What is an unplugged ceremony you ask? Well let me set a scene for you. You are walking down the aisle and all you can see is your groom smiling and maybe crying as he sees you for the first time. You are filled with so much emotion and know that in this moment your life is going to change forever. This is a moment you want to never let go off and will want to look back on, so when you get a email ding saying your wedding gallery is finished you rush to the gallery in excitement! You scroll through all the photos with tears rolling down your face in excitement and then you stop. You pause and see your ceremony photos. Instead of seeing the happiness, the joy, you see distractions. You look and see everyone holding up cell phones. Cell phones covering other guests faces, cell phones covering part of your dress, cell phones everywhere. You hired your photographer for a reason and now your photos have distractions. Sounds horrible right? Maybe you don’t care…but if you’re like me you want this moment to be perfect to capture a emotion not to remind you of everyone especially uncle bob sneaking a photo. So how do you avoid this? Read these tips to decide if a unplugged ceremony is right for you and if it is there is a link below  to another blog post on how to achieve it! (Don’t want to read the pros and cons and know its right for you? Click here to go straight to my blog post about how to achieve a unplugged ceremony)

Pros of having a unplugged ceremony:

The biggest benefit of having an unplugged ceremony is that you and your guests are fully present and in the moment.

You want people to be in the moment and not miss a thing. This day is all about you and your future husband. It is only natural that you want your guests to be paying attention and not distracted by turning their camera on or trying to zoom in and by doing so miss an important moment. You invited these guests for a reason. You invited them to witness you guys becoming one and your guests should respect your decision to want everyone present.

You paid for a professional photographer for a reason. You invested in and chose your photographer for a reason. You love their work and know they will be  able to capture everything beautifully, so let them capture that moment for you. Having an unplugged ceremony is a dream for any photographer. I love my photos to be clean and clear of distractions so the focus can be on you.

You will be the first to share your wedding. If you allow phones during your ceremony there is a good chance Uncle Bob or whoever will post your photos before you. Ever have that moment when you are so excited to share something and then you log onto social media and everyone and their mom is sharing the news! This should be your moment! Not everyone else’s. Now I understand there might be some concern about not having photos to post right away. BUT the benefit of working with me is that by the time you wake up the next morning as husband and wife for the first time you will have sneak peeks ready to go so you can share your excitement with the world. I love to send sneak peeks right away to my couples because 1) I am so giddy and excited from the day that I cannot wait to start working on the photos and 2) I want you to be able to share with your friends and family right away on some amazing moments from your day!

You don’t have control of what your guests post. Let’s face it, we aren’t all models. So can you trust your family and friends to post photos you will like? We are all a little un – photogenic at times and if you have your guests snapping away you don’t have control over what is shared.

Even though there are many pros to a unplugged ceremony there is one thing you might miss out on if you go unplugged:

Many couples love coming up with a wedding hashtag, so guests can feel free to snap and upload photos on social media throughout the celebration. Couples who choose to have a plugged-in wedding can relive the day through their guest’s instagram photos and you can see your wedding through your guest’s perspective.

So here’s a tip… say you want the best of both worlds. I say consider an unplugged ceremony and a plugged-in reception. This lets guests bring out their devices once the party gets going and now you won’t have distractions for those perfect intimate ceremony moments.

As you can see I might be a little biased about unplugged ceremonies. Regardless whatever you choose your day will be beautiful and incredible! You just need to choose what feels most like you!

So did you decide if you want an unplugged ceremony? If the answer is yes, how do you go about it? Read this post on how to achieve it.