Recently, we had a pleasant surprise at a wedding we photographed. The bride and groom requested that it be an “unplugged wedding”.
At the sign in book, they had a framed sign that said,
“Welcome to our Unplugged Wedding. We invite you to be fully present with us during our ceremony. We would really like to see your faces, not your devices. Please turn off all cell phones and cameras.”
As wedding photographers, we try to capture every single significant moment in a wedding ceremony. By the time the date arrives, we have spent hours with the bride and groom catching their vision for what images will be the most important to them from that special day. We spend time strategizing on the day of to make sure we are respectful, yet positioned in prime locations to capture everything in just the way it needs to be to preserve this memory for the bride and groom for their lifetime. However, in the last few years as cell phones, ipads and other devices have become more popular, it has created a new challenge for wedding photographers to capture the reverent beauty of a wedding ceremony. We love that the bride and groom have loved ones capturing moments and sending them pictures later, but we can’t tell you the number of times we have been all set up, completely ready and waiting with baited breathe for the grand entrance of the bride, and as soon as the doors open at the end of the aisle, smartphones, cameras and (yes) ipads are pulled out and everyone is leaning into the aisle to try to capture her big moment…ruining the professional photographers shot that has been deemed one of the most important by the bride.
You definitely don’t want to have this happen in all of your photos…here’s a few of our favorite bloopers that other photographers have captured…
We have learned to adjust and try to work around devices, people popping into the aisle and even flashes (yes, camera flashes are not only disruptive, but ruin the light settings we have already established on our cameras), but it was refreshing to look back at our images from this particular wedding and not see electronic devices lining the aisle or blocking the bride. There are ways of being discreet with your device, but many people get swept away in the intensity of the moment and forget that there are professionals trying to capture the perfection of the ceremony. If you’re a bride that doesn’t want to have the aisle lined with electronic devices, you may consider an unplugged wedding as a wonderful way to have everyone fully present with you on your big day.