You wanted their faces. The music started, and a wall of phones went up.
Your sister. The friend who flew. The person walking you down. You get the tops of screens. You miss the look you came for.
That is the why. Not a dislike of phones. You want to see people while it is happening.
What unplugged actually means
Unplugged is usually ceremony-only. Aisle, vows, recessional. Phones welcome after.
It is not a ban for the whole night. Say the window, or guests keep phones in bags through dinner, or they never put them down because the ask sounded like a mood.
If the part you mean is only the walk to the front, there is a shorter note on phone-free ceremony photos. The steps that make the window hold live in a note on how to have an unplugged wedding. How to say it, in four places, is a note on how to ask guests for an unplugged wedding.
Why couples still choose it
Presence. You look up and they are looking back. Nobody is filming you for later while missing you now.
Cleaner pictures from the person you hired. They cannot shoot through a row of iPads. Guests putting devices away is how the first kiss stays a first kiss.
Guests actually in the room. Standing there, not holding a screen over their head. The manners, when a phone may come out and when it stays down, have their own note on unplugged wedding etiquette.
The half people forget
The service ends. Phones come back. Then what.
If the only plan is a chat the next morning, you get hundreds of mixed guest phone photos. WhatsApp. iCloud. Every look. Half blurred. A night you now have to sort.
Those pictures are still your wedding. The pain is the pile. After the vows, guest photos still need a place that is not a group thread. That half has a note on unplugged wedding photos after the vows.
Keep the photographer. Give guests a camera after.
Unplugged is not a reason to send the hired photographer home. They know the light, the order of service, the portraits you actually want. Keep them for the vows.
Give guests a job once the recessional is over. Film already on the phone in a pocket. For that, there is a note on an unplugged wedding guest camera.
Names we have written up live on the directory, including London, Bristol, and Manchester.
A sealed guest camera, 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. After Accept they still see the photo on the sign screen. A short handwritten note is optional, up to 34 characters. Initials always go on the frame. It seals on Send, then 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. 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.