Comments on The unplugged wedding: couples tell guests to put down their devices

1. YES YES YES! When I have the couple who elects to do this.. I am SO HAPPY. I don’t understand how someone can even enjoy the event with a camera glued to their face. It’s really out of control with today’s wedding guests. That is why there is a professional photographer.. So you can capture the day. I am not against bringing your camera to get fun shots of you with your friends but geez, don’t keep it up the whole day.

   • Fighting against social media is like trying to stop a freight train. Try using something like a photofiesta kiosk. That way guests can upload a professional image or two to social media without disrupting the event, and hopefully they can keep their cellphone in their pocket – where it belongs.

   • It’s a tricky on this. I love the dynamic of have so many camera screens to use in my shots, but It’s all a bit sad. Personally I’m there working so I don’t mind the detachment of looking through the camera but for the guests it’s a shame. Also with so many cameras at weddings now the groups shots now need more head swapping as the poor guest don’t know who to look at. The professional photographer or there significant other who will be p*ssed that they were not looking at them when they took the photo.. I’m all for unplugged weddings but I don’t see how you can make it stick. Everyone is a photographer these days

2. AMEN! I’ve been concerned about this very issue for our upcoming wedding, and the info here is just the inspiration I needed to be firm with the guests on this issue. TOO MANY photos now show the majority of folks making double-chins staring intently at their device missing everything, and essentially techno-photo-bombing the shots.

   Thank you!!!

3. Yes, I absolutely agree! Thank you for pointing this out. I had the same experience at our Stag & Doe on the weekend and as much as I would appreciate some photos and videos of the event, I don’t need 80 people doing it! I really wanted to party it up with my friends and have fun but they all had their cameras out getting in the way! I’m definitely considering an unplugged wedding and will suggest this to my guests. I want them to experience it first hand, not through their viewfinders!

4. I AM SO DOING THIS. Am completely going to steal the “official wording” as soon as you post it. Photos during reception, yes preeez, but doing the ceremony por favor no 😀

   • Yeah I am eagerly awaiting a look at the wording tomorrow. I am actually putting off printing our programs for one more day so I can steal this idea.

5. I’m thinking of a hybrid idea. I probably won’t be able to provide a professional photographer, and will probably have a number of broke friends who take decent pictures (much like myself). So I’m thinking of letting a few people take pictures as a gift to us, and telling everyone else to turn everything off.

6. I wanted to put a line in our programs requesting guests keep their cameras, phones and camcorders off during the ceremony. My husband thought this was bossy and uncalled for… but I had been to so many weddings where everyone was experiencing the wedding via their screens and viewfinders. Ultimately we didn’t put the note in our programs and I felt a little bugged when I walked into the wedding to find a bunch of lenses pointed at me. But the nice thing about our looooong Catholic wedding was that by the time we got to the important parts, people had clicked away to their heart’s content and were more or less paying real-life attention.

   • Yeah, my hope is that with the wording offered tomorrow, we can find a way to make the request without coming off as TOO bossy.

     • I am a big fan of: “I want the only stars I see to be caused by the sight of my beloved. Please don’t bring your cameras, cell phones, or boxing gloves to the ceremony… Or at least leave them off until we’re done”

       • That’s really cute! I like that.

   • This is what I put on my wedding programs:

     We are so honored you want to capture our special moment, but we would much rather see your smiling faces, so please refrain from taking photos during the ceremony. Don’t worry, we have full rights to our professional photographer’s photos and we will share them with you

     • I think the “we have full rights to our professional photographer’s photos…” bit will be essential when it comes to avoiding an outcry from guests.

       I take a lot of photos at weddings (and, well, everywhere else), but that’s largely because I genuinely want photos of the happy event. Since no bride or groom has ever offered to share their professional wedding pictures with me, I have to rely on my own shots. Without the pictures I take, I have no photos of the event. I’d be more than happy to put down my camera if I knew that the bride and groom would give me (and all guests) access to the professional wedding photos!

7. This is something I wouldn’t have considered, until a wedding I recently photographed. Now, I’m not a professional photographer, so I haven’t experienced a ton of weddings… but I’ve been to quite a few. At this wedding that I was the photographer of, it was a complete nightmare for me… and I blame the guests, a dozen Uncle Bobs.

   I was tripping over people standing in the aisle to get good photos of the wedding party and the bride walking down. A woman rudely asked me to move out of her way.

   During the ceremony, people were leaving their seats and surrounding the couple as they said their vows, just to take pictures. I had NEVER seen this before at a wedding, in my life. This seems so incredibly rude to me… not only that, it was distracting for the couple and the officiant. And of course, they got in the way of many photo opportunities. Groomsmen were taking pictures with their phones, wtf!?

   After that, the formal shots. Once again I was asked to please get out of the way, without a ceremony happening I was finally able to explain (okay, and I probably got pretty snippy) that I was the photographer. Still, people were like, “Okay then, we’ll let you take the pictures… after we take just a few more.” The groom had to keep telling the groomsmen to LOOK AT ME instead of the million other people taking pictures.

   I managed to get some beautiful photos, but I think I could have done 10 times better if the other guests would have just put their cameras away for a bit and enjoyed the ceremony and the party.

   • I had the same experience at a wedding I photographed in the fall! There are always those people at weddings who own a fancy dslr, but have no idea how to use it. I actually had a guest of that wedding come up to me and start asking me a million and ten questions about giving him tips and how to use certain settings on his camera. And this was while I was trying to pose the bride, groom, and about 20 of their family members!

   • This is why I like weddings with two locations and a cocktail hour-I do the formals at the ceremony location while all the guests get out of the way and enjoy the cocktail hour at the reception site. If that isn’t possible, I usually have my assistant shuffle people away during the formal photos. I will quite literally tell the wedding party to look at me and ignore everyone else, but in a joking tone of voice so I don’t come across as a jerk.

   • I saw this thread on Brides today and realized that this actually DOES happen quite often at weddings! This guest stood with a camcorder right behind the couple saying their vows, and ruined almost every wedding pic. It is going to cost almost 10 grand if they want to photoshop him out of all of them…

     http://www.brides.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=94151&tstart=0

     • Man, it’s amazing the chutpah and total self-absorption of some people. They have absolutely no clue. Leave the official documentation to the pros! I would imagine this couple is fuming over having their wedding photos ruined like this. I know I would be!

   • I took the pics for a family member..I’m not a professional either and had several uncle bobs that were there. Very similar to this story. I had pics messed up due to flashes, ppl in the way, etc. I can see both sides of the fence. Its up to the bride and groom to let ppl know what they want…and its up to the guest to respect those wishes.

   • I think i will consider this on my wedding day. Trust me i looove to take pictures, but you have to know when is it appropriate to do it and when not… at least for the ceremony.. and our photographer will give us all the photos they take anyways…

   • I was a professional videographer for 20 years and can’ even guess how much time and material was wasted due to this problem. Taping of the ceremony required little movement so my assistant and I were very seldom seen. But several times, the guest attending, went into the altar area and took flash pictures over the minister’s shoulder while he did his thing. I have also seen picture takers asked to leave the church.
     The easiest way is to get the officiant to announce, before the ceremony, that no pictures be taken during the service. This gets you off the hook.
     Since most photographers stage so many shots afterwards anyway, it won’t be much of a problem for them.

8. Amen! I’m so glad you are putting up copy paste stuff tomorrow coz this is exactly what I need! I don’t want to hear 40 photo clicks a second during the ceremony, put them away! Everyone will have access to the pro photos, why do you need your own one from a bad angle?!

   • Exactly! My photographer will have an online viewing album about a week after so no need for bad pictures. If its not included in the copy/paste I may add this fact so people aren’t “worried” they will miss something LOL

9. While it made for some interesting logistical issues, I was super glad that our wedding ceremony and reception were in a dead zone for cell phone service because I didn’t have to worry about people’s phones ringing during the ceremony. Of course, this was in 2008 so before many people had smartphones. Remote locations FTW!

   • Unless there was an emergency and then someone needed someone to use the cell phone to make a call.

     • Well presumably there was a landline avaliable, unless it was a REALLY remote location.

     • Then you step out of the room quietly if you have an emergency. You don’t stay and make it there.

     • That speaks to an issue of having priorities straight with that person. If that person is unable to stay away from their phone for 30 minutes tops in many cases, emergency or otherwise, then they should not be at the ceremony. Either set the expectation that you’re unavailable during that short time window and make alternate arrangements, or respectfully decline the invitation and deal with that pressing issue.

10. We have even started a photo wesbite for all of our guest to upload their pics! We definitely want to see their pics! LOL!!

11. Great article! I am considering sharing this with my clients. As someone who experiences a good deal of his life through the lens of a camera, it is very refreshing to put down the camera and just observe what is going on. Unfortunately, there seems to be some sort of psychological need for people to document every event they go to.

    Adding insult to injury, the majority of the guest photos will range in quality from poor to awful, especially during the ceremony. And these mediocre photographs are then usually dumped on to Facebook, leaving the poor bride and groom tagged in 40 different albums with 300 blurry, unflattering photos each.

    Just so I don’t sound like a bitter wedding photographer, I think that it’s great if guests take their cameras out during the reception-there are usually lots of great things going on, and I can’t be everywhere at once. But leave them alone during the ceremony, the pro has that part under control.

12. My hunny and I have talked about this, too. I am a photographer of sorts (serious amateur), but I really hate looking at professional pictures and seeing a sea of screens. The only wedding I was asked to photograph, I was also the matron of honor, so the family didn’t take my role as camera-wielder seriously. I eventually gave up, and let them have their Uncle Bob way. Maybe I will have my officiant tell the crowd that they have 30 seconds to take their pictures, then put the cameras away.

    • I like the idea of having a specific time for an “everybody photos” free for all. It seems like a nice compromise – sort of the “please hold your questions till the end of the lecture” statement. Some sort of statement like: “Please let the professional photographer be the only photographer during the ceremony. We’ll have a few minutes at the end of the ceremony for everyone else to take photos with their own cameras or phones.”

      • Yep, one of the officiant wording suggestions tomorrow basically says “Take your pictures now, and then please put your cameras away.” 🙂

13. I had a no-camera ceremony and I can totally get a photographer wanting no uncle bobs in the way. however when it came to my formal shots, i didn’t have an uncle bob and my incompetent photographer didn’t transfer the pictures correctly and no i don’t have a shot of me and my parents at my wedding. i wouldn’t wish this on a soul of course. to ease the bride/grooms anxiety to get some pics, i would want an uncle bob to take SOME shots during an allotted time but then make damn sure your photographer knows what he/she/they’re doing

    • There are always going to be nightmare stories of the wedding photographer who missed a shot — I’m just not sure having 50 guests with point-and-shoot cameras is the best way to compensate for a potential photographer fail.

      • oh of course. unfortunately i took the no camera thing a little too literally and put too much faith in one person. so the goal is a happy medium 😉

      • I use a snapshooter and can see them also capturing alongside me for the formals in the event something technical should happen. I am a photographer and also don’t think it’s wise to have just one capturing but I also wouldn’t want 50 capturing.

    • I definitely would make sure you get a photographer you’re comfortable with but I really feel that having an ‘uncle bob’ take photos during formals is the absolute worst time. When other people are firing off shots during formals, it makes it that much harder for your professional photographer to get their shots, because everybody else is looking at the family members and NOT the photographer. It makes the formals last longer too and everybody hates that. Just get a great pro and then don’t worry about it! 🙂

    • This is a perfect example of hiring a professional, not someone from Craigs list or someone who always wanted to “Try it”. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve been called to see if I could “Fix” the photos their friends had taken.

      • Not every “professional” wedding photographer is a GOOD photographer — and this is no secret in the larger photo industry. Not every person on Craig’s list is a lousy photographer. Brides need to make smart choices, shopping for a photographer based on the quality of their work.

    • All professional photographers have a second shooter. A second Photographer who also photographs the wedding. This is for two reasons, one to get the shots the main photographer can’t get (due to not being able to be in two places at once. And two, to make sure that, even if there is a technical problem, the married couple still gets a nice variety of photos From their big day. If you are thinking of hiring a “professional” photographer, make sure to hire one who works with a second shooter!

