Many couples today will consider having an ‘unplugged’ wedding ceremony although most people don’t really understand them or the benefits them.

Today, Carole and I will explore the benefits and yes, a few cons to having the unplugged ceremony and why you should also consider it.

What is an unplugged ceremony?

The unplugged ceremony means there are no cell phones, no iPads, and no cameras during the ceremony.

During the wedding, the couples ask their guests to put away all the electronic devices so they can focus on the couple getting married.

It also benefits the wedding photographers and videographers so they can do their job and others will not get in the way.

What’s the benefit of an unplugged ceremony?

Great question, in a nutshell, it prohibits guests from getting in the way of the professionals that were onsite taking the images and videos.

If you haven’t seen any of the images of guests standing in the way of professionals, then you should.

Hannah Way, from Forth Worth, Texas, U.S., shared a post on Facebook with two pictures.

One showed the shot she had lined up of a bride and her dad walking down the aisle.

But as she went to take the picture, a guest stuck their arm into the shot to take a picture with their phone camera.

The second picture shows the image the guest got on their screen.

‘To the girl with the iPhone… ‘Not only did you ruin my shot, but you took this moment away from the groom, father of the bride, and the bride. What exactly do you plan on doing with that photo?
Honestly. Are you going to print it out? Save it? Look at it everyday? No. You’re not.
But my bride would have printed this photo, looked at it often and reminisced over this moment as her dad walked her down the aisle on her wedding day.
But instead, you wanted to take a photo with your phone, blocking my view, and taking a photo that you will not use.’

The overall benefit of having the unplugged ceremony is so things like that don’t happen in the first place.

Not only does it happen with photographers but filmmakers and videographers too, in my own career, this happens more times than I can count and even sometimes the two get in the way of each other.

Good communication is key or having a team like Carole and myself work your wedding.

How many couples have an unplugged ceremony?

Honestly, there has been an upward trend in the unplugged wedding ceremony.

As a filmmaker, I started seeing a turn about 2014 with several couples asking their guests to not break out the smartphones, iPads, and cameras and for the most part, it has worked.

Unplugged vs Normal Wedding

data from The Wedding Report, 2020 national stats

Numbers will vary from region to region but there is an overall trend nationally that shows more and more couples are opting for this rather than a normal ceremony.

What determines if we should consider an unplugged wedding?

Unplugged weddings are not for every couple and yes, there are a few things to consider if you should have one.

First, if the wedding is small, with less than 50 people, you may want to just have it as normal.

Wedding professionals such as myself should be able to quickly set themselves up for the shots we need during the wedding and small weddings have much fewer people than more traditional sizes.

Our rule of thumb, if you have a small wedding chances are you don’t need an ‘unplugged’ wedding.

Second is the age groups of your guests.

If you have mostly younger guests, they’ll want to break out the phone and click away while older guests are not as technology inclined and less likely to break out a camera or smartphone.

Third, the number of media professionals covering your wedding.

If you have a wedding photographer and videographer, then you may want to have an unplugged set in place so they can capture the event.

You may even want to do so if you have just one person covering the wedding, although chances are the more coverage you have, the less likely you will need to have it set in place.

These are just guidelines and by ball means should you determine if the unplugged is needed in place or not. Always ask your wedding photographer or videographer if they recommend one, most will.