Wedding Blog
A photographer friend recently admitted to me that she cannot stand the increased number of amateur photographers at weddings these days. People who get in the way when the hired photographer is trying to do his/her job. What should’ve been a beautiful shot of the processional/recessional shows guests everywhere holding up their cameras instead of admiring or cheering for the bridal party. The flashes from the extra cameras ruining the lighting for the photographer. The list goes on and on.
With the prevalence of digital cameras and the decreasing price of SLRs, it’s only natural that more and more people will bring their cameras to important events such as weddings. I’m guilty of this myself as I’m one of those annoying people who brings her camera with her everywhere. 
It’s nice to have snapshots of your weddings forwarded from your friends just hours after your wedding. And you never know - your friends may even capture some moments that your photographer(s) didn’t. However, I think that when guests start moving around during the ceremony to take pictures, or if they’re getting in the way of your hired photographer(s) while taking pictures, that’s crossing the line.
I know that some venues, especially churches, forbid flash photography. However, what about places that have no such regulations, such as mine? Do I want flashes going off repeatedly while I take my vows? I wouldn’t mind it at all during the reception, but I’m not so sure about the ceremony.
So here’s a question to all the married ladies: did a lot of your guests take pictures during your ceremony? Did you find it distracting at all? If so, how can one politely inform guests that photography by guests is not allowed during the ceremony?
To all photographers: do you find amateur photographers at weddings annoying? How do you deal with it?
I’ve been thinking about getting a DSLR for a while now, but I wasn’t sure if I would carry around all that bulk everywhere. This prosumer camera is the perfect solution, don’t you think? It’s an upgrade from the G7…..with more megapixels (which isn’t always a good thing but oh well), DIGIC III processor, 6x optical zoom with optical image stabilization, red-eye correction in playback, and…..RAW!!!!!
It comes out in October, which, unfortunately, is after the cruise to Bermuda. 
However, I will start saving for this baby. Oh yes, you will be mine.
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Share this post: Amateur Photographers
my friends who have gotten married never even noticed the flashes during the ceremony so i guess that part depends on the person. i’ve never seen guests move either to get a better shot.
there are definitely times when guests take it too far but you can’t really control it can you? you have to hope that the guests would know better but alas that’s sometimes not the case.
i actually just put together a photo album from pictures taken from friends for my best friend’s wedding and the couple loved it. i was actually surprised that some of them DIDN’T bring a camera [i too keep mine in my purse at all times]. she was actually really looking forward to getting everyone’s pictures for that reason.
personally, i won’t mind guests taking pictures. i’d love to see what they caught.
ahaha… this reminds me of a wedding i went to where an aunt actually walked up behind the altar to take a picture. unfortunately, she is going to be a guest at my wedding too… i’m thinking of installing a restraining bar on her seat 
in the end, what can you do… it just becomes part of the day. that kind of thing could end up being part of a hilarious photo by the hired photographer 
I think it’s written in my photography contract. My guests are allowed to take photos, as long as they don’t get in the photographer’s way. Additionally, the photographer may tell guests when they are in the way. My photographer said that he’s never had an issue with it, and has never had to tell anyone they were getting in his way.
P.S. I noticed the new Canons too, when the unveiled on Monday (and wrote about it!). I’m saving up for the ultra-zoom Canon SX100
As a bride, I didn’t think I would mind, but I was a little annoyed to get my pro pics back and have guests holding up their cameras in the shot. So I guess my stance is, I am all for it, unless you are in the way!
I agree Miss Peony! But not sure what can be done about it. At my brother-in-law’s wedding, a lot of the professional posed shots were ruined because at least one person would be looking at the bride’s uncle who was standing behind the photographer taking the same picture.
I just got married in July, and I couldn’t believe it (in a good way) when friends showed me their photos from the ceremony - I had no idea they were taking pictures! It was great to see some other photos besides our photographers, especially since those close to us know who is important to get shots of. Really, you will be so in the moment, a few photos going off in the background will not attract your attention.
My uncle is a semi-professional photographer - it’s almost always great at family events…we get excellent photos at no cost. However, at my sister’s wedding a few months ago, he was acting as if he was the hired professional photographer (i.e. - he was waiting at the top of the aisle and took pictures of us walking down the aisle before the hired photog got to). He was the person the pp mentioned that was behind the altar…and in many of the pro’s shots, he’s in there in the background.
My dilema is this - my photographer has actually said that there can not been any other prof. or semi-prof. photographers at the wedding…and if there are, they will be asked to leave/stop taking pictures. I agree with her request (especially after seeing what happened at my sister’s wedding) but I don’t know how to address it with my uncle. He will be offended no matter how the situation is handled. His pictures are great and I don’t want to prohibit him from taking pics like any other guest would…I just need him to stay in his seat during the ceremony, first dance, cake cutting, etc.
