Should You Have An Unplugged Wedding Ceremony?
Personally, I’m not for or against unplugged wedding ceremonies! I see the value in your guests being present during this important moment but I’m never going to be mad when they want to document it for themselves (but for the LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD IN THE WORLD enough with the iPads, wedding guests!! They’re so uglyyyy)
As with all things, there are pros & cons to having an unplugged wedding ceremony so this educational post is more to shed light on why you would maybe want an unplugged ceremony if you’re on the fence about doing one or it could sway you into allowing your guests to document their little hearts away!
The Pros Of An Unplugged Wedding Ceremony
🌙 Your guests are fully present which means we get awesome emotional reaction photos of them! Their attention won’t be on anything else other than watching the two of you commit yourselves to each other…this part of the day is the whole reason you’re even having a wedding
🌙They won’t be leaning out into the aisle to “get their shot” during the important bits, like your walk down the aisle or your first kiss
🌙 Its all about safety! Its happened too many times where we’re in the aisle getting our shot and then go to back up and a guest is directly behind us! Us or the guest can get hurt because of that
🌙 Guests might feel like they’ll be allowed to wander around during the ceremony to get a different angle if you allow them to take photos. We’ve seen uncles walk directly up to the couple to take photos during the ring exchange and stay there for a few minutes. Big yikes!
🌙No random flashes going off and being distracting. Did you know that in 99% of church weddings your professional photographer isnt allowed to use flash at all? But also, if your photographer IS using flash indoors (normally a non-church venue) then your guests flash will actually RUIN your photographers photo!
🌙Having an unplugged ceremony ensures that no ones phone will go off randomly during the ceremony as a distraction
🌙 You’ll be able to look out at your guests during the ceremony and actually see their faces and not a sea of iPhones and cameras looking back at you
The Cons Of An Unplugged Wedding Ceremony
🌙 Guests might be a little grouchy about it. We live in an age where we want to document everything, and sometimes an older aunt can get a little annoyed thats shes “not allowed to take any pictures”
🌙 You might have to wait a while before you see any ceremony photos from your photographer, so by halting guests from taking any pictures, you’ll have to be patient
🌙 You’ll miss out on the unique perspective of your guests point of the view of the ceremony. The quality most likely wont be good, but we find unique perspectives to be fun
🌙 We won’t get to take an Inception Shot of you at the alter THROUGH your guests phone – we like to sneak these over their shoulder for funsies
How To Announce Your Unplugged Ceremony
If you’ve decided that you DO want an unplugged ceremony, great!
Now…how do you enforce it?
We recommend 2 ways but they only work when done TOGETHER.
I know you’ve seen those cute ass Unplugged Ceremony signs on Etsy, and we definitely think you need a big sign by the ceremony entrance letting guests know!
Buuuuut most guests choose to ignore the sign. So you should really tell your officiant to make an announcement before any of you walk down the aisle! This way, your guests have zero excuse for not knowing about the request!
You can ask your officiant to say something along the lines of “The couple is so excited that you all came to celebrate their marriage today. They have asked that in order for you all to be fully present during the ceremony to turn off or silence your cell phones and refrain from taking any photos or video. They have hired an amazing photography / video team who’s job it is to capture this special moment – YOUR job is to be present and enjoy it!”
