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A Polite Way to Ask Your Guest to Please Refrain From Taking Pictures During the Ceremony

jlchrustjlchrust
in Wedding Photography and Videography Forum
How do you ask your guest in the nicest way possible to please stay out of the photographer’s way? It seems that with iphone and smart phones everyone thinks they are a photographer these days.  I have been to a number of weddings in the last six months and I am shocked at people’s disregard for the photographer.  No seems to care that they are in the way of the photographer or that their flash might be affecting the photographer’s pictures.  We are paying our photographer a ton of money to take the perfect pictures we don’t want anyone messing it up.  We have talked to our families about this and while my family is understanding of our request, his family is not.  He even had an aunt go as far as saying she is going to take pictures no matter what because the photographers are overrated and don't get good shots anyways (she had a bad experience with her sons wedding and she's just plain noisy).  This point aside how do you ask your guest to please stay out of the way and reframe from flash photography?  
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Re: A Polite Way to Ask Your Guest to Please Refrain From Taking Pictures During the Ceremony

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    Mrs0toBeMrs0toBe member
    First Anniversary First Comment
    edited April 2013
    I know this will probably be unpopular. . but my advice is to please not ask them to refrain.

    We hired a (we thought) top-notch photographer.  We paid big bucks.  They had great reviews.  They had great photos on their website. 

    well, the two photographers who showed up took terrible pictures. I was absolutely devastated when we got them.

    The best pictures came from our guests.   I'm thankful they took so many. 
     
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    fallbride1109fallbride1109 member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its Name Dropper First Comment

    Sorry, but I could not disagree more with the PP.  (I am not doubting her exprience, but this is not the norm.). 

    Having an unplugged wedding is becoming more and more popular.  If you google the term, you'll find lots of helpful tips, but here's one I found.

    http://offbeatbride.com/2011/06/unplugged-wedding-templates

    My Uncle Bob is known as quite the shutterbug in our family and he interfered with my photographer a couple of times.  Every picture he took was blurry and terrible.

    Last but not least, check out this pic.  This is what can happen when guests interfere.


     

    Planning the Meal
    With All the Trimmings
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    NYCMercedesNYCMercedes member
    First Anniversary First Answer First Comment 5 Love Its
    edited April 2013
    You photographer may tell people to move or not to take pictures. My sister's photographer told me to move, to stop taking pictures, not to talk to the subjects he was working with, etc. I thought him exceptionally rude, but I did stay out of his way.
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    JoanE2012JoanE2012 member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_photos-video_a-polite-way-to-ask-your-guest-to-please-refrain-from-taking-pictures-during-the-ceremony?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:30Discussion:a4c1e5f1-e148-4b01-bece-9547fced7c5aPost:fe0db2d1-b39d-4925-83bc-2df9f14201fd">Re: A Polite Way to Ask Your Guest to Please Refrain From Taking Pictures During the Ceremony</a>:
    [QUOTE]Sorry, but I could not disagree more with the PP.  (I am not doubting her exprience, but this is not the norm.).  Having an unplugged wedding is becoming more and more popular.  If you google the term, you'll find lots of helpful tips, but here's one I found. <a href="http://offbeatbride.com/2011/06/unplugged-wedding-templates" rel="nofollow">http://offbeatbride.com/2011/06/unplugged-wedding-templates</a> My Uncle Bob is known as quite the shutterbug in our family and he interfered with my photographer a couple of times.  Every picture he took was blurry and terrible. Last but not least, check out this pic.  <strong>This is what can happen when guests interfere.  </strong>
    Posted by stephiehall[/QUOTE]

    <div>OMG, I can't believe that woman with the iPad or whatever computer she has!  Your photographer looks like he was in a weird spot off to the side too though.</div><div>
    </div><div>That said, OP, I didn't find it a big deal with our wedding.  Our photographer took great photos without much guest interference.  They are professionals and used to it.  <span style="font-size:11px;line-height:14px;">I think you can ask guests to refrain from photography, but don't count on it.   </span></div><div><span style="font-size:11px;line-height:14px;">
    </span></div><div><span style="font-size:11px;line-height:14px;">I will also add, one of my favorite photos was taken by a guest.</span></div><div>
    </div>
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] member
    5 Love Its Name Dropper First Comment First Anniversary
    I have several friends who do photography and for the most part all agree it's apart of their job to know how to work around this and looking at their photo's they do!  You had to remember too while you are paying to have precious photos' your guests would also like photo's to remember the day that's why so many take pics too.  With that said I know some churches don't allow flash in the church maybe you can at least request that?  I have been to a few differen't events and it was nice to see the photo's others got.  I even went to a wedding recently where I one of the pics I took turned out to be one of the brides favorite pics.  Your photographer should really know how to handle this type of situation.  
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