Unplugged?? Partial-plugged??? Plugged In????

Most people don't have a completely unplugged wedding, but just the ceremony. I'm having an unplugged ceremony so there's no phones in the aisle or in pictures during the biggest part of the day. After the ceremony is over, though, phones are out and people are welcome to take pictures and upload them at leisure!

I think the most effective thing is to have your officiant make an announcement before the procession that people don’t have their phones out during the ceremony.

I would be annoyed with phones ringing the most. I'd ask the officiant if they can request guests to at least silence their phones.

I've included info under the FAQs section of our website addressing this. I don't mind guests taking pics but I'd rather them not live stream. I've encouraged them to use our hashtag or send pics to our wedding specific email address since they'll mostly likely be using cell phones.

We’re going to be having an unplugged ceremony, but not a cocktail hour and reception! We think that’s the most fair

We are doing an unplugged ceremony . I plan to have the officiant announce it and I may buy a sign because some people don't listen well

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This ^ I feel like this is actually a huge misconception... people tend to think "unplugged" means the entire wedding, not just the ceremony.

If you have a good photographer, they know how to arrange their angles so that nobody is blocking them - you might even consider telling them they may stand in the front or behind you to get that "first kiss" picture with your guests in the background.

Maybe just have the officiant or someone else announce at the beginning of the ceremony to please silence all cell phones.

I didn't want to have an unplugged wedding because I personally feel that it's insulting and a little bit condescending to tell grown adults to put their phones away at a party, especially when some of them have travelled and they've likely paid a lot to get you a nice gift as well as other expenses. Treat guests as guests, not props just to get "perfect" wedding photos.

As PPs said, I think you should do an unplugged ceremony but allow people to have their phones/cameras for the cocktail hour/reception.

What you could also do at the ceremony (and what I’m thinking about doing too) is designating one or two guests in addition to the photographer/videographer to photograph/record the ceremony. That way everyone’s phones aren’t in the way, but you have a couple people capturing the ceremony on the off-chance that your professionals don’t do a great job. For me, we originally decided to do this because one of my mom’s friends is really into photography (she’s not professional, just a hobby for her) and she asked if she could bring her fancy camera and take photos. We are hiring a photographer, but told my mom’s friend that she can also take pictures at the ceremony, even though it will be unplugged for everyone else!

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I like this idea. Maybe have a designated seat for one or two people so that they can take pictures too? That way, you would be sure that they wouldn't be blocking the isle.

We are only doing an unplugged ceremony. The ceremony space is tight and there will be no way for the photographer to NOT capture peoples phones, cameras, ipads. I'm trusting my photographer to do what he is being paid a lot of money to do. I don't think you can do anything to control a guest who wants to hold up a selfie stick throughout your wedding aside from the officiant making an announcement. I just don't really see a middle ground. I don't think I could tell me family its fine to take pictures but stay in your seat and keep your phone down. That's not usually how people get good pictures when they are sitting rows behind the people they are taking pictures of. I wish you luck though. I hope you figure it out.

View Quoted Comment That’s exactly my plan!

I tried to have an unplugged ceremony but was immediately struck by the phones out when I appeared at the aisle 🙄

Something to chew on: My original intent was to have an Unplugged ceremony. I forgot to follow up with our officiant and coordinator. As a result, a friend actually did a Facebook live broadcast of our vows without my knowledge or consent. NOT ok. I found out after-the-fact as I was scrolling through Facebook. I would definitely consider having an unplugged ceremony, and making darn sure people know about it upfront.

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I tend to agree with to a degree. Phones and social media are part of our lives and asking people to disconnect isn't a reflection of our lifestyles. (And I know OP that you aren't asking for an unplugged anything, so this is just a general comment.)

I think most people have enough common sense to silence their phones, but I agree its good to have the officiant say so ahead of time if it's important to you. Or, consider a sign (which might get overlooked because, Hey! we're all lazy and don't pay attention) that says the same thing--"please silence your cell phones during the ceremony." But in the end, just trust your guests will be respectful and let that shiz roll off your back if they get in the way of a good shot or a phone goes off.

View Quoted Comment Yeah, that’s the spirit behind what I was trying to say, that you should show your guests that you trust them to be respectful without having to have a sign or announcement as if you were their fifth grade teacher. I’m not saying that I think people who have unplugged ceremonies actually ARE condescending or rude (I totally get the temptation to want to control the whole day and have perfect pictures and perfect everything), but it definitely tends to come off that way to people who aren’t quite as invested in the whole ‘perfection’ component and are there to support you but also just have a good time, which I am trying to give them.

I feel the same way! I"m going to have our officiant point out where the video cameras are and who the photographer is and ask everyone to please keep themselves and their cameras/phones, etc. out of their way/view.

We are very private people, we dont have Instagram, snapchat, or any other social media besides FB and we really dont want pictures on any of those other sites. We also dont really post pictures of ourselves on FB very often, so we are telling people that it is ok for them to take pictures but we dont want anything online. (Our families are also very private in that way for the most part so we arent worried about them and our friends all know that we dont post and generally untag ourselves in pictures if they post them so I dont think they will find this shocking at all). We know people want photos for their own enjoyment and we will probably set up a password protected album on Picasa (basically cause it comes with our wedding gmail) for people to share their photos with us.

Our photographer is a friend who is trying to build her business from just portraits and cosplay events to include weddings as well. She has been having trouble attracting clients as primary shooter because she doesnt have a full wedding in her portfolio to show so she is gifting us the day with the agreement that she can use our full wedding for the portfolio and we will pay for all prints. But that does also make us nervous as others have said that we may not get all amazing pictures so we are also doing what Genevieve said and asking an uncle each to take photos with their good cameras to supplement. My fiancee's uncle is actually a well established wedding photographer and offered to shoot it free as well but we want him to be uncle first photographer second and really enjoy the day not be at work. My uncle has been into photography since college and has multiple pro quality cameras that he uses to record family events for us (and they really are amazing) so we know we will get great shots from both sides of the aisle that way but they will both be able to relax and enjoy the reception (though we know them, the cameras wont get put away, they will just actually eat the food we are featuring).

We will probably just have our priest ask that people enjoy the ceremony and point out all the congregational responses (audience participation) in the program so that they are more comfortable following along (we go to a very interactive church and the ceremony will be interactive as well) so I'm not anticipating a lot of people trying to get out into the aisle to take pictures as they will be busy responding to his questions to them.