You walked into a wall of phones.
They were in the room. They were not looking at you. That is the picture couples search for an unplugged wedding sign to stop.
A pretty board by the door helps. It is not the plan.
Where the sign actually sits
Not only the bar. Not only an easel they pass once they are already seated, phones already up.
Put it where they still have time to put a phone away. The door they walk through. Next to the usher. On the program they hold. A second card by the pews if the room has two ways in.
If the first time they see it is next to the drinks, half the room has sat down. The sign did its job too late.
When they need to hear it
A sign is one place. Guests need the ask more than once.
Invite or wedding website first. One or two sentences. Ceremony only. The photographer will capture it. Guest photos welcome after. People skim. Do not write a paragraph.
Then the usher at the door. A spoken line lands better than a card they walk past.
Then the sign. Same window. Same message. Faces, not screens, until the recessional.
The officiant still says it. Signs get missed. People arrive late. People do not read. What the lines themselves should say lives in a note on unplugged wedding ceremony wording. This page is the object. Where it sits. When they see it.
What unplugged usually covers
Usually the ceremony. Processional through recessional. Not the whole day.
If you leave that half out, guests keep phones away all night, or they never put them down because the ask felt vague. Name the window on the sign, the same way you name it on the invite.
For the whole-day shape of the ask, there is a note on an unplugged wedding that still needs photos.
After the vows they still need a job
You asked for phones down. Good. Then the service ends.
Guests now have phones in pockets and nothing to do with them. They will shoot anyway. The drinks. The table that will not sit down. The dance that starts before anyone meant it to.
Asking them to send later is hundreds of mixed guest phone photos in a chat the morning after. WhatsApp. iCloud. Every look. Half blurred. A night you now have to sort.
Those pictures are wedding photos. The pain is the pile.
For guest pictures after the vows, there is a note on unplugged wedding photos after the vows. If you want the guest camera named, film already on the phone in a pocket, there is a note on an unplugged wedding guest camera.
A camera for after, not during
You do not need guests filming the vows. You need a place for the pictures once phones are allowed again.
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. Downloads are free, with a small wordmark. The couple can take it off for £2.99. Prints never have it.
Keep the hired photographer for the vows. The guest camera is for after. Names we have written up live on the directory, including London, Bristol, and Manchester.
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.