Published on: 11/8/2015IST
This Picture Sums Up Why Wedding Guests Should Put Down Their Damn Phones
Wedding photographer Thomas Stewart is tired of well-meaning, snap-happy guests ruining his photos.
"Right, I've had enough. I want to talk to you all about guests using mobile phones / cameras at weddings. I want to plead with you, and I'm going to make this very simple: brides and grooms, please have a completely unplugged wedding ceremony.
Look at this photo. This groom had to lean out past the aisle just to see his bride approaching. Why? Because guests with their phones were in the aisle and in his way.
This sucks. And i'm not blaming these guests in particular; I actually take a large amount of responsibility for this occurring. In the past I should have been more specific with my clients in explaining to them why guests should be told no photos. Well, from now on, I'm going to make a pretty big deal about it.
If you're planning a wedding, please consider these points:
1. Guests with phones, iPads and cameras get right in your photographer's way. They have no idea how to stay out of our way. They often ruin many of our shots. They will make our photos worse. You're paying a photographer quite a bit of money; that means you want great photos. We cannot do our best work with people getting in our way.
2. These same guests will get in YOUR way. You will miss moments of your own wedding day because there'll be an iPad in the way. You will miss seeing your partner's face in the aisle.
3. The guests' photos are usually crap. I'm sorry, but it is true. You can't take great photos with your camera phone by leaning into the aisle of a dark church to photograph a moving subject. Hell, even lots of professionals have trouble with this.
And finally, the most important point:
4. Imagine you're in the middle of your wedding ceremony. You're elated. You decide to take a quick glance towards your guests as you're sure they're sharing these happy moments with you, possibly even shedding a tear of their own. What do you see? NO FACES AT ALL AS THEY ARE ALL HIDDEN BEHIND PHONES AND CAMERAS! I highly doubt this is the way you want to remember your wedding ceremony.
In your invites, tell everyone you're having an unplugged ceremony: no technology, please, Write it on a chalkboard which guests can see as they arrive on the day. Tell your celebrant / minister / priest to tell the guests at the start of the ceremony. HIRE A PLANE TO WRITE IT IN THE SKY!
And guests, you've been invited to this wedding to share and celebrate the love that two people feel for each other. They didn't invite you along to take photographs that they probably won't really look at anyway. They want you there with them in heart and soul, and they want to see your tear-filled eyes as you form part of their wedding ceremony. You are witnesses to their marriage, so for goodness sake, watch them with your eyes and your minds, not your phones.
So guests please, for my sake, and for sake of the two people getting married, leave your cameras at home and put your phones / ipads away "
That’s right: Instead of merely standing up at their seats and getting a quick picture, the guests blocked the groom’s view of his wife — and, essentially, the bride’s path to the altar. Stewart is not happy about it, to say the least.
Stewart posted the picture to his Facebook page, along with an impassioned plea for wedding guests to unplug during ceremonies.
“You’re paying a photographer quite a bit of money; that means you want great photos. We cannot do our best work with people getting in our way,” he wrote.
“In your invites, tell everyone you’re having an unplugged ceremony: no technology, please, Write it on a chalkboard which guests can see as they arrive on the day,” he continued. “HIRE A PLANE TO WRITE IT IN THE SKY!”
“And guests, you’ve been invited to this wedding to share and celebrate the love that two people feel for each other,” he concluded. “You are witnesses to their marriage, so for goodness sake, watch them with your eyes and your minds, not your phones.”
Stewart’s manifesto is just the latest development in the battle between wedding hashtags and unplugging.
Though many couples encourage photo taking and sharing with custom wedding hashtags, others ask for guests to unplug, a move that allows photographers to capture clearer images without the disastrous interruption of other flashes or people.
Phone pictures also disturb the bride, who has to look at screens instead of faces as she walks down the aisle.
Not only that, but Instagram- and Snapchat-happy guests sometimes post photos of the bride or groom before they see each other, preempting a first look.
This is not the first time phones have overtaken an aisle, but it’s definitely one of the worst.
"I wonder if the guests actually share their phone photos with the couple or even look at them after they post them to their Facebook page. 📱👎#unpluggedwedding #unplugged #wedding#putphonedown Photo by Brian Reilly Photography"
If you do get the urge to sneak a shot during a ceremony, remember Stewart’s insight: “The guests’ photos are usually crap.”
“You can’t take great photos with your camera phone by leaning into the aisle of a dark church to photograph a moving subject,” he wrote. “Hell, even lots of professionals have trouble with this.”
11/13/2015 | | Permalink