How to Deal With Amateur Photographers at Your Wedding
If
you can remember the good old days when a bride and groom would hire a
professional photographer to handle the entire wedding picture taking
responsibility, then you were probably around long before technology made it
possible to take pictures with something other than a camera. Today, anyone
with a smartphone can lay claim to being an amateur photographer.
Because
of the presence of social media and new photography technology, brides and
grooms have to consider what kinds of limitations they want to put on picture
taking during the wedding event. There should always be a professional
photographer left in the mix to assure there will be a least one quality set of
pictures for an album. Beyond that, who else the wedding party wants taking
pictures of things like a bridesmaid dress is open for discussion.
In
most cases, there’s a good chance the bride has been “planning” her wedding
since she was a little girl. If she wants a picture of the gold bridesmaid
dress, it’s well within her rights to decide who is going to take those
pictures. If she doesn’t want any pictures of a bridesmaid dress, that should
be okay as well. It’s really the bride and groom who should dictate who is
going to be permitted to shoot and post pictures of that gold bridesmaid dress
on behalf of the wedding party. To help deal with the issue of pictures, here
are three options the bride and groom might want to consider.
Option #1 – All Hands on Deck – With this option,
it would be incumbent on the bride and groom to inform guests picture taking
and sharing by anyone is more than welcome. There’s a good chance it will
create a hectic atmosphere and could interfere a bit with the event, but most
guests will use common sense and refrain from taking pictures until it’s
appropriate. For the bride and groom, the real benefit will be having an
abundance of wedding pictures commemorating the event. It should be stated to
all guests that there is a professional photographer on site, who should always
be given priority.
Option #2 – Limitations – By letting the
guests know ahead of time there will be plenty of opportunities to take
pictures at the wedding party’s discretion, they will be more likely to follow
the prescribed schedule. The opportunity to take staged pictures should be
enough to squelch the picture-taking desire of most guests. Additionally, the wedding couple could
encourage guests to share their pictures through a common #hashtag, thus
creating the ability to control the content being placed on social media.
Option #3 – No Pictures – In a highly
structured wedding where things need to stay on schedule, prohibiting pictures
is the only way to truly control guests. It would require that everyone be
forewarned ahead of time via the invitation and perhaps posted signs at the
event. There’s also a chance it will offend some guests. However, an intimate
wedding with peace of mind makes it worth the risk, and most guests will
understand and cooperate.
Above all, the day belongs you two, the bride and
groom. It’s your responsibility to decide
ahead of time how you want to have your nuptials recorded for prosperity. It’s
up to the guests to go with the flow and help make the event memorable. For
more tips about photographs at wedding have a look at Azazie.