facebook either and everyone was nice enough to do as we requested.

I did crack about a week later and asked for people's photos because I couldn't wait any longer but that was MY choice.

I am wanting to ban FB uploads and anything else to social media sites.... i have FB but get annoyed with it. I will be asking people not to post anything from my day, as they have been asked to share my special day with us and not every friend on facebook!

I loved seeing photos on facebook from guests in the immediate days following from the wedding. Anything I didn't like I just de-tagged. Delighted that people took an interest in my wedding enough to take photos and then share them later and status about the wedding etc

If anyone is that bothered they can change their FB settings so no tagged photos of you are published without you approving them first...

I think it would be a bit lame/almost presumptious to stand up and annouce no photos and no sharing photos on facebook at your ceremony...