      • This is rubbish!

        Not all professional photographers need a second shooter. Most of us are trained well enough and competent enough to know how to capture a wedding well enough without resorting to a second shooter.

        There are exceptions of course; if i am having a 250 plus people wedding (like in Ireland or in Italy) then yes, I will bring a second shooter as I want as many moments captured as possible and as the professional that is my call as I ultimately will answer to the brides. But it is disingenious to suggest that ‘If you are thinking of hiring a “professional” photographer, make sure to hire one who works with a second shooter!’

        Education goes a long way with brides and having a discussion on this issue is truly wonderful, but to slam professionals who do not work with a second shooter is simply rubbish and you should not be making such foolish statements… It’s not about the quantity – it is about the quality!

    • So sorry to hear that you didn’t hire a professional photographer. We see this on a daily basis in our studio, folks hiring a fly by night company or an Uncle Bob with a nice camera and they end up disappointed in their photos or with no photos at all. There are places in your wedding budget to cut costs, photography is NOT one of them. Read reviews, see their work, talk to previous clients….do your homework folks. When the day is over the photos are what remains, your choice of photographer is crucial.
      As for Nicole’s comment. This is just another generalized statement from someone who hasn’t done her homework. Not every wedding requires a second shooter. Yes, most pros have someone who does second shooting with them but to try to tell folks that ALL “real” professionals ALWAYS have a second shooter is ridiculous. A true professional can handle any situation independently. We have the training and understanding of a wedding and how it plays out and are competent in our ability to cover it independently or with another photographer as each individual case requires. Again, do you homework folks, it is one of the most important decisions you will make that day.
      An unplugged wedding is a beautiful sight to all pros…we love it!@

14. I think if people want this at their wedding, they need to turn around and offer some generosity in return: Make sure their photographers and catching all of the guests at the wedding and reception, and then make photos available to the guests. People take pictures because they want memories. And most couples are pretty stingy with their photos, even when they are getting the rights to print them as they will.

    • Yep, all the copy ‘n’ paste wording that I’m offering tomorrow includes mentions that the couple will share photos with guests after the wedding. I think most couples WANT to share their photos with guests — the issue is more often just the delay in getting the photos back from photographers.

      • I’d be careful stating this. Most photographers don’t allow their clients to “share” the files. That is considered copying. Just sayin.

        • I think this is becoming less and less true, to be honest. Photographers now are very aware that people want to share photos online and so on, and are finding ways to do it. For example, many photogs have a blog where they post a small gallery of photos for everyone to access, or have an arrangement like my cousin’s where she paid a little extra to have low-res, watermarked copies of all the images to put up on facebook.

        • Most professional photographers post all the wedding images in an online gallery. You are then welcome to see them all, and even purchase files or prints. If the couple has purchased the high res files, you could track her down for any particular images you would like… tho it may be easier and quicker to buy the prints on line from the photographer.

      • Hi. I am dying to know what the official word is on sharing with guests the unplugged preference. I’m getting married in 2 weeks on Manuel Antonio Beach, Costa Rica. Need to be prepared for the big event.

        Love your site!

    • Agreed.

      The problem with no guest photos for me is that as a wedding guest I have never been offered a copy, digital or otherwise, of the professional photos and the best I’ve gotten by asking for them was a suprised, slightly confused reply and 3 tiny pictures of the bride via email.

      So my experience is that if I want pictures of a friend or family members wedding I have to take them myself or go without. I don’t really enjoy taking photos so I don’t go over-board but if that’s my options I’m going to take photos.

      • The question, Danikat, is it your wedding or theirs? It should be their choice whether they want you to have photos or not. Most do not care about the reception but the ceremony and the formals are for the bride and groom. They invite you to share it, not own a part of it. Why do people so desperately need to document everything under the sun, even when it’s someone’s else’s sun? Why not live in the moment, appreciate being invited, remember the good times with your brain and if you desperately must have an image to hold onto ask the bride and groom for one and let them decide whether they wish to share or not.

    • I agree, my cousin had all hers up on Facebook eventually, which was lovely.

    • Bingo! You get it. Off all the comments on here, this is the only one that get’s to heart of the matter. All those guests with their point-n-shoot and the Uncle Bob’s are just trying to make sure THEY get a photo of the wedding. They mean no real harm. One of the most brilliant things my sister-in-law did for her wedding we providing sitting time for close family and friends with the photographer. A few months after the wedding we each received a CD containing shots from both the wedding and the reception. He even provided a framed print for close family. No one interfered with his wedding photographer.

    • Sorry, but many people will not pay extra for a second shooter. Also the bride and groom need to encourage people to be respectful of the pro. Many churches are starting to ban all photography during the ceremony, with the exception of a pro either in the very back or up in the balcony, again in the back.
      Having an Uncle Bob shoot formals along side the pro is often a violation of the pros contract. It’s hard enough to get people to relax for formal shots without having to get them to look first towards the pro(you) then toward Uncle Bob.
      I don’t expect people not to take pictures at a wedding, but I do expect them not to get in my way. I have (nicely) stepped in front of an Uncle Bob to get an important shot. Its my name on the line if I don’t get the shot, not Uncle Bobs.

15. Wow, I had no idea people found guest photography to be so offensive. Makes me wonder how many people i have inadvertetly upset without even knowing it. I can definitely see couples asking that their guests turn off or silence their cell phones during the ceremony, but I always like seeing other people’s views of the wedding. This is especially true when the couple are friends who couldn’t afford to invite everyone they know to the wedding and aren’t going to publish their professional online gallery to the masses. Also, those Facebook photos are great to relive the event and see other perspectives right away, as opposed to months later when the professional pics are complete and the couple chooses to share three of them with their friends.

    I of course understand “Uncle Bob” and how inappropriate these people can be, but isn’t a professional supposed to be able to deal with these people? There is no shortage of cameras at Fashion Week and those pros still manage to get great shots. Getting in the way of the camera is unacceptable but just taking pictures? These people are your guests and asking for no photos, especially if you don’t make a gallery readily available to them, seems a little selfish.

    I look forward to seeing both the pros and my friends’ photos of our wedding. The pros are the ones I will save forever – the non-pros are the ones I will giggle or groan at because they were taken through the eyes of people who care about us.

    • I don’t think there is a problem if you take SOME photos at a wedding but I have seen so many people who are getting in the way of the professional in their eagerness to take a photo. I have almost tripped over people who are hanging over my back trying to get the same shot I am getting. Yes, every professional does their best to deal with obnoxious guests, but why would someone want it to be okay for their guests to possibly ruin a shot from the person they paid good money to capture their wedding. I am really not against all cameras, but it’s just the obsessive nature people tend to have nowadays that’s the problem. I think it’s easier to say ‘no cameras at all’ versus saying.. no cameras for specific people! 🙂

      • I’m a professional videographer and we have been pretty lucky with the guests getting in our way. You always have to try and stay proactive. The worst we find is for the cake cutting, so what we do is allow all of the guest 2-4 minutes for a mocked cake cutting, just so that every guest can get a shot. From there we step in and do the actual cake cutting, this way no one is in anyones way.

    • K, as I said in my post, I’m NOT asserting that every wedding should be unplugged or that there’s anything inherently wrong with guest documentation. If the couple getting married isn’t bothered, then it’s not a problem. I’m not accusing an etiquette breach or bad manners — it’s just an issue of personal taste.

    • We had a good mix – no one got in the way of our one pro photographer, and we got great pictures. We also had three guests who took their own pictures, but not during formal shots (which we staged in a room where people couldn’t find us!), and not very many during the ceremony. The benefit to allowing that was that my parents’ oldest friend developed the photos overnight, and left them a photo album of the entire wedding on their doorstep at 8am the next day, in time to bring it to the post-wedding brunch. It was an incredibly thoughtful gesture, since we didn’t get professional photos for another month. We really enjoyed those photos! And she was able to accomplish it WITHOUT getting in anyone’s way.

      So, it’s possible to get photos from friends without having it be a disaster. It’s hard to communicate that succinctly, however, and we got lucky because we didn’t instruct anyone.

    • As a professional wedding photographer I do my best to work around guests and Uncle Bobs but sometimes it is impossible. Some of these people come to the wedding with the mindset that they can do a better job than me and wish to prove it. I had one man actually shove me out of the aisle at a wedding.I had to put a clause in my contract regarding aggressive guest interference! It can get bad!

      • As wedding professionals, we definitely have experience and know (hopefully) the right way to deal with other photo-takers… But if I’m politely asking uncle bob to not be in the background of every single photo of the first dance, guess what I spend less time doing… taking photos of the first dance!

        Educating your guests about your photo desires (no matter what they are) will only help things in the end.

    • To the fashion week comparison….just remember the models are professionals too. But a bridal party is not. They are easily confused at who to be looking at. Plus music and energy is playing a factor on the runway. Plus most pro photogs at fashion week are not using flash but rather te complex lighting provided by the designer of the show. Uncle bobs pop their flashes off when it suits them not the bride and groom. Believe me if they pulled that at fashion week they would be shown the door.

    • I agree 100% with the comment by “K.” People are naturally going to want to take their own photos, so long as they aren’t interfering with the pro and stay out of the way (which I am VERY BIG on making sure of myself when I attend a wedding), big deal. People are WAY too schizophrenic about photography these days sometimes. I once was photographing the ducks at a lake near where I live & a woman screamed “don’t take my child’s photo, you pervert!,” when I wasn’t even doing that to start with (and even though it’s actually LEGAL to do so anyway if I were).

      Besides not getting in the pro’s way, I understand also about not having the phone beep & buzz every 5 seconds too. I also understand couples renting out a nursery room & having guests drop off their kids in there because kids can be noisy; I have kids & that doesn’t offend me any at all.

      But in terms of “stare at me not at the LCD screen,” why should that matter so much? If I’m just sitting in the pew & not taking any shots, maybe I’m staring at my phone because the wedding song playing is familiar & I’m curious to look it up & see who the singer is. Maybe I bid on something on eBay before I left the house and need to check on it real quick. Regardless, so long as my phone isn’t going off and making a FUSS during the ceremony, what business is that of anybody’s? Since when did a LITTLE BIT of phone interaction in public, especially if it’s discrete, become equivalent to blowing cigar smoke in people’s faces?

      The bride & groom have EVERY RIGHT to ask ANYTHING THEY WANT of the guests, sure. The bride & groom can even make ridiculous requests such as “only fans of the New York Yankees are allowed to attend our wedding,” but it doesn’t mean it’s not RIDICULOUS.

      • I *hate* photos of myself, and I think I have a right to ask people not to take them.

        And as far as staying out of the way of the pro goes, I think the photos above and elsewhere online demonstrate quite clearly that many amateur photogs do not.

        Phone interaction in public is one thing, phone interaction during an intimate and touching moment is quite another. I for one would be very upset if instead of watching the ceremony one of our friends/family spent the time playing with their phone. And personally, I don’t think it’s ridiculous at all to ask that people put their phone away for twenty minutes. Some things are, or should be, more important. These people have gone to a lot of trouble to craft a ceremony which is funny/warm/touching/whatever and if you don’t care enough to pay attention for twenty minutes, I think that’s a bit sad.

      • No. Absolutely not. If you’re with people– even if you’re with close friends– you should excuse yourself to talk on the phone. Whether you say, ‘This is probably my fiancee- mind if I text him I’ll call later?’ or physically excuse yourself to a quiet, discreet place to talk, it’s always rude to interact with your cell phone instead of the people you’re with, because it sends the message that your cell phone (and the artist of the song whose name you can’t remember and that thing you bid on through eBay) are more important than the people you’re with. And that is never, ever polite. Ever. Just so we’re clear.

        In a perfectly polite world, emergencies would never come up in the middle of conversations or dinners or weddings, but since they do, we understand that people need to have their cell phones. That isn’t a license to prioritize auctions and pop culture trivia over your relationships with people. It is a license to leave your Aunt Muffy’s no-children vow renewal if the baby-sitter texts you your two year old is asphyxiating and turning blue.

        *NB- I do relax this guideline (hypocritically) and will text when I’m eating dinner with someone I live with without excusing myself first. This is rude, and completely my fault. I’m not expecting that everybody put down their cell phones whenever in public, but a little more technology etiquette or discretion would go a long way.

