An unplugged wedding is a way to fully engage your guests on your big day. It’s a fun way to encourage people to disconnect and just enjoy the day with you. But what is an unplugged wedding? And how do you know if they’re right for you?
Essentially, an unplugged wedding is where guests are asked to avoid the use of electronic devices throughout the day. We live in a world where just about everyone has a phone in their pocket and it doesn’t take much to fall into what seems like an endless scroll down social media or our favourite websites. Rather than spending time on their devices, guests can let their hair down and give all of their attention to your big day. So this means no phones, cameras, iPads and things like portable gaming devices.
But there is also another big reason why unplugged weddings are becoming so popular. Photographs!
Most couples hire professional photographers and videographers to document their day. The last thing you want when reliving your wedding through these photos and videos is to see people in the background of every shot with their heads down and all attention on their device. Or even worse, good old Uncle Larry causing the photographers to miss an important shot by getting in the way to try and take one on his iPhone!
Unplugged Wedding vs Unplugged Ceremony
Here’s the tricky part. Do you choose to only have an unplugged ceremony? Or make the entire wedding an unplugged event?
We think it’s important that ceremonies are always unplugged, while the reception and the remainder of the day can be decided on a case by case basis. The ceremony is by far the most important part of your day, so it makes sense that your guests are giving 100% of their attention to you. The last thing you want is to look up and see people playing on their phones or to receive your professional photographs back that feature a bunch of phones in the way of the photographs shot.
As for the reception, this comes down to your preference. We often suggest that you aim to have the formal parts of your reception unplugged. This includes speeches, father & daughter dance and the first dance.
How to inform your guest that you’re having an unplugged wedding?
We’ve seen all sorts of different methods for letting guests know about your wishes for an unplugged wedding. At the end of the day, the best way to go about this is to include a message within your invites along with an announcement from your celebrant just before the ceremony starts.
Here are a few templates you can use.
On the invite:
“We have chosen to have an unplugged wedding. We kindly ask that you leave any large devices at home or refrain from using them during our ceremony. You won’t need to worry about missing any photo opportunities as we’ve hired professional photographers and videographers to capture our whole day.
We can’t wait to celebrate our big day with you.”
Celebrant’s message:
Most celebrants have a range of different announcements they’ll share with you to choose from. However, here’s another option just in case you need one.
“Jane and John are so excited and thankful that you have all chosen to celebrate their big day with them today! They have asked if you can all make sure your phones are on silent and refrain from using them during the ceremony. I know you’d love to capture some photographs or videos of these special moments, however, they have hired a professional photographer to take care of this and they will share the resulting images with you.
And that’s just about everything there is to know. Will you be having an unplugged wedding?
