Unplugged Weddings. Are you?

We did an unplugged ceremony. We mentioned this on the information sheets we sent out with our invites and also included a note on the back of the Orders of Service thanking people for joining us and asking people not to take photos during the service. As far as I'm aware everyone respected our wishes - we asked guests to upload their photos of the day to WedPics and there isn't a single one from the service on there.

We went to a wedding earlier this month where the reverend made an announcement before the bride arrived asking that there be no photography until the exit of the bridal party at the end. This seemed to be effective. At another wedding we went to there was apparently a sign asking that there be no photography during the service but I didn't see it and I assume I wasn't the only one as quite a few people took photos. It was only that the bride told me sometime later that became aware of the sign!

The easiest way to do this is to ask the minister to announce it before you enter the room. Many will do this as standard anyway.

The high risk parts for guests to spoil with phones are the aisle processions. Though I have had guests try to video or photograph the ceremony from next to the couple!

At a wedding last year a guest walked up the aisle backwards in front of the bride to video her as she entered the ceremony!

That's incredible! Why would anyone do this!

You've just convinced me to go unplugged for the ceremony! Last thing I want is my photos/video full of iPhones in the air. Will have a chat with our vicar and see whether he's happy to say something ahead of the service.

Yes, I will be asking the registrar to make an announcement before the ceremony. I think I'll get a sign to put up too.

I don't mind after the ceremony, it's just throughout! X

We have a note on the OOS, but I might ask the minster to make sure people are aware, too. Or maybe ask the ushers to mention it as people walk in? OH is convinced that people will know better, but I've read and seen too many sets of photos with devices everywhere to risk it...

Again, it's just for the ceremony. I don't mind before and after and won't be asking to avoid social media until the evening. It's just so that the TOG can capture the moment with all of your family and friends in the same moment all together

Our note is: "We want you to be in the moment with us at this very special time. You will have time to take photos later today, but request that you please leave your camera in your bag and put your mobile phone away during the ceremony."

My vicar has already explicitly said no photography in the church anyway and if we want a videographer then we would need to ensure they have a licence so he will be making an announcement to the congregation before my arrival. I'll probably also print it on the order of service to be doubly sure.

After the ceremony I'm not bothered. My friend asked guests not to post pictures on social media via her invitations. I may just change my privacy settings on Facebook so that nobody can see anything I'm tagged in on my page but I'm really not too precious about it.

I was going to ask our Registrar to say something about no guest pics during the Ceremony. We have 2 togs and 3 vogs so we should be covered enough!

? This is awful!

We'll be asking the registrar to ask for no photos during the ceremony. We don't mind afterwards though and happy for them to go up on FB/IG.

I popped a little note in with the invites to say please keep phones and camera tucked away during the ceremony and please don't share anything until we had put something on facebook ourselves (i did this at the end of the night while OH was passed out in bed!) and I also got the registrar to say something. I think a lot of my guests were too scared then to take any photos... lol.

There was an article on facebook fairly recently about a photographer who took photos of the bride walking down and other guests were getting in the way so the groom had to literally lean out into the aisle to see his bride, and as he pointed out, his photos will probably be better than blurry guest ones. (sorry, just seen it's the one you posted)

However, from signing the register onwards people were taking photos which was fine as there are a couple of really lovely ones that guests took of us walking back out.

It's becoming a much bigger thing now, requesting an unplugged wedding so I would just ask the registrar/vicar to mention something before you come in.

We have decided that we will put a note in with the invites and also ask the minister to say something as well just to remind the guests. xx

I think we will definitely be asking the registrar to say something at the beginning.

Our photographer had mentioned this when we first met him and he showed us some photos he had taken at weddings of guests getting in the way when the bride was trying to walk down the aisle.

Recently we went to a wedding and it seemed that everybody was looking at the bride and groom through their phone/camera/iPad. I think it's worse now with iPads too; at least phones are quite small but iPads really get in the way when you have guests holding them up.

The last wedding I went to was a small immediate family affair, the paperwork we all read said no photos during the ceremony as it puts the registrar off and that inculded the offical photographer if there was one (ther wasnt) involved. I thought that this was common place as at my brothers wedding, the vicar stopped mid sentence and told the photographer he was putting her off and to stop taking photos! To be fair, it was a rather noisy and distracting photographer with beeps etc going off (I think he forgot to put it on silent shutter and focus mode as the camer certainly had the capability as I have the same one).

I am not too fussed about an unplugged wedding or not and will happily let people do what they want as long as they dont get in the way of the registrar or our photographer. I also have a plan of locking down everything on my facebook so anything I'm tagged in be it photos, statuses etc will require my approval before it appears on my feed so I can release it in my own time. I can also vet the photos as there are photos of my manhood floating around after my brothers wedding as being Scots we wore kilts and someone thought it would be funny to snap up there when I was deep in conversation.... ?

As a photographer I support unplugged weddings during the ceremony. Not because I can't do my job but it's just far more pleasant to have photos of guests looking at you with their eyes than a bunch of people staring at their smartphones behind you.

For the rest of the day of course they should be free to take photos since it's a party after all and often lots of friends/family you don't all see together all dressed up too!

Unfortunately in some churches, even the professional photographer is banned from taking photos which I find a real shame. The entire point of the day is the wedding ceremony itself and having that chunk missing from your album seems to be like buying a chocolate cheesecake to be told there's no chocolate in it!

I do kind of understand from the vicar/priest's point of view. The above example of a photographer who isn't aware/experienced enough to be quiet during a religious ceremony to the point they have the beeps on must be very frustrating. And unfortunately the officiant ends up tarring us all with the same brush and overreacting in future.

Now I always warn my couples during the first meeting with me to find out what their church/vicar's rules are well in advance. It's always upsetting for the couple to find on the day that the vicar bans all photography. If they know well in advance, that's something they can either deal with or change locations.

Usually I get the reply "Oh, I'm sure it will be OK. He/she is really laid back" Then a few weeks later "Oh...he/she isn't as laid back about photography as we thought......" lol

We are definitely planning to.

We haven't put anything on our invitations but plan to include a note on the order of service which politely asks them not to take photos during the ceremony and to enjoy the moment with us knowing we have a professional photographer doing the work for them. We've then worded it so that it's up to them if they wish to take photos for the remainder of the day or would rather have a day tech-free knowing they'll still have gorgeous photos to look back on.