You write the unplugged line. Phones away for the vows. Please.
Then you stop. You have not said what guests shoot with after.
You walk the aisle into a wall of phones. You miss faces. The photographer you hired cannot shoot through a row of iPads. So you ask for phones down. Good. The vows should be faces.
The quieter half is still open. After the service, guests will take pictures. The drinks. The table that will not sit down. The dance that starts before anyone meant it to. Without a guest camera, the morning-after version is hundreds of mixed guest phone photos landing in a chat.
Phones down is only half the sentence
An unplugged ceremony is usually ceremony-only. The aisle, the first kiss, the signing. Then phones come back out. The question is what they come out for.
Your hired photographer is still the person for the vows. Keep them. Phones away is how they get a clear shot. Documentary photographers in London and Bristol need that aisle. The names we have written up live on the directory.
If the part you mean is only the aisle, there is a shorter note on phone-free ceremony photos. The whole-day version is a note on an unplugged wedding that still needs photos. The pictures after the service, rather than a chat the next morning, have their own note on unplugged wedding photos after the vows.
A guest camera, already in a pocket
You do not need a bag of cameras on the table. You do not need a crate to collect at 1am. The camera is already in a pocket. What you need is film on that camera, and a place for the pictures that is not a chat.
Polajoy is that guest camera.
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, and nobody sees it until the reveal you chose. Not even you.
One reveal. End of the night, the next morning, a week later. Then the shop is there if you want paper. Nothing auto-ships. Downloads are free, with a small wordmark. The couple can take it off for £2.99. Prints never have it.
You do not collect a chat. You do not sort hundreds of mixed guest phone photos the morning after. 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.