        • Emma and M, you absolutely hit the nail on the head.

          Emergencies and excused calls/texts are one thing. However, it is completely inappropriate to be checking the status of an eBay bid, or looking up a song, or anything else of that nature during ANY special event. Especially a wedding. Really, a wedding usually only lasts 15 to 20 minutes. Can you seriously not wait until after the ceremony to do any of those things? I could care less if you utilize reception time to do these things… but during the ceremony? That’s beyond disrespectful. It honestly looks like you’d rather be somewhere else than to be at the couple’s wedding. Something that many couples work very hard on, might I add.

          The last wedding I went to, I watched my aunt, uncle, and their two children stay on Facebook during the entire ceremony. All I could think was “REALLY?! You can’t stay off Facebook for fifteen minutes?”. I was beyond furious to see this.

          While I am on the fence about wedding guests taking photos, and ultimately think it should be the couple’s choice, phone interaction should NOT occur during a wedding. With the exception of emergencies, of course.

      • A & I are particularly annoyed by the use of cell phones during social events. Hells, we have a basket that cell phones go in whenever we have guests over – because we want to actually focus on the people we are spending time with.

        Beyond that, we feel that it is rude to pull out your phone in a place of worship. We observe the traditions and courtesies of our friends’ faiths, when we participate in one of their functions, so it doesn’t feel “ridiculous” to ask the the same of them.

        I plan on stating in the invites that cellphones and cameras are welcome at the reception, but not during the ceremony. We are also going to have our ushers reiterate it as they greet guests and hand out programs.

    • Just remember, a bride is PAYING the pro photographer for every minute they are there and they only have the photographer for so long. Every minute a photographer spends dealing with or obliging everyone that can’t lower their Iphones or cameras is a minute the bride loses that she paid for. So essentially, being a guest that has to get all of “the shots” for their personal pleasure are basically stealing from the bride and groom. Js.

16. YES. Amazing article. We asked our guests not to take photographs during our ceremony by putting a note in the program, and everyone was very respectful. I wanted my guests there and in the moment, especially since our ceremony was so short.

    As a wedding photographer myself, I didn’t want any of MY uncle bob relatives getting in the way of the people we paid lots of money to officially document our wedding. I guess I was hyper aware of how annoying it is to the professional, and I wanted to keep our photographers happy. And our ceremony was very personal, so I didn’t want to see any photos of it popping up on Facebook later.

17. Amen!! This is definitely becoming a problem!

18. I have photographed one (intimate) wedding where the officiant asked that none of the guests take photos. It meant that everyone had to pay attention to what was happening, and honestly, the vibe in the room was palpable. Everyone was so taken in by the ceremony – it was amazing. I do think that having a camera up to my face puts a layer of distance between me and what I’m photographing. I certainly understand why guests want to photograph weddings and I respect the choice to have an unplugged wedding, both as a photographer and as a guest. In the end, it’s up to the bride & groom to decide!

19. My ceremony was going great, then it happened, one person just had to have their phone on and it rang! Didn’t let it bother me but looking back boy was that rude!

    • I remember the red flush of embarrassment I’d get when mine went off during class. I can’t even imagine how mortified I would be if my phone went off during a friend’s wedding.

20. THANK YOU for posting this. It’s something that has bothered me tons going to concert and events but I hadn’t even thought of this happening at our wedding until you posted this..we are going unplugged baby

21. May I suggest, if one decides no photography during the event, that one therefore compensate by providing the guests with a free pic, either make it the favor or tuck it in the thank you note.

    • Yep, as I mentioned up-thread, the wording suggestions & templates coming tomorrow all assume that guests will receive photos after the wedding.

22. I was diagnosed with Epilepsy this year and I can’t handle tons of flashes. I have been really struggling with the weddings I’ve attended since my diagnoses. Most of my guests don’t know that I have Epilepsy. Has anyone gone unplugged for the reception? It will be much darker than our ceremony and I’m more concerned about flashes then, although I’d rather not have them at all outside our photographer. If you’ve gone reception-unplugged: how did you do it?

    Thank you! I am excited to hear the wording ideas. Also so glad I am not the only one.

    • Unfortunately I haven’t decided or had my wedding yet, but I’m also considering going unplugged at the reception as well.

      Are you comfortable sharing with many of your guests that you have epilepsy? It’s a pretty solid reason to ask people to leave their flashes off, at the very least. You could maybe use another excuse for going unplugged on any written mediums, but assign parents or your wedding parties (anyone else your guests might talk to about the wedding) to discretely explain in more detail before the wedding to anyone insistent. If you’re comfortable with discretely disclosing, anyone who argues might not be worth having there at all.

      • I took your advice on this one: most of my friends and some of my family know I have epilepsy, but I’m not sure all of them will think through what a lot of flashes could do to me.

        I asked my mother and future mother-in-law to spread the word. Nobody (this request got to my dad and grandma in about 20 minutes) liked the idea of just asking people not to take pictures without mentioning “a medical condition,” which I thought was very telling regarding why this was even a blog entry in the first place. It’s surprising that people won’t just do what you ask of them at your wedding without questioning it.

        I have a vision of “Now, Kathleen, I know I’m not supposed to take any pictures, and I’m sorry to hear about your epilepsy, etc” from the concerned elders at the wedding. I’m used to that reaction but don’t feel like hearing it on my wedding day. Hopefully people will use their manners and think about “time and place” of their comments. We’ll see.

        • Do the guests need to know that it’s you who has the epilepsy? Your family could just pass the word that one of the guests or one of the wedding party members or something has it (technically true) and to not use a flash, and then you’ll avoid uncomfortable commentary.

    • Have you spoken to you wedding photographer about not using a flash? He/she may need to do something different with lighting to get quality photographs.

    • I do not have epilepsy, but my one working eye is very light sensitive. We’re definitely talking to our photographer about not using a flash, and there will need to be a note in the program.

      Your health concerns (and my inability to walk post being hit with a flash) need to be respected and left alone. If anyone approaches you and discounts your request, you are entirely within your rights to shut them down.

23. I’m terrorifed of the Uncle Bob photos. FH has a Uncle who thinks nothing of getting in peoples faces to take awful photos and ignore all requests to go unplugged.

    Really looking forward to stealing tomorrow’s wording and translating it into Dutch so he has zero excuses.

24. Holla! I want people to be present at my wedding. Like, fully. Plus I’m paying an obscene amount of money on someone I researched completely and whose work I believe in.

    The only person I want to have a camera at the wedding is my future father in law; He’s legally blind (but can still see shapes and colors) but has been taking photos since high school (he says he got into it because he could FINALLY see things in detail when he blew up photos in the dark room). I just wonder if there’s a polite way of telling him that I want him to bring just one of his smaller cameras for some snapshots and nothing else (I’ve seen him go to the zoo with a camera bag the size of a small duffel bag with three different lenses!). Also, I wonder if other guests will be offended… I want him to be able to see the details that he wants to see, and not letting him bring a camera would hinder that. But I don’t want anyone else to be hiding behind a screen or lens!

    • You could just explain “We’ve hired a photographer, and FH’s father will also be taking some pictures on the side. Anyone who wants a copy of these photos will be more than welcome.”

    • AWESOME. Another legally blind photographer! I’m sure if you tell him that you just want him to bring one camera, he’ll oblige.

25. Brilliant. I actually shared this through the *ahem* Facebook group I have set up for our guests. Irony? Maybe.

    • Two things: Read Andrew Keen’s books on the invasion of personal space by the digital self-promoting social networks. And… check out this new wedding mobile and web app called Capsule! My WP turned it on to me. It’s private, photo-sharing for the bride and guests. The inevitable picture-taking is given a home for all my guests to contribute to. It’s free too! http://www.capsuleweddings.com

26. Excellent! Pretty sure I’m going to lay down a strict no-cameras and phones policy for my ceremony. I’ve seen bands throw down one song long no screens policies just to get the crowd to be there fully for at least one song, so damn it, I think I will too. Blanket no electronic devices for guests (other than pacemakers, insulin pumps, hearing aids etc.) starting…now!

    • Really off-topic but I hate when bands do that.

      I don’t like looking at the screens anyway, I’d much prefer to see the stage but since I’m short and often towards the back at most gigs I don’t have a choice. When they turn them off I feel like what they’re really saying is “Only the 50 or so people close enough to see the stage clearly get to enjoy this song. The rest of you are being left out for not making more of an effort.”

      It’s the complete opposite of making people pay attention, it makes me feel like I may as well be at home listening to the CD because I’m not really part of the gig anymore, I’m just hearing it from outside but still with some guys sweaty armpit in my face.

27. I think I’m just going to say something along the lines of “turn off your damn camera or I will stab you in your face!” Haha. Just kidding, but I am really looking forward to your post tomorrow!!

28. So what about when ‘uncle bob’ is a real life professional wedding photographer?
    You would think that a pro wedding photographer would know better as a guest to not be the uncle bob that all of us professionals complain about.
    But, I’ve seen it happen.
    They should know better!

29. I have actually stopped really caring about taking tons of photos at weddings — I don’t really need to relive the event myself as a guest, and the few photos I take at the reception will capture what needs to be captured. I think in general, I’ve gotten a little oversatured by everyone documenting everything ever and putting every event on Facebook…putting the camera away is nice sometimes because you focus yourself instead of fumbling for the focus button. I have to ask myself, why would I want this photo later, given that there are sure to be 800 other versions of it later on facebook?

30. If I don’t care enough about you to pay attention at your wedding, I just won’t go. (I will send a nice gift). Baring folks that are in the medical or public safety sector, everyone who is at your wedding, should have their phones turned off, and their minds turned on to the friends and family at hand. An “unplugged” wedding should be the standard- afterwords, if there are going to be pictures of the bride/groom and family, letting them join in then seems the best solution.

31. I really hadn’t given it much thought, but after reading this article I’m all for requesting my guests turn off their devices in order to take in our ceremony! We’re putting a lot of ourselves into it and would hate for someone to miss something important because they were stuffing around with their camera. We’ve also hired an exceptionally expensive photographer to do that work for us, so guests shouldn’t feel the need.

32. Good read! Couples really need to let their guests know about this

33. Similar post here – http://tiffinbox.org/the-new-wedding-guest/ – by guest blogger/wedding photographer, Richard Esposito. Lots of reactions too. Check it out.

    • Oh, there’s no shortage of posts about this topic from frustrated wedding photographers. My goal with this post was to present the issue less as “UNCLE BOBS MAKE PHOTOGRAPHERS’ LIVES HARD” and more of “an unplugged wedding can benefit couples, guests, AND photographers.” There’s no shortage of (justified) photographer frustration about this issue, but not a lot of positive, constructive guidance about why unplugging can be valuable for brides and grooms.

      • Yes, yes yes. My fiancé and I are planning a Wiccan ceremony with a whole lot of “audience participation”, if you will. Guests aren’t just there to witness passively, they’re *participants* in the ritual. Hard to raise energy when you’re fiddling with a device.

        Thank you for posting this, Ariel!!

        • I’m considering having no photography at all during the ceremony, professional or amateur, but not sure if it would be weird to have just one camera clicking and moving about. We’ll be sitting in a circle, and there will be participation, as well. And NO cell phones!

34. This is really well written. I’ve been trying to find a way to discuss this with my brides. If you don’t mind I’d like to put an intro to this blog on my website and link to your article. Just fantastic.

35. One of our groomsmen is a talented photographer, and he left his camera at home for this very reason. He said that when he brings his camera along to events, he often misses the day because he’s so busy thinking about shots. He said he wanted to be present for the wedding, and so contented himself with taking the odd candid dance floor shot on his cellphone.

36. I Thank the people/person who put this together.
    As a Professional Photographer, this is a very big issue for me in my line of work, as I am often confronted by rude guests who get in the way, or make the people who I am photographing look away from my camera to get their own under/over exposed out of focus shot. As cool and easy as technology is these days, it has also created new breeds of rudeness and brings a whole new kind of coldness to such a big part of a couples life together.
    And the biggest culprits are phones! If it isn’t some one literally taking a minute just to get one photo cause their phone simply cant do the job, it’ll be some one else’s phone ringing at the most inappropriate time, and loudly.
    I have my wedding coming up, and this is something that has concerned me a lot. it really does detach guests from the emotion and intimacy of the wedding ceremony, and considering the day IS all about the couple getting married, why not just let them have that?

