Wedding Photography QT Should I Have an Unplugged Wedding?
First of all, you might be thinking...
"what the heck is an unplugged wedding?"
It's not as extreme as it sounds.
An unplugged wedding is one where your guests forget about their phones, their tablets and cameras, leaving them in their bags, and experience your wedding fully.
Since the rise of smartphones and tablets, guests are more often photographing and videoing their loved ones as they say 'I do'. There's a sea of phones filming and photographing from the moment you make your beautiful entrance, right through the most precious moments of your life as you make your vows, until you exit as newly minted husband and wife.
What's the harm in that? you might be wondering.
There is no huge harm, it's only natural for your guests to want to capture such a beautiful and momentous occasion, they love you and want to capture the moment, but - it means that their focus is on their phones and cameras and not in the moment with you.
There's another snag to guests photographing with abandon. As photographers we're used to moving, working with our environment to get the best photograph, leveraging light, vantage points, setting up the best compositions; but when so many guests are recording the event it can become impossible to capture photographs that don't include guests with devices in-hand.
If this is giving you a rising heart-rate just thinking about it, there's an easy solution.
A kindly worded announcement at the entrance to your church or venue and a brief reminder from your officiant before your arrival (one of the most photographed moments is your walk down the aisle) will make sure that your guests are there, fully present with you.
Even better, chat to your photographer about a sneak peek from your collection - we're able to release a sneak peek from weddings onto Facebook and Instagram, a few choice photographs from your ceremony and reception to get you excited for your whole collection. (This will vary from photographer to photographer so make sure you talk to yours and find out what's their usual practice).
Tell your guests to follow your photographer on Facebook and Instagram, you can even add this onto your 'unplugged wedding' announcement to reassure your friends and family that they'll be able to relive all the excitement with you as the 'first look' collection is released just a day or two after the wedding. Then they can share, tag themselves in the photographs and show everyone what an unforgettable day you all had in beautifully polished professional photographs.
For photographers, unplugged weddings are a dream! Without trying to cut out phones and cameras, we're free to compose photographs as we see perfect moments unfold before our eyes.
Want my advice? DO IT :)
