I give all my brides a wedding planning guide when they book with me (which all photographers should do by the way!) and it includes a whole page dedicated to this topic, the best wedding ceremony advice I can give. Which is..

HAVE AN UNPLUGGED CEREMONY!

Having an unplugged ceremony means that your guests are asked to put away all electronic devices from the beginning to the end of the ceremony. I can not express enough how happy this will make your photographer so they don’t have to dodge phones right and left to get a decent photo, but also it makes your images that much better because there aren’t phones, tablets, or video cameras in every photo blocking what is happening. If you have an unplugged ceremony, your guests can be present and in the moment with you. You are giving them the gift of experiencing your ceremony in real time through their own eyes, instead of looking at their screens.

So how do brides accomplish this? You can put up a sign that tells all your guests that this is an unplugged ceremony, or you can ask you officiant to make an announcement before the ceremony starts asking everyone to turn off/put away their electronic devices. I recommend doing both but if you don’t want to go through the trouble of putting up a sign, I’d definitely have your officiant make an announcement. You know how in the movie theaters right before the movie starts they have an ad about turning your phone off? I’m totally one of those people that will see the signs walking in and completely forget as soon as I sit down in the theater anxiously awaiting the movie to start. Soooo if your guests are anything like me, they might need another reminder right before everything starts :)

I hope you take this advice to heart as you are planning your own wedding! Thanks for reading!