37. This is an excellent article & I thank you Ariel for blogging about it! Being a professional photographer, I know how enjoyable it is to take pics of special events of family & friends, especially at weddings. Over the last year, the amount of guests taking photos, cutting in front of me & ruining shots with their flashes is increasing. I can’t tell you how many times I have to stand my ground around the cake table & be elbow to elbow with no room to move & snap photos of the bride & groom cutting into the cake & feeding each other. Or the first dance, a guest will interrupt their dance & get within 5 feet of them to have them look at their camera to take a photo. It happens, believe it or not! I make sure that even during the family formal shots after the ceremony, family members hold off on taking photos until I get mine. I’ll press down on my shutter & have flashes go off the same time as I take mine. It only wastes more of the couples & my time b/c I have to redo my shot b/c mine is blown out by a bright flash. It’s my responsibility to communicate with my brides & grooms about photography at the ceremony & reception. Even DJ’s & wedding coordinators will announce for the guests to stay out of the pro’s way at times. Like I said, I love it when I see people doing something they love & taking photographs of special moments, but when the happy couple pays a good amount of money for professional shots, they want their guests to enjoy celebrating their special day.

38. As a small town photographer, many of my guests for my ceremony on may 15th were professional or aspiring photographers, having shot numerous weddings in the last few years I had requested that my officiant ask the guests to not take pictures during the ceremony to respect the photographer I had chosen to hire, it had skipped his mind initially (even though I had posted it on my wedding wire, knot, event and in the invitations) so during the procession all I saw were DSLRs uncle “bobbing” my photographer. When I got to the front I reminded him.. There was a collective ahhhh! But my pro photos are natural and beautiful and I felt like my day was truly mine!

39. This so much! We are totally going to have at least an Unplugged Ceremony! We also have an “Uncle Bob” in our family, rather a “Father Bob”. My FFIL takes pictures, and it has been hard enough to tell him we want him /in/ the wedding not taking pictures /of/ the wedding. He needs to be there to walk FW down the aisle and other FotB duties. I just hope he leaves his camera equipment at home.

    • hehe, The biggest problem I have is that, when I go to weddings where cameras are allowed,they are almost if not more distracting then cameras. Brides pay a lot of money to get everything right, she pays a lot of attention to detail, why shouldn’t she ask, for just one moment, the guests to take in all the hard work she has done? The other option is to nominate 1 single none pro to shoot from an unobtrusive angle, so there can still be facebook images! I know a lot of brides may worry about not having enough pictures, but we have an abundance! And the all the fun moments after the ceremony were captured!

40. I’m very excited to say that my partner and I have added a note in our invites, asking guests not to take photos during the ceremony, or upload photos of our wedding to Facebook or Twitter. We have an awesome photographer and we just want our guests to enjoy the ceremony and most of all be present. Our photographer is over the moon about this and so are we.

    • Can you share how you phrased the don’t put It on Facebook part? Coz I need that!

      • Hi Sarah,

        Yes we just wrote: “we kindly request that you refrain from uploading wedding photos of us to Facebook. Thank you.”
        We are hopeful that our friends and family will understand.

        • Simple, and polite. Thank you!!

          • I saw this and wanted to pass it on…

41. Am I the only one who perceives this as a matter of manners? I mean not so much bringing your camera/cell phone to the wedding and taking pics (Ariel stated she thinks is it’s a matter of taste), but I mean the being obnoxious and in the photographers way.
    We asked several guests to bring their cameras and take pictures, in addition to our photographer (mainly because she wasn’t going to be there all day). It was great, because we got those extra pics when our professional wasn’t present. But our friends and family made sure they stayed in the background and did not interrupt important moments. For example, when we took the formal shots, the people with the cameras stood behind our photographer. I do think this a matter of good manners; knowing your place in a wedding (i.e. not being the professional photographer, but a guest) and enjoying the wedding (and take some pics when not bothering anyone).

    • I think it doesn’t only boil down to manners (though in some cases, this is certainly true!) but it also lends to the atmosphere,I’ve seen a beautiful bride spend 3k on her gown and as she walks down the isle, no one sees it because they are staring at the LCD on their camera, the brides images from the pro, look more like a funeral then a wedding because everyone appears to be staring at the floor. Or when the rings are being exchanged you don’t hear anything but the sound of shutters clicking. being on both sides of the lens I can tell you I find that incredibly annoying, it’s a golden moment ruined by whhhhhiiiiirrrrrrr, click, snap and an occasional flash. (which by the way will wash the bride out in her pro photos, the pro may not mean much to everyone else, but in the end, it is the bride and groom who will look back 20 years and see the images, I believe it’s a very personal choice. 🙂

42. I have been to a wedding where we were all asked to not take photos, and leave that to the professional photographer. It was quite an intimate wedding and I think we were all so much more involved without our devices being inbetween us and the wedding. The photos of the guests at the wedding are also more beautiful and really caught some of the emotion. Afterwards the couple shared the digital copies of the photos with the guests so we didn’t feel we missed out on any of those important family photos. It made the wedding that much more special for all of us.

43. Just like ‘please turn your mobile phone off’ became popular at the beginning of weddings about 10 years ago, ‘put down your cameras’ is the new trend!

44. Great article! I am a wedding video professional and I am running into more and more of this and I have started educating my couples. Guests think they are doing the couple a favor but it’s just the opposite.

45. This article came at the perfect time for me! (And I found it via a link from my photog on Facebook!) I’m getting married this Saturday, and I recently attended two weddings where I found the barrage of photographs completely distasteful and distracting at the ceremony. One or two, ok, but there were people who didn’t stop at all! And the cameras made noise every time a pic was taken.

    When the wording posts, I’m bringing it to my priest at the rehearsal, so he makes the announcement prior to the ceremony! Thank you!

    As a side note – I’m fine with guest photos at the reception, but I feel like it’s disrespectful at the ceremony.

46. I guess I’m the only one who has never encountered this problem, even at my own wedding this past weekend.

    Sometimes the officiant will make an announcement, and sometimes they won’t…but everyone always puts away their devices during the ceremony. I distinctly remember walking down the aisle, and no one had a camera or a cell phone out. Perhaps where I’m from it’s just common courtesy and sense that you just don’t do that.

    I honestly thought this was standard practice, whether or not guests are told.

47. Oh, I wish all of my couples would do this! And I wish more of my friends would hire good photographers like I recommend them to do, so I could feel free to put my camera down…

    • One of my best friends wanted me to be in her wedding so she just hired the package photographer at the chapel. He was terrible and made me cringed with his ever so present flash even though the room was brightly lit since it was during the afternoon. I snapped a photo here and there but sadly my 30 photos from the wedding were far more superior to the chapel’s photographers. I don’t mean to toot my own horn at all. I agree wholeheartedly with hiring a good photographer and not letting guest take photos during the ceremony.

48. Thank you for this, Ariel. I love how you wrote this to raise questions and make people think. As a wedding photographer, I try to be as flexible as possible on a couple’s day.: as they may want people tweeting under their hash tag during the reception. But for the bride that would rather have full attention of others on their day, not to mention photographs that show them enjoying the moment, this shows them that they can have a say! Also – from the perspective of a wedding photographer- this helps me communicate kindly the benefits of reducing the madness. Nothing is worse than 20 papa razzi guests behind you while you are trying to steal the bride and groom away for a quiet moment or the iphone that gets shoved in front your lens during the ceremony. thank you, thank you!

49. I am so glad to see this post, and thank you for doing so! We will be going unplugged for our wedding in October. I hate the idea that ppl will be posting pictures of us saying our vows on Facebook before our vows are even over!

50. I have a question for the pro photographers who have posted – if you were at a wedding where the bride and groom have asked for no photos, how comfortable would you be with asking guests to put their cameras away, for example during the formal shots?

    • If this is something you’re worried about, I’d suggest appointing wedding party member or other family/friend to be the enforcer. When the request comes from a fellow guest, it’s less likely to be seen as a grumpy encounter.

      • Do you think so? I figured that coming from a photog or someone “official” would make it less inflammatory rather than coming from another member of the family who has no status. My family can be quite touchy, particularly the older ones, and I really don’t know who I could ask to do it.

        • Yep, I think it’s best for a wedding party member to say that the bride and groom has specifically asked them to make the request of guests. I have suggestions for what to say on the follow up post that just went live.

51. Finally. Sense at last. Have fb’d it.

    Thank you.

52. Yes, yes, yes! For our wedding, I only asked that our parents hand their cameras to someone else (this was 7 years ago, and digital cameras were not yet pervasive with our family & friends). My parents did exactly as we asked, and I have several lovely shots of them observing the ceremony. My FIL did not listen, and the only photo we have of him during the ceremony he has his camera to his face. *sigh*.

53. I’ve been to a number of weddings where this has been an issue, and a few where it hasn’t. I think a lot of it has to do with pure common sense. It should be common sense to not get in a professional photographer’s way (or get up & stand behind the bride & groom while they exchange vows, WTF?!), but unfortunately it seems like you really have to spell out for people, sometimes, what is & is not acceptable behavior.

    As for me… well, I’m rather indifferent when it comes to this sort of thing. I agree that being in the moment would be so much more appreciated, but I also know that there are people who want to capture the moment for themselves. My entire childhood was caught on tape/VHS thanks to my mom practically sewing her video camera to her hand, and while it may have kept her “out” of the moments she was capturing, we’ve had fun over the last two decades going over the videos together, laughing & teasing, and she says she doesn’t regret it.

    I will say that when I look back through my prom pics of me & my BF from high school, I have one favorite out of all of them. It was a rather candid pic that a friend snapped of the Boy and I. All of the professional pics were…. well, they were okay. They look nice, they sit in an album at my dad & stepmom’s house. But that candid shot is the one I remember and attach the most sentimentality to. And I can’t imagine how sad I would be if I didn’t have that picture anymore.

    So, I guess it’s really up to how you as a couple feel.

54. As a professional photographer I can understand this to a point. During the wedding and the formal photos it is very distracting to us trying to take photos. I have had an “uncle bob” push me out of the way while I was taking formal photos to take photos. He yelled at me to move it. I told him no and then told everyone who was not in the photos to please leave. I said it very nicely. I was tired of people pushing me out of the way. I’ve told my brides that I dont care if other people have cameras but when it came to the formals to please let noone else take photos until I was done taking mine. I have had a family member punch me in the face to get a photo of the cake cutting. She said I was in her way and that she wanted a better shot of them cutting the cake. At that point the bride saw and asked everyone to back up and let the photographers do their job. I think the “uncle bobs” take it too seriously and should trust the photographers and watch where the photographers are.

    • You got punched in the face?!

      ….What is the MATTER with people?

55. We film weddings with DSLR cameras which are different than traditional video – they give a much more film/cinematic feel to our work. HOWEVER – we can get horrible white banding across the screen when photographers or guests with pro-sumer cameras overshoot a key moment. Check out this video for an example:

    Great article! I’m sure you’ll get a lot of support from the event filmmaking industry on this topic.

    • Wow, that’s amazing. Not just the flashes, but the laser autofocus, too! And no one seems to know that their cameras don’t have to make that stupid imitation clicking sound, either.

56. I totally agree! We have asked guests for our September wedding to not post any wedding pictures to any social media sites. We don’t want photos posted before we even say “I do!”

    We were a bit worried about making this request — but have received nothing but positive feedback from our guests.

57. I totally agree with unplugging. We had less than 20 people at our wedding and hired a professional photographer. Since it was so small, every guest would potentially be in the background of each photo, and we did not want picture-taking in our professional pictures. We did set aside a bit of time after the ceremony for people to use their own cameras, but that was it.

58. Thank you for this, I’m only new to wedding photography and it’s already starting to get to me how many shots are ruined by all the cameras.

