Unplugged Wedding Ideas

Picture this. You’re at your wedding altar, gazing at the person you’re going to spend the rest of your life with. You glance over at your family and friends and instead of seeing encouraging smiles and happy tears, you are greeted by everyone looking at their LCD screens!

You may even wonder if was worth hiring a professional photographer when every guest has a iPhone and is tweeting, Facebooking or Instagramming the entire ceremony (not to mention someone tagging you in your gorgeous wedding gown with your mouth hanging open and eyes half shut in an unfortunate capture of you saying your vows).

Your professional photos come back and those priceless images of your nearest and dearest looking at you lovingly and smiling are replaced by phones and devices. They are there with you but are they truly present? Enter our unplugged wedding ideas!

Image via Pinterest, photographer unknown

Turn Me Off

• Unplugging will ensure guests are truly present at your ceremony and can enjoy the moment with you – not miss it because they are trying to get their iPhone to focus or they wanted to be the first to upload a pic of the happy couple to Facebook.
• With a no photo policy for your ceremony, you’ll have less trouble with Uncle Dave standing on pews or leaning in front of your professional photographer to get his shit. Just ask your photographer – we’re certain he’ll have some examples of how Uncle Dave can ruin the perfect ceremony image!
• Your professional images won’t be full of your guests looking at their LCD screens instead of smiling at you and your betrothed.
• Your official announcement or thank you cards sent out after your wedding won’t be overshadowed by the 2.378 images that have already been shared, emailed, tweeted and texted.

Turn Me On

• Your guests may not understand your reasons for wanting to unplug or at least not be receptive at first.
• Despite all your best intentions to unplug your ceremony, there will still be some guests that don’t understand the concept and will still be there, snapping away. Make sure you’re okay with this before deciding to unplug.
• Prepare for the onslaught of family and friends emailing you as soon as you’re home from your honeymoon (or before!) asking have you got your professional photos back from the photographer yet.
• If you are the type of couple that plan on updating your Facebook status from ‘engaged’ to ‘married’ even before your officiant announces you, unplugging may not be for you. In that case, tell your family and friends to #hashtag away!
• To add that touch of instant print nostalgia, guests that use the exclusive In the Booth Guest Cam service will be able to capture photos via our free app and collect their prints from the booth! It’s the best of both worlds!

Decided to unplug your wedding? Check out these great tips?

• Chat to your photographer before your wedding. Ensure you will have at least some photos supplied to you digitally for emailing and social media sharing to keep the masses happy!
• Advise guests that you will be having an unplugged wedding via a special note in your invitation or on your wedding website (if you have one). If you have a Facebook event set up, post a note on there too. Give your guests the chance to ask questions about your wishes.
• Ensure your guest programs include a notification that you would prefer no photography during your ceremony. Arrange some beautiful signage that matches your ceremony décor that respectfully states your unplugged wishes. Your officiant could also give a polite reminder before the bridal party entrance.
• Let your guests know there will be a photo booth at your wedding reception so they know it won’t be long until they can be snapping up a storm!

Having trouble with wording for your unplugged wedding ceremony? Try these ideas…

For your program:

“We want you to be able to really enjoy our wedding day; feeling truly present and in the moment with us. We’ve hired an amazing wedding photographer, __________ who will be capturing our wedding and we’re inviting each of you to sit back, relax and just enjoy how the wedding feels. We’re respectfully asking that everyone consider leaving all cameras and mobile phones off. Of course, we will be happy to share our wedding photos with you afterward!”

Unplugged wedding ideas for your signage:

• Welcome to our unplugged ceremony. We invite you to be fully present. Please turn off your devices. Thank you!
• Please honour our wishes of no photos until we are pronounced Mr & Mrs. Thank you!
• We want to see your faces, not your devices. Please put away your phones and cameras until after the ceremony. Thank you!
• The bride and groom kindly request an unplugged ceremony. Please turn off all devices and enjoy being fully present in this moment with us. Thank you!
• There’s a guy here taking pictures; we asked him to come. So please rest your cameras; our ceremony needs only one!

Drop by Pinterest for an endless supply of unplugged wedding ideas!