What is an unplugged ceremony?
What in the world is an unplugged ceremony?
“Unplugged Ceremony” has become a popular term in the wedding world.
It is essentially a wedding practice where guests are asked not to use phones, cameras, or other electronics during the ceremony. Maybe you’re thinking “well, duh!”, but you would be so surprised by how often guests pull out their phones during ceremonies!
We are a husband and wife Dallas Wedding photographer + videographer. We’ve broken down all the must-knows around unplugged ceremonies!
At The Montgomerys | Photo + Film, we actually have a whole section in our contract about enforcing an unplugged ceremony— so you could say that we are pretty dang passionate about the subject! Over the last 6 years, we have only had one couple hear all of these benefits and choose to go a different direction where these rules weren’t enforced. Maybe it sounds a little controlling, but it is 110% for our clients’ benefit. Our job is to capture incredible photos on your big day. You’re investing enough time and money in your wedding that preventing Uncle Bob from ruining your ceremony photos with his iPad hanging out in the aisle seems like a no brainer to us.
Still not convinced?
There are tons and tons of benefits to an unplugged ceremony, which is why it’s such a big part of our contract.
Some of the benefits include:
1. Your professional photos won’t be compromised. Imagine seven different guests standing up or sticking their phone out in the aisle as you two lean in for your first kiss. Sometimes it happens so fast that we struggle to move fast enough to reframe the shot without also capturing their arms, phones, camera, and iPad in the photo.
2. Your guests will listen and interact more, which is why they’re truly there! Encouraging your guests to watch your ceremony with their eyes instead of through a screen or viewfinder is a timeless courtesy.
3. Privacy is respected. While you might not be able to guarantee that you’re the first to post on social media about your wedding, you will be the first ones to post photos of your ceremony, your first kiss, and those first moments after you’re pronounced married— besides you’ll get a preview within 48 hours!
4. Family formal shots are usually done in a time crunch and require corralling lots of people at once. Imagine trying to get 20 family members to look at your camera when other people are trying to snap pictures with their phones on either side of you. That means you end up with approximately zero photos of everyone looking in the same direction. Yikes!
But what if…
Grandma Sue can’t travel! We wanted to Live Stream her!
—That’s okay! Assign one family member to be in charge of this task
We aren’t hiring a videographer, so we want a recording of the full ceremony!
—No worries! Set up a small camera or phone on a tripod before the ceremony starts!
We don’t want to be the ones responsible for enforcing rules for our guests!
—Of course not! It is your day! There’s a sign, an announcement or two from your officiant, and I don’t mind being the bad guy (; Plus, as guests they should be more than willing to respect your wishes!
My friend is an aspiring photographer and she wants to practice!
—Oops, tell them that your hired professional photographer who have a contract says that they work alone and that having another photographer during the ceremony would be a breech of contract.
But we want everyone to be able to capture dancing and fun?!
—Well heck yeah! By all means, everyone is more than welcome to pull out those phones and cameras after the ceremony and formal shots are finished. We totally expect guests to use their phones during the reception. We totally encourage it.
If you’re worried about what to tell your guests or how to enforce your unplugged ceremony, most couples use a sign at their ceremony entrance and also have their officiant make an announcement before the ceremony such as:
“Welcome, friends + family! Good evening everyone. Please be seated. Taylor and Ryan Invite you to be truly present at this special time. Please turn off your cell phones and put down your cameras during the ceremony. The Photographers will capture how this moment looks— I encourage you all to capture how it feels with your hearts, without the distraction of technology. You’re welcome to pull out your phones and snap away as soon as you get to the reception!”
If you’ve made it this far, I hope you’re as convinced as we are that Unplugged is the way to go. We always strive to provide our couples with the absolute top quality of work and we truly believe that enforcing unplugged ceremonies put us one step closer to that!
More questions? Shoot us a message!
Love,
The Montgomerys
A husband and wife Dallas Wedding photographer + videographer