59. This reminds me of the saying ‘sometimes the best photograph is the one with you in it’

60. As a wedding photographer myself this is a constant issue. Guest and cell phones or cameras consummed with competing with myself for the best shots. I’ve often times had guest jump up into the isle at the end of the ceremony to photograph the kiss. Of course this completely ruins the photograph that I was paid to take. Or several family members with cameras trying to take pictures while I’m shooting the formals. There is a limited amount of time for the formals and this always will add to it as they seem to think they can take over. Or they will distract those being photographed resulting in people looking in all different directions. It is out of control.

61. Great article! I shared it on my Facebook fan page. Every little bit helps with spreading the word about Uncle Bob.

62. We asked guests to leave their cameras at home, enjoy the day, and check out the fab photos our photographers caught as they spent the entire day with us. Sure, a few still brought their cameras, but it was nice only seeing our photographers and videographer surrounding us as we cut the cake and danced our first dance.

    The funny thing is that if you go through FB to see all of the photos we were tagged in from our wedding, majority were from our photographer, with only a few from friends. It was nice knowing everyone used the day to just relax, have fun and be in the moment.

63. Eventhough I’m used to never get unplugged and like my Canon, Mac and IPhone, I decided to not shoot any Photo on a Wedding unless I got asked to do so. Sometimes hard to believe leaving the stuff at home. 🙂 keep a smile

    • Great Post! I’m interested in peoples opinions on asking guests NOT to put photos they take up on facebook, or other public places? My Fh and I have recently decided to go sans Facebook, and would like to keep our wedding private and only include people who we invited..or close family and friends that couldn’t make it..not masses of people..friends of friends that we havn’t spoken to or heard from in years. Is anyone else considering this? We plan of having a private site for displaying all photos for guests to share..just not facebook.

      • These days, it’s practically a brave move to keep something like that off Facebook. Bravo. Not everything needs to be shared with the world.

      • I think I would like to use a private site too, and just post a selection of the pro photos on FB. Mainly for vanity reasons tbh.

64. I understand this unplugged concept a lot but a wedding I recently attended showed me exactly how useful all those devices can be sometimes…
    I played harp at a family friend’s wedding and from the start, a close friend of mine (who’s a news photographer who’s covered weddings before) had a really bad feeling about the photographer. He was using a flash during the ceremony, flashing us musicians in the face- kinda being an ass. At the reception, he stayed only on the dance floor in the same place the entire time – obviously missing a lot of the older guests who didn’t shake their groove thang. He refused to have the standard “fake bouquet toss” picture pose – saying he was good enough to catch it all (we watched his flash go off- he obviously wasn’t). He gave the bride’s family a higher cost at the reception than was initially negotiated for and left an hour before he told them he would. Thankfully, my friend and I were watching out – the bride and groom were exiting to everyone holding sparklers in a really symbolic gesture for them – and we managed to get video and photos of it all so that they’d have some documentation of it. He was such a horrible photographer – I’m really glad we could make up for that a bit with our own photos.

    • I’m sorry for your friends bad experience with a “pro”, But I do have to wonder why she used him, if she had a bad feeling about him from the get go. My own husband works for a news station and I have shot several Anchor, journalist and news producer weddings, but that doesn’t make them any different then any of my clients, If we don’t “click” at the consultation, I personally will refer them to someone else, I really feel that “clicking” should be a two sided thing, if the bride is uncomfortable with the photographer, she should just move on. As for pricing, A pro photog will have a contract,which covers both the bride and the photographer. Your friend being a photog herself, really should have known, if there isn’t a contract something is wrong, if she did sign a contract, the photog should not have been able to change the fee. As for the fake bouquet toss, I have never “posed” a wedding event in my career, others may have, but when approaching a wedding in a journalistic approach you are documenting a story as it happens, which means everything is as it happens. I wasn’t at this wedding and I don’t know the photog in question, but if it was an indoor reception, he fired his flash to keep motion blur down. Again, I am really sorry for your friends experience, and I hope she doesn’t have a bad taste in her mouth for pro photographers, but there is a huge difference between Photographers and “faux”tographers..I see a lot of things here that could have been done to quell such a disaster. 🙁

65. This is a great article, and very timely. I’ve been photographing and videotaping weddings for two decades, and this past weekend was the worst experience I’ve ever had at a ceremony. Guests actually stood or sat in the middle of the aisle with their cameras and/or camcorders. One person even used his iPhone to initiate a FaceTime conference with a guest who was either not invited or unable to make it to the ceremony; and to get just the “right angle”, he positioned his phone directly next to my camera lens.

    I was completely dumbfounded; I’ve never had to jockey with the guests for position before. It was a very frustrating experience, and one I’d rather not repeat if at all possible. Thanks for this article; I’ll be referring back to it often.

66. I was married in 2002, long before cell phones with decent cameras were so common, so we didn’t have to even think about this. Were I to get married today, I’d definitely have a no-cameras rule during the ceremony. And I’m someone who practically lives online. There’s a time and a place for everything, and my wedding ceremony isn’t the place for a sea of camera phones.

67. I think this is great, really lays out the reasons to take a moment and just see, instead of record (I have been guilty of this!)

    I also think that when every guest takes tons of pictures, they are also often willing to post them on facebook, tweet them, put them up all over the place – and frankly I think that the couple should be able to control their images from that special day a bit more.

    I had wedding guests (*ahem* family) who put up 100 pictures of my wedding on facebook – some really not flattering, because she isn’t a photographer – before I saw any of them and those were the first glimpse that a lot of friends saw of our ceremony. Not cool.

68. I think there’s a middle ground.
    Tell people to turn their cellphones off. Period.
    And tell them if they are going to take photos, that’s fine, but please, no flash in the church, stay in your seat and stay out of the expensive professional photographer’s way.

    I’d hate to think we live in a world where our guests can’t take their own photos WHILE enjoying the ceremony. There is a balance. It doesn’t have to be one or the other. Do we all need to hire “manners police” at special events to remind guests how to act?

    When I got married I had no money for a professional. I relied on my guests and their videos and photos to capture those memories. However, looking back now, even had I been able to afford it, I’d be sad to not have some of those amazing and interesting guest photos.

69. Very well written post.

70. It seems like a good idea, and I love the concept of having the guests experience the wedding without distraction.

    On the flip side, my cousin planned a beautiful (and expensive) wedding where the wedding photographer lost ALL of their photos. Given, this was in the early days of digital, and he was shooting print, but it was a complete disaster. My father, playing Uncle Bob, was able to give them (digitally) the only pictures that they have of their wedding. Even shooting digitally, a lens or camera malfunction could lead to blurry pictures.

71. GREAT piece. Will share it with as many people as I can. As a family we are trying to embrace the unplugged movement once a week: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/18/fashion/18sabbath.html

    • Funny, me too: http://arielmeadow.com/today-show-february-2008/

72. This is such an informative post!

73. I’ve suffered through this while photographing weddings I’m paid to do and then have to almost fallen over people with little digital cameras getting in the way. I’ve actually had to push in to get the shots needed. The next wedding I do which is in October I will be asking the bride if she can put the message out to get out of mine and the second shooters way

74. Tell your guests to put down all the cellphones and camera and hire a photographer to get the best photos possible on your special day.

75. As a professional photographer with 30 yrs experience photographing weddings, I applaud this article. It is becoming more and more difficult to do our job and do it well. More and more people think they could do “our job” just as good. It is more and more difficult as we have to fight to get our shots over the many guests that feel they “Had to get theirs!”. I really hope the right people all read this!

76. As a photographer I can totally relate to this. I recently photographed and videoed a local theatre production play which was running over several nights. They gave me free tickets to watch the last night so I took my wife along with me. I thoroughly enjoyed watching it and not worrying about getting the picture, it was an entirely different experience.

77. When I walk down the aisle… I want to see faces, not camera lenses!

78. Sorry to hear this has happened to you. Most pro photographers nowadays have photo galleries for the wedding couple & their guests to view & purchase photos online. In addition, most pro’s do try to take candids of all the guests for the wedding couple to see all the great folks that attended their wedding.

79. WORD. Uncle Bob is my worst nightmare/biggest thorn in my side. I shot a wedding once where the entire bride’s side of the family was wielding DSLRs and it made it freaking IMPOSSIBLE to get the shots we needed. Half of my ceremony photos half the same dang woman kneeling in the aisle. GAH!
    Also- great job marketing this article- I literally saw the link for it EVERYWHERE yesterday. Great job!

80. One thing you forgot to mention is the beeping noises from all those point and shoots! I was a guest at a wedding this past week–and could often times barely hear the priest because of it!!!

81. I agree about cell phones being turned off during the ceremony, but I personally LOVED seeing all of the different pictures that my guests got at the wedding. I didn’t even notice anyone taking pictures, not even my photographer, because I was so into my husband and our ceremony. Plus, your photographer can’t get every single shot. You’d be surprised at what a guest captures that your highly paid photog doesn’t. One of our favorite shots from that day was taken by a guest.

    • if one of guests happened to ruin your highly paid photographer’s shot, you wouldn’t say the same thing.

    • Guests and family members who are decent-to-good photographers often capture the very best shots of the day because they know the couple. They get the essence of the moment that a mere hired gun, no matter how talented, just can’t apprehend.

82. I couldn’t agree more
    Be present for once
    Trust that a professional photographer is at hand to document and details the events
    If I had a pound for every down-the-isle photo ruined by a waiving nokia camera phone in rhe forgeound I’d be rich!

83. Amen! I have had that last photo happen to me. does the guest really think this is a good place to stand? geese! cool site you got here 😉

84. I’m a flight attendant, so you can be sure everyone will be asked to “turn off and stow all electronic devices”-or else they will delay the commencement of the ceromony!!! 😉

85. I was a Second Photographer at a wedding on friday. There was an Uncle Bob of the worst variety there. Kept standing in the aisle during the vows (I had to walk down the aisle 3 times to tell him to move), the main photographer at the front had to tell him to shift a few times too, he was standing up when everyone else were seated and then afterwards tried to conduct his own formal group shots. Got in the way of everything. After I left apparently he got worse! He totally ruined one of my shots of the couple walking back up the aisle when he jumped out behind them to take photos and in doing so held up the rest of the bridal party

86. Hands down best article I have ever seen on this topic.. This needs to stop at weddings.. I don’t know how many wedding photos have been ruined because of this issue

87. Wow… Very interesting read. I completely understand why some people would want it, but one of my favourite photos is actually one of the professional photos – a picture of my sister (my amateur photographer for the day) taking a photo. Her face, her stance, everything about this photo screams “her” to me – her love of photography, and the absolute joy in her face at being able to have her very own memories of our day through her own lense.

    Yes, I was a little daunted by the whole crowd having cameras – but I think I would have been more daunted by everyone’s faces and the raw emotion some of them were showing (that were thankfully covered by their cameras).

    This is a great eye-opener to other people’s ideas though – something I’ll be trying to take on board when I’m a wedding guest in the future, but for me, the photo of my sister taking a photo (usually a very corny photo) was actually beautiful, and I’m so glad I have that when it completely encompasses her as a person…

88. Our Best Man asked our guests to switch off their phones (in a nice way)and since some of them work for a large mobile phone company this was done as a joke.
    Also no flash photography was allowed in the ceremony room, so this discouraged people from having there cameras there and just had them later when photos were done.

89. 90% wedding I attended, they won’t give you back the pictures they took with you. they won’t show you the wedding video. I guess because most of wedding photographer charge you for digital print out, digital copies.

    Past month, How many people in the world watch Royal Prince wedding? Million? right. Why? … ….. anyway.
    If you are going to get marry, unless you will share all the picture and video to all your guest. if not. and you want all your guest off camera. no way, guest will be every upset. Taking picture and video are the fun part for the guest and they all have right to keep it for their memory.

