You want no phones at the wedding.
Faces when you walk in. No row of screens on the aisle. No one filming the first kiss from the second row. Some couples mean the ceremony. Some mean the whole day. Both still need the pictures guests were going to take.
The worry is the quiet half. Phones down, and the guest photos go down with them. The drinks in the doorway. The speech from the cousin who stood up. The last song, when the shoes are already off.
Those pictures are wedding photos. They do not have to be taken while you speak.
Say which part is phone-free
Most couples mean the vows. Processional through recessional. Phones welcome again when the drinks start.
Write that window in plain words. "No phones at the wedding" on its own is easy to misread. Some guests keep phones in bags through dinner. Some never put them down. A whole-day ban felt too much, so the ask got ignored.
If you do mean the whole day, say that too. Phones stay down through dinner and the first dance. Guest photos still have a place. They start when you say they may, or they wait on a sealed roll until the reveal.
If the part you mean is only the aisle, there is a shorter note on phone-free ceremony photos. If you wanted a short menu of ideas, there is a note on unplugged wedding ideas that still get the photos. The steps in order, window then invite then door, live in a note on how to have an unplugged wedding.
The vows still have a photographer
Keep the person you booked for the vows. No phones gives them a clear aisle. It does not stand in for them. They still have the light, the order of service, and the portraits you asked for.
A no-phones ceremony still leaves the vows to the person you hired. The names we have written up live on the directory, including London, Bristol, and Bath.
Guest shots happen after the phones come back
The window ends. Phones come out of pockets. Guests will shoot. That is the part you were afraid of losing.
If the only plan is "send us what you took", you get a morning of chasing people who meant to. A chat of mixed phone photos. A night you now have to sort.
The quiet part is the vows. The pictures guests take are the part after. Give them a place to shoot once the window is over. That half has a note on unplugged wedding photos after the vows.
Where the guest photos go
The phones can stay down for the vows and still have film for later. That is a no-phones wedding that does not lose the guest shots.
Polajoy is that place. Sealed film, on the phones already in pockets.
You set the wedding up. Free. One event code. A card on the table, or a line in the invite. Guests open the app, type the code, and join with an account. After the wedding, everyone who attended can be sent the photos. iPhone and Android.
Each person shoots on a 30-shot roll. Ordinary guests hard-stop at 0. No second roll. If you gift a photographer, the friend with the good eye, they can start another free 30-shot roll. Ordinary guests do not.
After each shot, ten seconds to Accept or Void. Timeout or a screenshot voids it. A void does not spend a frame. A short handwritten note is optional, up to 34 characters. Initials always go on the frame. Then it seals on Send, and nobody sees it until the reveal you chose. Not even you.
One reveal. End of the night, the next morning, a week later, or a time you pick. Then the shop is there if you want paper. Nothing auto-ships. Free downloads carry a small wordmark. £2.99 takes it off. Prints never have it.
You do not open a chat the next morning to see who remembered. The film is already on the phone, and it waits.
Setup is free. Pay only if you want prints afterwards. The complete guide walks through looks, table cards, and the reveal. These notes are written by Richard Lovatt, with Kitty. The rest live with the other articles.
We host a handful of weddings. Cash, or store credit and free products. Apply on the host page. We read every one.