You walk the aisle into a wall of phones.
You asked for faces. You get screens. You miss the people who came. The photographer you hired cannot shoot through a row of iPads.
That is why couples write the unplugged request. Phones down for the vows. Please.
Then the quieter half of the sentence. Unplugged is usually ceremony-only. After the service, guests still want a way to shoot. The morning-after version of that is hundreds of mixed guest phone photos landing in a chat.
Phones down for the vows
The aisle should be faces. The first kiss should not have to wait for someone to lower an iPad.
Your hired photographer is still the person for the vows. Keep them. An unplugged ceremony is not a reason to send them home. They need a clear shot. Guests putting phones away is how they get one.
If the part you mean is only the aisle, there is a shorter note on phone-free ceremony photos. The whole-day version, phones useful only when the night is allowed to be loud again, is a note on an unplugged wedding that still needs photos.
After the vows is a different job
The drinks. The table that will not sit down. The dance that starts before anyone meant it to. Guests are already in those rooms. They will take pictures. The question is where those pictures go.
Asking them to send later is the chat the next morning. Hundreds of mixed guest phone photos. Every look. Half of them blurred. A night you now have to sort, from people who meant to send them and people who forgot.
Those pictures are wedding photos. The pain is the pile.
A camera that waits
You do not need guests filming the vows. You need a place for the pictures after.
Polajoy is that place.
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.
A row of iPads is also a wall for the hired photographer. Keep them. The guest camera is for after the vows, not instead of that work. Names we have written up live on the directory, including London and Bristol.
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.