90. Thank you for writing so eloquently about a topic that often disturbed me during a number of ceremonies of close friends and families. Uncle Bobs are not only nuisance to the couple and professional photographers, but to the guests as well who actually want to enjoy the beautiful couple and not watch the back of Bob’s head that’s blocking the entire view. As a guest, I had a post-ceremony disagreement with another guest, who felt so sure that his pictures will be better than the professionals’. It was a complete distraction. I don’t mind posing for pictures during the reception. In fact, that’s when dancing and mingling with friends takes place, when it is absolutely fun to snap away. I just wish I had the article in my hands before the wedding so that the ceremony would be left in the hands of the professionals. SO GLAD I came across your blog, at least I am not the only one who thinks the wedding ceremony is still sacred and should be regarded as such

91. YES! As an environmental educator, I start out every field trip by telling all the kids to put all their devices away, even to take pictures–because how can you be sure that you’re looking at the flower or whatever it is, and not just at the picture of the flower? The extent to which we’re plugged in seriously does detract from our actual sensual experience of a situation. I didn’t even THINK about doing this at my wedding, but I’m going to!

92. i am a wedding cinematograher and more I edit this year’s weddings, guests with cameras gets more and more unstoppable and out of control. I know there is certain moments that guests would like to capture on their own, but please, during entire ceremony, and formal dances, I wish them to simply sit down and enjoy the moment with and FOR the couple instead of staring at those tiny LCDs.

93. It actually makes me sad when when I see parents with a camera glued to their faces throughout the whole ceremony.
    Enjoy the moment and be part of it rather than hiding behind the camera!
    -Chris

94. As a wedding photographer in Prague, I used to see this problem all of the time. I actually added to my contract that during the ceremony absolutely no one except myself and or my assistants are allowed to take pictures. Because of this the ceremony tends to be more serene, intimate and beautiful. BTW I do not use flash during the ceremony. ‘Pros’ should never truly have to rely on flash in this day and age – to do so shows that he/she does not have the proper equipment, lenses or is simply lazy.

    When I go to weddings where I am not working (one’s where the pro does not have this clause), I tend to notice the ‘uncle Bob’s’ running around in their sneakers, popping their flashes (like crazy), and backing up into things like flowers stands, candles and even other ‘photographers’ and on the alter, in the aisles, simply anywhere. What should have been an intimate, unforgettable moment becomes instead a circus where the ‘photographers’ are running amok and become the center of attention themselves.

    During the rest of the day, anything goes and as a photographer I actually enjoy creating images where the many cameras and phone are stuffed in their faces as I intentionally include this kind of imagery.These people are in their own way sharing in the moment. It has recently become a game of ‘how many iphones and cameras do you see in THAT picture? Is it funny? Yes. Is it a pain to deal with? Yes! Can I as a pro make great images including this? Yes! I am a Pro!

    I do think it is unreasonable to not allow people to take their own pictures during the rest of the day – with the exception of the portrait session. That session is to be intimate and clients are explained this so that there are no problems. After all you can ‘blame it on the photographer as he/she does not allow anyone to tag along on the portrait sessions.’

    But what I truly miss about the lack of cameras and the ubiquitous camera phones that nearly everyone wields at a wedding? The simple, classy look of people enjoying the moment throughout their wedding day and their family and friends actually joining them in the celebrations. The only person who should really be working is the professional photographer hired to be there.
    Kurt Vinion

95. Thank you for this well articulated article! I think we’ll be adding a link to this on our recommended resources page!

96. It’s not just cell phones and cameras that clog up the wedding, video cameras need to be included. I professionally shoot video, and I was at a wedding where 4 guests with video cameras were perched up on the alter, along side myself. I was hired to produce a professional wedding DVD, but had to laugh at the do-it-yourselfers who were trying to hand hold their cameras steady for over 45 minutes. Mine was on a tripod. I asked one of the guests with a video camera why, and the response was that his video was going to be his wedding gift. How sad.

97. I wish all couples would do this. I shared it on my fb page as well. I’ve had guests jump into the aisle just as the bride and her father start coming down the aisle, so all I get is an image of someones behind. No respect anymore.

98. We had an unplugged wedding, and I am so happy we did! No random pictures of our wedding posted on Facebook before we got a chance to look at them, no fiddling with cameras and phones during our wedding, and it allows the professionals to do their job. It only managed to tick off one person, who quickly got over it. It was also nice to gift family with pictures and relive the wedding instead of possibly unflattering pictures

99. This is so annoying.
    I’ve photographed a few weddings on a professional basis and have experienced guests literally getting in my way when trying to take pictures of the wedding party and family members I have posed.
    It would have been so much easier if the bride and groom or another family member had reassured them that they could have copies and reminded them that it was most important that I was the one getting the shots.

100. Though I’ve been totally annoyed by the sea of guests swarming each special moment with their point and shoot cameras, I’ve learned to embrace them as well and use the “Uncle Bob” to create interesting compositions which my clients love.
     Don’t get me wrong. I would love an unplugged wedding. I’ve just never seen one.

101. I’m going to start requesting this at all weddings I shoot 🙂 great post.

102. we hire only 1 photographer for our wedding and picture came out good. but missing a lot great moment. I do work for part time wedding photographer. I do know what is good and bad.

     Never trust photographer, even 2 at the same company. The company may shoot 1000+ pictures for the day, but they may only give you 50 or only the one they think is good back to you.they want to protect their company’s image.
     Some photographer even put on contract that the client can’t post their pictures on internet. WTF??

     Some of the photographer just worry and jealous, their picture came out worse than the guest.

     My advice is. if you have only 1 photographer, better ask 1 family or friend take some snapshot picture during the ceremony too.

     • I don’t know if you had anything in writing but hiring a photographer for a wedding is definitely a situation where you need everything written out. I don’t think it’s fair at all to say “never trust a photographer” based off of one experience.
       As a photographer, I’m not jealous of guests, nor do I have a problem with guests snapping photos for themselves, all I “worry” about is making sure the people who hired me get their money’s worth. If that means shooing away an Uncle Bob, so be it.

     • I’m with Sarah here, if you’ve worked in wedding photography you should have known to only hire if there is a contract.. These contracts protect both photographer and clients and I think it’s safe to say your photog was not a pro if they didn’t use one. If you had a contract then you are well within your rights to ask for what you paid for or if denied any help settling go to court. Your contract should list everything you paid for. But remember you get what you pay for.

103. Great post. I’d love to link to this on my blog.

104. Great article, I’ve always been trying to find the right words to tell people about the whole Uncle Bob photographer scenario. It’s sometimes difficult to approach this subject without coming off like a snob! I’m so glad you put this together, I’ll be forwarding this to everyone I know who is planning a wedding.

105. Great article! ‘Uncle Bob’ can get very frustrating at times, especially when posed guests don’t know where to look.

     Thanks for this!

     (How’s this for the paparazzi: http://l.zndr.co.uk/p8fxWG)

106. This is SUCH a well written article and it brings up so many good points. I appreciate how you’re not full square against people taking photos at weddings but as someone who’s photographed weddings, it is so true that part of the battle is getting around all the family and friends who have their point and shoots out flashing pictures.

     It’s definitely tough to balance not being rude to wedding guests and making sure you get the shots your clients are paying you to get! More guests just need to be aware of what is appropriate and what is going on around them.

107. I’ve been on both sides of the fence when it comes to this situation. I got married five years ago, so photography wasn’t even remotely like it is today. My “wedding photographer” was a family friend who spent more time drinking mimosas then he did photographing us. A close friend took shots at our ceremony (and thankfully, our reception as well because our actual photographer had thrown-in the towel by then), and those are the only decent shots we have from the whole day. If she hadn’t been there, getting in “the photographer’s” way, we’d have nothing.
     On the other hand, I’ve shot a couple of weddings now and my first was a disaster, filled with Uncle Bobs, Aunt Marges and Cousin Freds. I assume it could have been because so much of the family lived a significant distance away and rarely got to see the couple, but I don’t think it should make a difference. It took forever to do the family shots because of the bridal party’s wandering eyes an heads, but I muddled through. A comment earlier about being a professional stands true-it’s our jobs to make the best of the situation no matter what. The couple is paying us to capture what made their day special-not complain about their annoying family! 😉 That being said though, I’ll definitely be discussing with the bride and groom before my next wedding shoot.

108. Having gotten our pro and non-pro photos back from the wedding I have to say I’m so glad we didn’t do this.

     Our photographer was an amazing photo-journalist and he got a lot of fantastic shots but he couldn’t be everywhere at once. He caught the group of guys twisting to Chuck Berry’s You Never Can Tell (aka the song from Pulp Fiction) but missed the bubble war going on at the same time on the far side of the room.

     He also couldn’t have the same perspective on which were the really important shots. He got some great photos of my husband’s cousin’s new boyfriend doing poi but didn’t take any of my best friend of 15 years attempting to remember the routine we’d put together on holiday years before. This is in no way a critisism of him, there is no way he could or should have known but without that background he couldn’t know that one shot of someone doing poi would mean more to us than another.

     Without guests cameras we would have missed a lot of special moments and the minor irritation of seeing the cameras was well worth it.

     Of course not everyone will feel the same, and if you want an unplugged wedding them go for it, but I wanted to offer an alternative perspective on the end result.

109. “Today I finally overcame trying to fit the world inside a picture frame… Didn’t have a camera by my side this time. Hoping I would see the world through both my eyes.” — John Mayer

     I think that quote is going in our invitations, followed by something along the lines of “So all our guests can be ‘in the moment’ with us, please, no photos during the ceremony.”

110. Great article – but in my experience I think guests with digital cameras and phones are hear to stay. It’s up to the wedding photographer to prove their worth. I always look at my photos and ask myself whether a guest could have taken them… For me that is the real measure of good wedding photography.

111. We live in a culture that is obsessed with the photo. Capturing the moment forever. We as photographers are partly to blame for it! Without such demand our industry would be drastically different. Would you be able to charge the same amount if people put little value in creating and capturing something that lasted forever? Living in the moment is a good thing but you can hardly blame people for wanting to create something that will live on.

112. I am a professional photographer who just, in the past couple years, made the big leap from managing corporate studios to launching a business of my own.

     At a wedding I photographed in June, I couldn’t help but notice that a well-dressed guest had a much more expensive camera than my own. Mine is a great one, but she had the one I drool over and am saving up to purchase one day. Throughout the ceremony, she was constantly in my way. When it came time to do the group pictures, it got to the point that I had a hard time getting all the subjects to look straight ahead at my camera, when she was 20 ft to my right, taking pictures of my groups as well. I was so frustrated by the time the day was over, but kept my cool nonetheless.

     The very next day, she posted an album on facebook of a couple hundred photos from that day, and immediately I was afraid that she was going to undermine my work (ie: make the bride wonder why did she just pay me all that $ for photography that was going to take a couple weeks, when her family member was able to do it much faster and with better quality).

     Then I looked through the pictures and was reminded that the camera does NOT make the photographer. They were TERRIBLE. I was no longer worried about that. The worst that came out of it was the fact that I had to do a LOT of extra work in photoshop because I didn’t have many where everyone was looking at me. I had to do quite a bit of head-swapping.

     I wish people would realize that when there is a paid professional there to do the job, they shouldn’t feel compelled to help out. At the very least, if you do feel compelled to help out, have the decency to stay out of the way of the real professional. Maybe she thought she was going to save them some $ on ordering prints???

113. having just shot a couple weddings – by the time I cropped out arms with dangling cellphones and point and shoots – all that was left was part of the bride and her dad walking down the isle. I also had photos that where sheer white from other people blowing the flash during my posed pictures!!! UGH

114. As a professional wedding photographer, I agree with an unplugged wedding. As a former bride last year, I disagree, but only because our photographer did a horrible job of actually capturing the mood, the space, and the details. He did a good job with most, but we had to ask several of our wedding guests for pictures in order to find a picture of the entire ceremony (not one super zoomed in on us) and of the entire wedding reception (not one super zoomed in on us). With a good photographer, they’ll record everything, but ours was supposed to be a damn good photographer. 🙂 So, while I agree that Uncle Bobs can get super annoying, a few of our wedding guests saved us precious memories that our photographer did not capture.

115. I am a hobbyist photographer, NOT a professional & I acknowledge that. Still I LIVE to photograph things & would not appreciate someone telling me I wasn’t welcome to take at least SOME photos at their wedding ESPECIALLY if it was about “I want the guests to pay their attention to ME” vs concerns about interference of the hired professional. When I have taken photos at weddings I’ve always struck a rapport with the professional & let them know that they are “it” & I will not seek to interfere–and if by chance I do, please let me know & I will do whatever, no objections. It’s worked fine.

