Cutting the Cord: 3 Reasons to Have an Unplugged Wedding | Memphis Wedding Photographer
You may be asking, “Ashley, what the heck is an unplugged wedding?”
Well you’ve come to the right place because I have the answers!
An unplugged wedding ceremony is when the couple asks guests to be 100% present during their celebration, which means ditching all technology— phones, cameras, iPads, selfie sticks, video cameras. Wedding vendors have seen it ALL. This is definitely a personal decision and I will always support my clients in their decisions, but I wanted to share some from a photographer’s point of view. Here are some great points in favor of having an unplugged ceremony:
Guests are fully present
Imagine the music starts playing, the doors open, and you begin walking down the aisle, but you can’t even focus on or see your babe because you’re distracted by guests walking into the aisle, directly in front of the person you’re about to marry, to take their own cell phone photos. What a buzz kill! You’re literally there to say ‘I do’ to the person you love and you can’t even see them?! An unplugged ceremony can definitely help with this! Your wedding should be about YOU and the person you love. Your guests are there to celebrate with you, so ask them to be present and put the technology away!
2. protect your photography investment
Couples getting married spend thousands upon thousands of dollars throwing a kick ass party to celebrate their love with their friends and family. We get paid the big bucks because we were hired to be there to capture your guests celebrating along with you! When guests use flash, selfie sticks, or hold their arms up in the air to get “the shot,” these ruin the expensive photographs you paid for. Going unplugged allows your photographer to capture your special day without these distracting environmental factors in the way.
3. less Noise + distractions
In this day and age, people looove instant gratification. They want to be the FIRST person to post a meme, a news article, or even you in your wedding attire! Guests love to step out into the aisle and get their shot so they can post to social media, but that can be so distracting! These guests are often referred to as ‘Uncle Bobs’ in the wedding industry. DON’T BE AN UNCLE BOB! Photoshop is absolutely magic, but your photographers can’t edit a million phones and iPads out of a crowd. Your photographers are already trying to be photo ninjas getting every shot they can, as discreetly as they can. Your wedding should be free of any distractions so your photographers can do their job!
so, How do I tell my guests?
1. Put it on your wedding website! With new times, comes new technology. Wedding websites are bigger than ever. You already put all the other details on there, why not go ahead and add a tidbit about having an unplugged ceremony?
2. Put an insert in your invitation suite! This is super easy! You can add a small card the size of your registry card asking your guests to be fully present during their ceremony and put the technology away.
3. Put a sign at the entrance to your ceremony! There are TONS of signs out there right now explaining going unplugged that politely ask your guests to put the candy crush away.
4. Put a note in your program! Guests always like to read the program while they wait for the ceremony start.
5. Ask your officiant to make an announcement! This is the best way I have seen so far! As I’ve mentioned before, we are in a different time and lots of people skim over reading ANYTHING these days. Having your officiant make the announcement before the ceremony begins is super helpful because most will listen!
