If you’ve ever been to a wedding you’ve probably witnessed dozens of smart-phones going up as soon as the bride starts walking down the aisle. As a wedding photographer, I’ve seen this many times and I always advise my couples to consider having an unplugged wedding.

But here’s the good news: you don’t have to have an entirely unplugged wedding from start to finish.

Okay, hold up – Steven!

Before I get ahead of myself. Let’s start with the basic.

What’s an Unplugged Wedding?

An unplugged wedding is when a couple getting married prefer that their wedding guests didn’t take any photos and/or upload them on social media. There are really no rules to this, some couples prefer having an unplugged ceremony-only, others prefer having a ‘no photo policy’ for the entire wedding and others prefer their guests didn’t post any photo on social media until the following day or when the bride and groom have announced their marriage themselves.

How to Have an Unplugged Wedding?

1 – Put a note on your wedding website.

If you’re creating a wedding website for your guests this is the perfect opportunity to start mentioning that you’ll be hosting an unplugged wedding. I believe you should mention this more than once and one of the ways you can do this is by including a note on your our RSVP page. This way you know for sure that everyone has read the message.

Wedding Website Prompt

“On the wedding day, we ask you to kindly to leave your camera in your bag (we’ve got photography covered!), and put your cell phone on mute (we promise they’ll call back later!). We’re happy to share our professional wedding photos later, but the greatest gift you can give us on our wedding day is just being fully present with us in this beautiful and special moment.”

Read more: 5 Things You Need on Your Wedding Website

2 – Ask your officiant to make an announcement.

Another way to remind your guests to mute their devices is by having your wedding officiant make a brief announcement before the ceremony.

He/She can say something like:
“The bride and groom have asked me to ask you to put your phones and cameras away. Sit back and enjoy the ceremony!”

After the ceremony, there’s not a lot of important events happening before the reception. However, I also think that it makes sense to ask your guests to go easy with cell phone usage during the big moments during the reception. I’m talking about cake-cutting, the first dance, father and daughter dance, etc.

3 – Ask your DJ or bandleader to make an announcement.

I think it’s fair to ask your wedding guests to go easy with their phones during the first dance. Ask your DJ or the bandleader to kindly ask your guests to keep their cell phones on mute and join the bride and the groom for their first dance.

On the other hand, I also like having the guests use their phone’s flashlight to create extra effects during the first dance, but it’s always great to remind them to keep it on silence.

4 – Put a sign somewhere visible

Obviously, there are other creative ways you can deliver the message. Think about sings at the ceremony and small signs on the dinner table. These can also be humorous while getting your point across.