     Believe me I realize the bride & groom have every right to demand “unplugged,” heck they can demand guests wear purple polka-dot hats if they want, it’s THEIR wedding. But I would not feel welcome at an event where people act like me using a camera is akin to showing up dressed like Bozo the Clown or belching outloud during the ceremony, especially if I am in fact respectful of the pro & am out of the way. What business is it if anyone that I don’t “absorb the experience?” If I’m not disturbing the peace or being a disruption, don’t make a big deal out of nothing. I respect it is the couple’s choice how they do it, but I still say just leave well enough alone if the guests aren’t being a disruption or being loud/unruly etc.

     • Well, if you’re one who stays out of the way you’re very much in the minority, I think. Most amateurs are intrusive whether they mean to be or not, particularly with flashes and stuff, and the photos from the post above demonstrate that rather well.

       Also I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect guests to pay attention during a wedding ceremony. The point of being at a wedding is to absorb the experience, as you put it, and if you don’t want to do that, I don’t understand why you’re there at all.

     • That’s all very well, but religious ceremonies (for example) are still an act of worship and some religious leaders ask for no photography out of respect of that. My ceremony will be religious and I don’t want people interrupting quiet, intimate moments with flashes of the camera and the obnoxious ‘clicking’ noise.

       Receptions are different, anc I’d be perfectly happy for other guests to be snapping away, especially as I wouldn’t be doing any myself.

116. I had my guests unplug for my may wedding during the ceremony- it was a truly magical experience. EVERYONE was in the moment with us- when we were announced as husband and wife, instead of the loud invasive clapping, everyone was right there with us- quiet, smiling, the room was filled with love- and there was a deep spiritual connection made between everyone in the room. It was electric and just fantastic- i can’t recommend it enough!

117. Love this article!
     At the last wedding I attended I was so frustrated and distracted by the photographic under takings of my friend sitting near me. Not only was she documenting every bit of it, but with a TABLET, no less. Many other guests were ungrossed in their photos, and I honestly don’t recall much of the ceremony at all. >:/
     Initially, I thought that I’d be glad many guests will do the same at my wedding; since it means more photos, but that’s why I’m shelling out for a photographer! In the end, I really don’t want to look at the guest and see a sea of faces, behind lens and screens.

118. Great article – I’m sharing it with my clients!

119. We will be asking for absolutely no photography by guests during the ceremony. I am paying $3,500+ for our photographer, and I want to make absolutely sure I don’t see any photos of point-and-shoots or cell phones in his beautiful professional photos. I am an amateur photographer and a bit of a photography snob. I recently perused through the portfolio of our photographer, and in one particular wedding, the ceremony was SO well-documented; he got every shot imaginable. And, in EVERY SINGLE photo, there was one guest in the third row or so on the aisle who stared at her phone the entire time; I don’t know if she was taking photos or videoing, but never once did she look up at the couple. It drove me crazy. For people who are okay with that or who like that in their photos, all the more power to you, but it’s just not for me.

     The reception, however, is fair game for all – from the DSLR users who don’t know what ISO and shutter speed are to the iPhone people who apply every special effect imaginable. I’ll be excited to see everyone’s angle on the reception.

120. I’ve shared this article many times now – great advice. I once turned down shooting a friends wedding because I wanted to actually ‘be there’ that day not just hidden behind a camera and mentally removed from the activities. I love doing photography but sometimes its just better to experience the event, not just document it.

121. well said! Thank you for giving brides and grooms a voice to set limits for their day.

122. “The bride and groom have requested that all guests remain seated, do not stand in the aisles taking photos and enjoy the ceremony”. Thank you, the minister.

123. With our wedding invites we sent out cards saying no cameras or phones allowed at our wedding and it really worked. Use the vistaprint free business cards!!!

124. not hating here, but it is extremely difficult for me to understand how someone would want this. Firstly, all photogs will want you to do this so they make more money, and secondly, yes your photog will take amazing pictures (but for me personally), having those candid shots, and different angles just gives you extra pictures to enjoy, and maybe your favorite picture is of “uncle bob” break dancing, and your photog didnt get it because they were doing a close up of a napkin with your name on it?

     • If uncle bob is break dancing during my vows, not only do I not want a picture of it, I have assigned specific people to be armed with sharp objects for removing anyone who tries to interrupt the ceremony.

     • Very good coverage of the day just isn’t good enough anymore. You are the type that wants more, more, more, more! If we got the shot of “uncle Bob” break dancing, you would complain that we never got a close up of the “napkin with our names on it”. Digital photography changed everything. Back in the day a freelancer was given 10 rolls of film, that’s it! That ten rolls equaled 230-250 photos, depending on the camera. All the brides were happy. Today’s bride has me giving up the thing I love to do & searching other ways to make a living! It’s really sad.

125. It is amazing how different people can be. My son is handing out cameras at his wedding and asking people to shoot away and pass them around. He is the artsy type, so this might not work for everyone.

126. I can relate to this. We filmed a wedding last year where the photographer did not allow guests to take photos. Upon delivering the video to our client, she begins to tell me how upset she was with the photographer because she cut half of the brides mom’s arm off in the shot. I went home and went through the footage from our saftey camera and wouldn’t you know it, one of the guests took a photo of the bride during the processional while being almost in the center isle with her ipad, which we all know is not a small devise. So the photographer had no choice but to edit the photo the way she did.

127. I agree…. sort of. As a recent bride (four months ago), this is rather fresh in my memory. I discovered when we received our disc of images from our (awesome) photographer that there were a few important family members that we didn’t have *any* pictures of at the wedding. We had a party booth but some people didn’t step in. We had some guests live Instagram-ing the wedding, but still we don’t have a record that some guests were even there… and frankly, I can’t recall if some of them were. So, additional pictures, even non-professional quality, would have been welcome.

128. Preach it!! Love this so much!

129. Wedding guests with the emergence of smartphones and digital cameras becoming so affordable, people will be taking more and more photos at weddings. The guests should definitely allow the photographer room to operate and get those important shots, but there has to be some middle ground to allow guest to use their own camera.

130. I just read an article in the weekend paper about the “slow photography” movement…as in, just like slow food, we might think about the way we take photographs. My fiance and I talked about the feasibility of an unplugged wedding and didn’t feel like it was right for us. So, the idea of slow photography seemed more reasonable. Remember when you just had a roll of film? You took those pictures a bit more judiciously and didn’t look at them immediately after you took them, only to decide they weren’t quite perfect. You would have to wait and see what came out in the development (which was an awfully nice surprise, wasn’t it?). I am thinking of some wording that has to do with taking photos but not forgetting to be there with us and let us see your lovely faces…

131. I got married a week and a half ago. We had a mention on our wedsite faq about doing it unplugged with a link to this post, then printed out some flyers from here and hung them up on the outside of the venue. and it worked! at the reception, i caught a couple family members with their camera phones out, gave them a silly/stern look and they sheepishly put them away. mostly, people actually respected it though!!!! It’s pretty crazy though that it’s 12 days post-wedding and I don’t have a single photo from the day (worth it… and the photographers will get the photos to us soon enough.)

     the moment, especially, when i walked down the aisle, was one of my favorite parts. it was like the storybook idea of heaven, that there are all your loved ones, smiling at you, waiting to accept you with open arms. and i am so, so, so, so glad that not a single one of them was holding a camera.

132. For those guests wanting pictures of the wedding, all they have to do is check out the bride and grooms online gallery and order prints. The pro hired for the wedding cannot possibly give out a bunch of free shots to the guests. It would be an astronomical amount of money for a 150+ number of guests wedding.
     An Uncle Bob doesn’t really bother me unless they are rude and disrupting the ceremony. Unfortunately, the reason for this aggressive behavior is that they have no intention of buying prints(how the pro makes his income) and will do anything to get a shot.
     Also many pros DO post wedding pics online to FB, but again people will copy these pics and again no print sales. The bride and grooms right to make prints from the wedding DVD is only granted to them, not to the other 150 guests. Too many guests expect the whole wedding album for free. It just isn’t financially possible for the pro to do this.
     Uncle Bobs that stand behind and retake the nicely set up shots arranged by the pro are taking income from the pro in print sales. this is the only way the pro can break even. I know many out there think that wedding photographers make tons of money, but what people don’t realize, is that after the 8-10 hrs of wedding coverage, the pro goes home and will spend another 50-60 hrs editing, and another 8-10 hours uploading 400-800 photos online. Plus insurance, taxes, equiptment, etc. that is why print sales are an important source of income.

133. YES! I’m so happy to have come across this article. I’ve been so concerned about this and didn’t even realize an “unplugged” wedding was an option!

134. Having read this item before my wedding and now being in the state of evaluating how it all went down post-wedding, I wanted to come back to this thread with some recommendations. I loved this story and the principle behind it…that you really want people to be there. On the other hand, many offbeat brides (IMO) are cautious on spending a gazillion dollars on photographers. I had an affordable (but good) photographer and thought he’d capture what we wanted – we said very little posed photography. Unfortunately, I’ve got no photos with some of my closest family…and I know that my Mom specifically didn’t bring a camera because I told her about this philosophy. My advice is that if you do have friends who love taking pictures, they might be your greatest asset for the random get-together shots that are often better than the professional glossies.

135. As a pastor, I require that there be no photography during ceremonies. It has blinded me!! So let your officiant be the bad guy and tell everyone that they require no photos

136. I totally agree, take in the moment without your device. I never thought of asking guests NOT to use their phone or camera during the ceremony but after reading this article, I’ve been empowered to do so 🙂

137. We politely asked our friends and family to drop the cameras and “just be there” and it was wonderful. I think everyone slowed down, felt the air and smiled. We posted a little sign where people were coming in and nobody was put out by the requests. In a way, I think it set a relaxing tone that lasted throughout the day.

138. p.s. we DID allow reception photo snapping, why not!

139. I’m so glad I read this post when I prepared for our wedding a few months ago. There was another one I spotted on here about placing a note in the program asking please no photography during the ceremony and please don’t post photos or video of our wedding on any social media. It was tough discussing this rule with my in-laws, who are non-stop shutterbugs; they said they thought our guests would find it controlling and rude. But we were expecting a very emotional day (both of my parents are gone; my fiancé proposed to me a few weeks before my mother died and knowing she would not be with us for the wedding was very hard on all of us). I didn’t want to feel even more vulnerable with everyone snapping photos and then sticking them without our OK on the Facebooks. After all there were many friends we couldn’t manage to invite due to the venue’s limitations, and shoving our big party in our friends’ faces on FB might have caused hurt feelings.

     As it happens we were super smart to have insisted on the no photo blurb on our program, because when the big day finally arrived, it rained cats and dogs and we had to move our spacious outdoor ceremonial setup inside our tiny cabin venue. It was beautiful but harried and rushed in response to the weather, and the aisle was so narrow I couldn’t walk down with both my aunt and uncle on either side as planned; rather, it appeared as though we were all squeezing rather inelegantly down the aisle, and on our recessional, it looked like I was dragging my new husband with me! This is all to say that our actual wedding ceremony was far more cramped than expected, so I can only imagine how much more invasive allowing 125+ iPhones and Nikons snapping away at us as we tried to create a sacred, safe, peaceful and joyful space would’ve been if we hadn’t thought carefully about this matter ahead of time. I AM SO GLAD I DID THIS, AND I AM AMAZED THAT I DID SO! Indeed, I have a very hard time sticking to my guns, always giving into what others want as a chronic people-pleaser and life-long customer service rep of some kind or other, so this was a tiny victory for me which resulted in a fine ceremony as well as great photographs by the professionals we’d hired (and paid royally for, natch), who actually had a shot at getting decent angles in terrible, low light, which requires a still hand without a lot of shoving all the Uncle Bobs out of the damn way.

     And BTW, we actually have an Uncle Bob named Uncle Bob. We did the right thing.

140. This is one of the things I love most about OffBeatBride, the critical information and advice that you didn’t even know you needed [because you just never thought of it] until you read about it.

     Thanks to this article, I now know that I’m definitely going to be unplugging my wedding because:

     –It’s incredibly rude and distracting
     –Those photos aren’t for us; they’re for Facebook! -_-
     –Medical reasons among the guests
     –I paid money for a photographer LOL let my investment not be wasted!

