Cell phones during the ceremony and reception

Personally I am asking for people to not have their phones out during the ceremony itself, i hadn’t thought about things like the cake cutting and first dance however now that i am i don’t mind. I know that if anything my photographer will get up close and personal to eliminate any possible photo ruining factors ie phones in my pictures if that is the case!

Hi Adam! Welcome to WeddingWire! You can definitely propose an unplugged ceremony to your guests, but some guests may still choose to take photos! That being said, maybe ask for a friend or two to take photos during your unplugged ceremony so that you can still get those candid shots! This way, not all guests will be on their phones, and you will still be able to get professional and candid photos for your wedding! How do you plan to ask your guests to stay unplugged? Will you be having a sign or simply asking beforehand?

We had our officiant ask if everyone could put their phones down for the ceremony as to not get in the way. I turned around at one point to look into the crowd during the ceremony and there had to be at least 10 people with their phones out. Annoying...my god father even FB lived the ceremony! I understand you not wanting the phones out but some will not listen.

I have heard stories of something going wrong with the photographer and the only pics were from guests...I would let them take pics, as someone waiting on her photographer right now, I enjoy looking at the pictures from our guests.

I am having an “unplugged” ceremony, but will not be restricting the use of cameras or cell phones at the reception. I think asking guests to put away devices at the reception may feel a little overbearing. Plus, it will take a lot of extra time to have your MC announce every time to please put away your cell phones and cameras.

View Quoted Comment Awesome sign! How do you feel about seeing your guests’ photos? Wish there was an easy way to organize that.

View Quoted Comment I would honestly love to see my guests photos! They’re the kind of pictures we all post on Facebook in large albums so Facebook can remind us so many years ago on this day.😂 I have a sign that i made for people to “hashtag” their photos if they post them on Instagram as well, which i found has been super helpful! If you creat a wedding website through TheKnot as well they have an option that allows all of your guests to upload their pictures through a special photo sharing code!!!

I was very much in favour of an unplugged ceremony, but the day of our officiant said something along the lines of “we want you to be present, if you’d like to take photos please be mindful and don’t obstruct the photographers.” Most people didn’t take pictures, and the ones that did weren’t in the way so it worked out well.

I would think that a good photographer could manage around that. I don't feel this is something you should have to stress about on your big day. And yes, the candid shots will keep you from going crazy waiting on the pro shots! Lol

View Quoted Comment Thank you!! Super interesting about the hashtag and Knot idea for candid guest photos. Wonder if anyone else has ideas or experience in gathering those types of pics?

Unless you have guests who video and photograph everything with their iPads (why oh why to people do that?), I would trust your photographer to be the professional you hired. A professional should be able to get good pictures without any visual distraction of phones.

If you do have guests who are glued to their iPads, talk to them specify. Let them know that you will be happy to share your professional photos/videos and that you would like to be assured that all your guests have a view of the events without their device blocking it.

FWIW, some of the sweetest pictures I've seen in recent years are of joyfully happy guests, frequently parents and grandparents, snapping a quick picture.

We had a unplugged ceremony. Our officiant made an announcement before everyone walked down the aisle, and we had a sign set up at the bottom of the stairs to the ceremony site alerting people ahead of the announcement. From what I can tell, it worked and no one took any photos of us at the ceremony (at least none have been posted online, which was our main concern). Can’t wait to see my professional pics to confirm that there are no cell phones waving in the air!
We didn’t say anything about photos at the reception (first dance, cake cutting, etc) because we knew people would take issue with that. And lo and behold, while I’m making the rounds at the reception SIL is walking around shoving her dads iPad in my face 😑 Thankful for that ceremony announcement because if it was out during the wedding, I would’ve punted that iPad into the woods. It was nice to see some photos and videos of the cake cutting and dances as we eagerly await our professional photos! It’s a little sad we have no ceremony photos yet but I’m not complaining. My true issue with people taking photos is that they would be posting crappy pics all over the internet and I hate that as I’m not very active on social media.

The best you can do is have an "unplugged" sign at your ceremony or have your officiant say it or put it in your program. People inevitably will stay take pictures and ignore all the signs.

I've heard of an "unplugged ceremony" where guests are asked not to take pictures during the ceremony but have never heard of a similar request being made during the reception. From the 2 weddings I have had plus several I've been a guest of, usually the photographer is very close to the couple during the cake cutting and first dance so you wouldn't even see guests taking pictures of these events. Most of the time the guests are still are their table and not in the photographer's way. The reason why it makes sense during the ceremony is because a lot of the pics the photographer will take requires shooting the entire church, space, etc. and then you would see guests with their cameras in the way, especially for aisle pictures.

Personally, I loved the pics my guests took of the ceremony and reception and they kept me happy while I waited the 3 months for my pro pics to come in. Some of my favorite pics are from my guests.

I did not worry about having an unplugged ceremony... I just let people do whatever they wanted to. Some of my favorite pictures from the day were taken by my friends and family. Your photographer (or two) can't be everywhere and don't necessarily stay late into the evening so you will for sure appreciate the photos that everyone else takes. I didn't do anything with a hashtag or a shared site - people just either texted them, air dropped them the next time I saw them or put them on a site and sent me a link. it worked out great and I got literally 100s of pictures from guests.

I think an unplugged ceremony is totally fine. However, trying to do it later in the night doesn't work as well. The bride and groom at the last wedding I went to tried to do a 'private' cake cutting and have no pictures, but they were cutting the cake like two feet from the bar in the direct path to the bathroom, so everyone saw and wanted to come over and take pictures. The DJ was then yelling at everyone for us to respect their privacy which just made more people come over. It was all very weird and the bride was super mad.