People who do unplugged ceremonies...

My husband and I were initially not planning to do an unplugged ceremony for this same reason, but after we got our photographer's input, we felt confident in doing an unplugged ceremony! It's certainly possible that something could happen to the photos that the photographer takes, though not very likely. It's a good question to ask your photographer about what they do to minimize the risk of corrupt photos.

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Right, I don't know, with me, it would just give me anxiety. I know it isn't likely to happen, but I have heard a lot of horror stories of it happening and I just wouldn't want to risk it especially since I am notorious for having bad luck.

View Quoted Comment It isn't required at all to do an unplugged ceremony! Many photographers prefer it, since it keeps people from getting their phones in the way of the photographer, though you can certainly allow guests to take photos if you'd like. I've heard of many people who got amazing moments captured by their guests. Regardless of whether you do an unplugged ceremony or not, asking your photographer how they minimize risk of photo corruption might also help put your mind at ease.

We didn’t do an unplugged ceremony, but our guests voluntarily kept their phones in their purses/pockets without our even having to request it. I think most people who have been to weddings lately know that it’s expected to not have their phones out during the ceremony. Are you having a videographer? If so, that would be a great sense of security for the very unlikely event that something happens to your photos.

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I wasn't planning to have a videographer, but I might look into that possibly. I was thinking about possibly streaming the wedding to our mutual internet friends we are really close with who live too far away and can't afford to travel.

I guess I also trust our family and friends to be respectful too

I have a couple of aunts who are glued to their phones. I had no worry about corrupted/lost photographer photos, but I had a HUGE worry about family watching my wedding through their phone screens.

Case in point, at my cousin's wedding 6 months later, her ceremony ended up, in bits and pieces, on Facebook live. Also, the most unflattering photos of her eating or standing around were on Facebook before the dancing even started.
She posted her professional photos a few months later, and almost every one of them has multiple family members just... watching through their phones.
Nah, I don't regret an unplugged ceremony. I still got plenty of candid pictures and videos at the reception and directly after the ceremony. So even if my pictures did get lost, at least my guests were experiencing it in the moment.

All of the below pictures are why I absolutely insisted on an unplugged ceremony. With smartphones, *everybody* suddenly thinks they’re amateur photographers, and then with social media, *everybody* wants to be *that* person who caught a shot of the bride and be the first to post it on the newsfeed. My husband let his parents have a lot of control over his side of the guest list, so there were A LOT of middle aged parent friends of theirs who are all about whipping out their huge pro max phones to get a piece of the action. At our wedding, there were still 4 guests that rudely had phones out during the ceremony (all on his side of course except one) but if we had not had those polite signs up, there probably would have been an awful amount of glaring phone screens popping out in our ceremony photos.
Reception? Totally cool. Photographers are roaming around getting action shots anyway. But the ceremony? No way.

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I understand, but aren't you worried about the photographer possibly losing your photos? I would honestly rather have those pictures than none at all.

I had a feeling my opinion was unpopular...

View Quoted Comment Our photographers didn’t lose our photos. They were very excellent actually. For us, we placed the highest importance (and therefore spent a bit more) on photography out of everything in the wedding because the pictures are the one thing that will last forever. We researched local photographers for hours and hours, looking through portfolios, and more importantly, their reviews from couples. Then we interviewed about 5 finalists before deciding on ours.


There’s no right answer about the unplugged vs plugged ceremony debate - you can do either - but I would say the probability of a ton of phones being whipped out and visible in photos is probably way higher than the chance of a reputable photographer losing your photos.

View Quoted Comment I think this is a personal opinion thing, and you should do what’s best for you. I think it’s all about weighing out the potential pros and cons, and deciding which you are more comfortable with. If the thought of a photographer potentially losing photos causes you a lot of stress/anxiety, and you are comfortable taking the risk of some photos being ruined by guests, or potentially unflattering photos of you being shared, then an unplugged ceremony doesn’t sound like it’s right for you. It’s OK if it’s an unpopular opinion – just do what you feel most confident with!

There have been many recent posts about brides not receiving their photos within the contracted time. I know I was far more pleased with the ceremony/reception pictures my MIL took than those from our professional photographer. Her pictures ended up in our album rather than his.

Some couples have had an unplugged ceremony except for a moment or two where people were allowed to pull out their cell phones.

I agree with you 100% and actually feel that it's rude to tell ppl they can't use their personal devices. Some of my favorite shots at the ceremony are from guests.

One of the first questions we asked the photographers we interviewed was how they ensured nothing would happen that would cause them to lose the photos. The ones we went with were able to list multiple failsafes in place so we wouldn't be in that position (multiple memory cards, multiple backup batteries, multiple equipment bags, multiple shooters, we also had a videographer, etc.). Some of the sweetest photos were of people watching me walk down the aisle, listening to the ceremony, etc. I'd hate if we never got those because people were too busy trying to get an iPhone picture or video.

My MOH's husband always takes a bunch of pictures at events, and some of the ones he took at our reception turned out really nice, but some were also not the most flattering moments (when we were eating, looking off into space, etc.). My husband had some family members send pictures they took at the reception, and most of those ones were blurry. I'd have been bummed if our professional pictures were ruined because someone needed a blurry picture they'll never look at again.