When you picture your wedding day, you picture the best day ever- right?! Years from now, when you look back at your video and photographs, you reminisce about just how perfect your wedding was. Well until you come across picture after picture of your guests leaning into the aisle to get that “perfect shot” on their iPhone. And when you watch the video, everyone seems more concerned with making their own picture memories then enjoying the celebration that you worked so hard to plan. This doesn’t seem like the best way to remember your wedding right?

Unfortunately, in our social media driven society, we are seeing this at weddings more often. Everyone wants to get the perfect snapshot for Instagram or their Snapchat. Meanwhile, you already had this planned out by hiring the best photograph and videographer out there. Someone who will produce quality pictures and videos that all your guests (and you!) can share as much as they want. To do this, couples simply need to make it clear that they would like for everyone to put their phones (and iPad’s – yes I am serious, this happened!) away and be present for the joyous moment that everyone came together to celebrate, it will create a much happier day and your wedding album will be free of iPhones.

Having an unplugged ceremony also makes the photographer’s job much easier. Ok, so this is semi-selfish, but definitely worth mentioning! A wedding ceremony is filled with little moments that require focus, and anticipation by your photographer. We only have a fraction of a second to capture that moment your groom see’s you walk down the aisle, or the moment you wipe the tear off your cheek, grandpa’s proud smile, or your flower girl giggling when you kiss. There’s a lot that goes through our minds when we are positioning ourselves, checking our settings for optimal exposure, angles, and composition. Having to adjust our stance or work around people that hold their phones out last minute, makes it really easy to miss those memorable shots. Wouldn’t you rather have the professional image down the road?

Another advantage of asking your guests to be present is that you won’t have a ton of grainy, unflattering pictures come out on social media as the first impression that everyone who wasn’t at the wedding is going to see. The first photo of the two of you as a couple will be a polished, professional image that highlights the day and you! We totally understand how people want to see your wedding asap on social media so we offer instant teasers for anyone who has an unplugged ceremony. This means that we will process and edit a teaser image immediately after the ceremony (seriously, even before the reception begins!) and post it online for all the world to see. Everyone is going to be blown away by how stunning you look AND how quickly your photographers made your images available.

There you have it. These are the reasons why we stress having an unplugged ceremony. As you can see you won’t be missing out on anything… well, besides the iPhone cluttered pictures!