     While I’m a huge fan of photos as memory holders, I wish there was some way to effectively keep people from spreading them all over the internet…. *sigh*

141. I just realized, wouldn’t using Google Glasses solve this? You can still record/film what you want, AND the LCD/view finder screen won’t be visible!

142. I am such a huge supporter of going unplugged now and it all started with this post.

143. Brides, go UNPLUGGED (with a minute or two allotted for the freelancers)! Also request no friendly facebook posts, etc. You want the opportunity to put your best look up and not have a million ones where you look dazed or were adjusting your spanks on the way to the reception. I am a wedding planner today almost completely because I want to help brides have the fairy tale wedding that I did not. I’m a very organized, type-A personality; however, when you plan a wedding yourself you simply do not know all the little intricacies that make it extra special. There is SO much to do and think about that it’s very easy to spend your wedding day EXHAUSTED and just ready for it to be done (who wants that?)! My 66-year old grandmother was my Uncle Bob (imagine that)! There are some wedding photos (my pro shots) I can’t even bear to look at to this day and that was 20 yrs ago! My husband and I joke about it today and usually when I tell the story people fall over laughing — her camera was a new Polaroid Instamatic bought especially for the big day. After every shot, you heard click – a long whir – and the sound of vigorous arm waving to dry the photo…she even sent a few other people up behind the officiant when her legs got tired but she still wanted her shot! Yes, it’s hilariously funny and a bonafide “can-you-believe” memory from my wedding, but honestly one I could have done without. That incident is really what I remember about the ceremony and my vows. And ps – I never told grammy (God rest her precious soul). 😀

144. I’m a writer, and in a wedding scene I wrote I had a groom who was majorly camera shy so I had his wedding be unplugged (except for one photographer and one videographer) and then each guest got a CD of pictures and video clips mailed to them so they still had momentos of the day.

145. Great article!!! I am sharing this on my page if you don’t mind!!!

146. It’s all a matter of personal choice but I like the idea of no photos during the ceremony. Guests are usually invited to photograph the couple with the register and there will be lots of chances to take photos afterwards. Listen to the words and enjoy the moment – it passes so quickly….

147. As a pro wedding photographer I find it rude the these guests get in my way while I’m trying to my job. I never get in their way at their job. I only have one chance to get it right & guests hamper my ability to work at 100%. I call them “camera gnats” These people need to understand that when I can’t work at 100% it affects the out come of the job & the ones who suffer are the Bride & Groom. Put your cameras down & go get a drink………..Facebook can wait for these photos!

148. I understand the concept, but I disagree. I think it’s incredibly rude to shame my guests for doing what comes naturally. Since the invention of personal cameras people have wanted to take photos to remember special moments. Our technology makes it available to more people these days, and therefore you see more people engaged in photo/video activity. Yes, our society and its technology has led people to document what seems like “everything,” but not truly everything. Truth be told, when when I’m personally not using my camera/phone to capture what could be considered a special moment, I’m usually pretty disinterested in it: I don’t find it captivating. Why do people continue to take photos of the Grand Canyon, despite it already being documented by thousands of other people? When they are there, in that moment, the moment is unique, they’re captivated by their experience, and they want to be able to remember it for much longer than just that fleeting span of time. I would like my guests to feel welcomed at my wedding, not thrown a bunch of rules & guidelines. The bottom line is that I’m excited that my guests are willing to take time out of their busy lives to share the day with me! The fact that they are interested, captivated, and find the ceremony/reception special and are just as eager to have photo/video, makes their attendance even more meaningful.

     • The problem is that you are not the Grand Canyon and do not deserve to be treated as such. They weren’t born with phones in their hand, so it isn’t doing what comes naturally. All those people are not interested in you. At that moment, they are only interested in their phones. Look at them and see how many are actually looking at you. They are looking at the phones, and would kill in someone got in the way. Then they have to pay more attention to the phone so they can send the picture to Facebook and where ever else they send it. Then Tweet something. All this time those friends are ignoring you, who should be the center of attention, not an after thought. And by the time they get finish diddling with the phones, the service will be over and they haven’t seen a thing. Just ask them about it – they haven’t seen it.

149. I took this article and ran with it for my October 2013 wedding and it was, hands down, one of the best decisions we made for our ceremony. I have a mental pictures frozen in my mind of turning around at the front, standing with my soon to be husband, and seeing the FACES of everyone in the crowd. I will forever cherish that moment. Our reverend was not comfortable with saying anything, so we placed a blurb in our program and it worked like a charm. DO IT!

     We took our wording from the examples above (we also had a ring ceremony, thanks OBB). I think having the ring ceremony helped encourage people to not have cameras in their hands:

     “Welcome, friends and family! Thank you for being here tonight, we are sincerely grateful for your presence in our lives. We feel especially lucky to have so many special people share in this very special day.

     We invite you to be truly present at this special time. Please, turn off your cellphones and put down your cameras. The photographer will capture how this moment looks — We encourage you all to capture how it feels with your hearts, without the distraction of technology.

     During the Ceremony we will be having what is known as a Ring Ceremony. The concept is simple: throughout the ceremony our rings will be making their way through the crowd, with an invitation for each of you to hold the rings in your hand for a moment, warm them with your love, and make a silent wish for us, one that will carry us into a bright and lasting marriage. When we exchange the rings during our ceremony, they will carry not only the promises we make to each other, but the love and support of each of you.

     So sit back, relax, and get ready to have fun! We thank you in advance for sharing in this special, once-in-a-lifetime moment for us.”

     • Courtney, This is absolutely a great idea, and I hope it worked with no problems. I used to do wedding videos before Iphones grew fast to people’s hands, so it wasn’t nearly as bad. Glad I moved away from doing weddings. It would drive me nuts today. Good Luck

150. It’s not just weddings – it’s any religious event.

     I’ve been doing the communion and confirmation photos for the local church for the past 8 years or so. The first couple of years, it was fine. But around year 3, more people decided that if I was allowed to come up and take shots right in front of the altar, they should be allowed to do the same. The low point was year 4 – there was a man who crawled up in front of the altar and was on the ground right by my feet while I was trying to take the shot. Another guy went around the back of the altar so he could get a shot of the kid’s face instead of a side view. Obviously, that guest wasn’t a Catholic!

     The priest and youth director try to get me the room I need to move by reminding people at the rehearsal that they should not leave their seats to take photos, that I’ll be taking photos and they can get them from me – I have the best view in the house and it’s not like I’m charging a ton ($15 for a 5X7 or 3 for $30). I think a lot of times it’s not the parents or sponsors who are taking these shots (they were at the rehearsal, so they heard the announcement) but it’s the aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc. who just came to the event.

     After the Mass, we do a group shot of each class. There is always a herd of 50+ people standing directly behind me while I get the shot. I always tell them (or the youth director makes the announcement) that if they let me get my shot with all of the kids looking at me and no other flashes going off, I’ll move out of the way and they can take their own. Of course, their shot will have their kid looking at them, but every other kid in the shot will be looking at their own parent.

     Why not just sit back and ENJOY this moment in your child’s life? I was hired to do the job of documenting it, and quite honestly the priest doesn’t want people wandering around the church to take a shot of their kid. I have my spot right near the altar, you can’t possibly have a better view unless you’re the priest himself, so just sit back, relax, live the moment and let me take care of the work. I’ve been doing this for a while, the priest and I work together to make things smooth and awesome, so have a good time at your child’s special day and relax a bit!

151. A good example

152. Awesome article that every Bride & Groom should read.

153. We got married two years ago in a Catholic ceremony, and asked our officiant to announce from the pulpit that the bride and groom would like the guests to be fully there in spirit and in body, and therefore not to take photos during the ceremony. It worked, and noone took a photo after he said it.

     In fairness, most people didn’t take photos of me walking down the aisle, but there is a lovely one of everyone looking at me and my Dad, ruined by someone in the foreground fiddling with her phone. (I am aware of the irony of a guest taking one of the best photos).

154. As a wedding photographer nothing makes me happier when a couple comes to pick up their wedding photos and they are elated with their pictures, because its the first time they see their pictures. Because they didn’t see any of them posted on FB. I always discuss this with my couples why I prefer that no one take photos except myself for that reason and also to avoid ruining group shots cause everyone is looking in a different location. So far I have not had any couple reject my request.

155. I would not allow this many cameras. its obscure! i know my name is diamond and sounds obscure but this is not very good to do at a wedding nor having or seeing a bunch of people looking at you with cameras. keep it old fashion!

156. As a photographer who trained pre-digital age I can’t help but feel that I should be adamantly pro-unplugged weddings. However I am also an absolute social media addict, especially when it comes to photography, be that professional work or my beloved iphone images.
     Whilst I can certainly see the benefit of shooting with no risk of uncles, aunts or over-enthusiastic friends popping into shot at that all important moment I also have to admit it has never totally ruined a shot for me either.
     Truth be told, I feel that if people are snapping away on phones, point and shoots, disposable camera’s or anything else this is all part of the story of the day. Some of my favourite images incorporate this modern phenomenon – children running round with disposable camera’s, grandparents deciphering touch-screen style shooting etc.
     I suppose the fact is the portrait photographer in me would be grateful at least, to not feel like I am in some kind of polite paparazzi scrum whilst trying to capture intimacy and romance between newly married couples (as an ex music photographer I served my time elbow jostling for pictures!), but the documentary photographer in my enjoys the additional sub-narratives that play out in the background.

157. I like it unplugged: http://offbeatwed.com/

158. Hi, I find this very interesting as I’m getting married soon and wish that people won’t get In The way of the professional photographer however my fiancé is looking to do a live stream for all the folks who really wants to be there but finances won’t allow. My question is since we are planning the live stream would it look bad to ask guests to unplug?

     • You could remind them of the live streaming video. Remind them that they will look a lot better on tv WITHOUT their phones in front of their faces.

       Lynn

159. From the other side: We DIDN’T have an unplugged wedding, and I’m SO glad. Through a long chain of events, we got a photographer the day before the wedding. Looking through his portfolio, he was an amazing photographer/digital artist, though not a wedding photographer. There were several shots he either didn’t get at all, or didn’t get good shots. We got a hundred or so images, but they were almost all of the ceremony (from the same spot, so they all looked the same) and of the table decorations (again, almost all looked the same). Without our friends and family taking pictures, we would have missed out on a lot of the tangible memories.

160. This is absolutely crazy! It’s funny because photographers have such strict rules at churches now, but really the guests are a much bigger distraction!

161. Such an interesting article!

162. I am a wedding photographer myself and cannot thank you enough for writing this article. Having guests taking photos during the weddings I photograph is the number one problem I face currently. Everyone is a photographer and wants to get on the ay to capture the wedding day. Sometimes I wonder why the bride and groom actually hires me to be there wedding photographer.

     I usually ask the couples to send a message to their clients that we will have “unplugged” wedding but still many cannot resist the urge. Hope many brides and grooms will read and share this blog so we can have better view of them during the ceremony. If one hires a wedding photographer, why not let his or her do their jobs. One thing which I found useful is to add a clause into my wedding contract stating that if guests interfere I will not be liable for missed photos or snapping their backs.

     Good to hear how others are dealing with this problem.

     Thanks

163. I think this is something that we should communicate with our couples. Guests busy on gadgets really don’t make good subjects for our pictures. :/

164. The link for “standing on pews” in the Uncle Bob section leads to a site infected with malware, that proceeded to try to infect my computer with malware. You should remove the hyperlink 🙂

165. I think an individual can enjoy the moment much more by ditching the devices on some important and ever moments.

166. It’s a reality that guests are bringing their phones and devices. It’s possible to minimize it but hard to think it will ever be eliminated. Call it the new normal. Technology will keep evolving and tomorrow it will be something else, VR at weddings or whatever. The best take away is the lesson of being “present” in a moment. It’s not wrong to want to capture something for yourself, but it does distract you from feeling the emotions that can come when we experience something fully. And that’s my encouragement for all of us, guests, photographers, planners, whomever. Be present with those around you and be present with your family. We all will slip up sometimes on that goal, but it’s a good beacon to point yourself towards.

167. Turn off please!

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