Is it rude to say no pictures??

Viczaesar

Butterflyz419 said:

I think it's kind of ridiculous to say that it's silly to worry about your photographer not being able to get the shot because of guests in the way, and if your photographer is good they'll do their job anyway, but then turn around and warn that you shouldn't do unplugged because you may never get your photographs back, because your photographer didn't do their job.... That makes absolutely zero sense and I don't even care about this topic.

Those thoughts actually work perfectly well together.  Trying to control people for the sake of your photographer who should not need that help if he's any good is rude.  If your photographer is any good he should have no problem getting great shots regardless of what the guests are doing.  If your photographer is not any good then making sure nobody is in his way will not make the quality of his photographs any better, and if he also doesn't give you your photographs in the end, good or not, you will be grateful for the shots captured by your guests. 

You do realize that there is no direct correlation between how good of a photographer he is (i.e. the quality of the photographs he takes) and how good of a businessman he is (whether or not he ever gives you the photographs he took, regardless of their quality), right?  You may have a fantastic photographer who has no problem at all working around your guests and their amature photographs but who is a flake and disappears off the face of the earth when you start asking about when you'll receive your photographs.  Or you may have a shoddy photographer who takes so-so pictures but gets them to you promptly after the wedding.  Or you may have a great photographer who also gets you his photographs shortly after the wedding, or a shoddy photographer who never gives you the photos he took.  But 'never gives the bride and groom the photos they paid for' =/= 'person who takes bad photographs and can't deal with guests taking pictures too.'

SP29

I find the whole "be fully present" quite offensive. The reason I'm taking a photo is BECAUSE I am present- as a guest, I'm sitting THERE, watching you walk down the aisle, listening to your vows (I love ceremonies), and I want a photo to remember it by. 

I *will* agree that as a society we are too connected to our fancy schmancy phones, internet and ipads, and yes it's rude for people to be on their phone (at ANY event) or stand up in aisle- but your wedding is not the place to teach your guests a lesson. Maybe start modelling this in your everyday life, but you cannot tell guests how to act. You are not their mother/father who can scold them. Anything they do poorly is a reflection on them. And the act of taking a picture, or a video, is not rude in itself.

Although I've said the above- I LOVE photos. My wedding was only just over a year ago. I remember lots of it fondly, but you know what, there is lots I've forgotten already. WE chose the wording for our ceremony- do you think I remember what we said to each other? Nope. Do I remember what each of our guests looked like that day? Nope. If I can't remember stuff now, what will I remember when I'm 60? 80? I'm sure glad that I have TONS of photos and a video of the ceremony that I can look back on fondly when I'm old and grey. 

As for brides worried about being distracted- honestly, don't even worry about that. When I first watched the video of our ceremony, I could hear our 2 year old niece chattering away through the ceremony. You could hear the odd whisper from a guest. When my BMs walked down the aisle a few people made comments about how their dresses were different. I heard NONE of this. There is a picture taken by the photographer of me walking down the aisle with my dad. My grandmother had reached out and put her hand on my arm. SHE TOUCHED MY ARM AND I CANNOT REMEMBER THIS EVER HAPPENING. The only thing I was focused on was walking, where I was supposed to stand, the order of the ceremony and my husband. 

Abbynieves627

Its probably one of most rude things you can ask however you can politely have the offiant announce prior to ceremony to refrain from standing or getting out of their chairs for photos