Any suggestions from the hive?
There was a major WB posting on this recently.
I hate regulating people: you can’t do this, you must wear that, etc., etc.
It is a BLESSING when guests bring their cameras and take pics. They almost always get pictures the pro doesn’t — the pro can’t be everywhere!
Yes, there were many, many cameras at our wedding with 350 guests. I just wish MORE of them shared their pics with us! We even had removable stickers to put on their cameras that said, “Please share your pictures with us” and included an email addy.
haha at my wedding, my husband’s uncle stood right in front of him as i was walking down the aisle. haha so instead of looking at my husband i was looking at his uncle!! we both laugh about it now. I don’t think theres much that you can do to stop people from taking pictures. and its always kind of nice to see people’s pictures after the wedding since the pro pics take a little longer.
haha i should add that his uncle was taking pictures in front of my husband. that would make my comment more relevant to your topic.
We’ve gotten snapshots from about a half dozen people, some of whom I didn’t even know had brought cameras at all. It wasn’t in the least distracting, but I’ll grant you we were in a situation where flash would have been unnecessary, and they all stayed in their seats–no blocking aisles or appearing in the background of things.
From behind the camera, I’ve been in situations where I’m the official photographer, and have to deal with a bunch of people taking snapshots, and it’s annoying. On the other hand, there have been more situations where I’m taking snapshots of something being covered by a newspaper, and I do make the effort to get out of the real photographer’s way. In either case, I don’t know that shutting the amateurs down would increase the quality of the resulting photos. It certainly wouldn’t make a lot of friends.
One of our very favorite photos from our wedding day is a black and white shot of us walking down the aisle after our ceremony. You can see guests holding up cameras on both sides of the aisle and we’re both looking down and smiling seemingly oblivious to all the guests taking photos and it just looks so paparazzi-like and cool. We never would have had that amazing photo if we didn’t allow our guests to take photos.
I think some things are just better left alone. Why risk hurting your guests feelings? Plus, I absolutely agree that you’ll get some really nice photos from guests… I wish we had even more!
cab07 - I would just be honest with him, and let him know that the contract you signed with your photographer prohibits him from taking pictures.
Would people really be offended if they read, “Please abstain from taking flash photography during the ceremony” in the program? I’m not looking for better photos; rather, I would like a subdued ceremony without flashes going off all the time. (It also doesn’t help that my eyes are super-sensitive to flash which have caused my contacts to pop out on more than one occasion.)
Honestly, we were SOOO thankful for all the non-professional photos. I did not notice any flashes during the ceremony and it was so nice to have friends send us all of their shots right away. I have hundreds of non-pro photos that I will cherish forever. Our pro photog focused on the main events - walking down the aisle, formals, cake, first dance etc and also got some great candid shots throughout the night. However, it is IMPOSSIBLE for one or two photographers to capture the entire evening. OUr friends and family took shots of each other at the cocktail hour, dancing, before and after,etc and we are so grateful to have these in another album.
there was an idea by one bride who had blank cd’s on the way out from the reception asking guests to take one and mail them a burned copy of the wedding pictures that they had taken. i thought that was a great idea! people often cannot email gobs of picture files and even when they upload them online, it doesn’t allow the bride and groom to do what they wish with the photos (print, enlarge) at their leisure.
I look forward to receiving pictures that my guests take as long as they’re not in the way of the professional photographers.
Most brides pay a considerable amount of money to get the photos that they want, and I for one, do not want guests to get in the way of that.
I also think its distracting during the ceremony when people stand in the aisle (or other really obvious placed) and try to take pictures. I went to a wedding last Saturday and I was thinking - “Wow, this person really needs to sit down” instead of paying attention to the ceremony.
Our ceremony was inside and I have to be quite honest - I did not notice a single flash. Nor did I notice anyone taking a photo. Yet, they had to have taken quite a few because we received a lot of photos of our ceremony.
You’re so in the moment and oblivious to so many extraneous things. Now, if someone jumps out and gets in your way - yeah, you’re gonna notice that. But, just the flashes themselves I don’t think you’ll really notice.
As a bride, I can’t wait to see what my friends (many of whom are photographers!) photograph at the wedding.
As a photographer, I’ve run into this problem at weddings - but often it’s easily solved. For instance, during the portraits, I ask everyone to step out of the way (and the subjects to JUST look at me) for my shots, then I step out of the way and let everyone else take the photo (for a very short time). Most people really respect the person who’s getting paid and the opportunity to take the professionally-posed photo.
At a recent wedding I attended the photographer and the bride both had to speak to a cousin of the groom…she was apparently in almost every shot the professional photographer was trying to take. Badly. At one point, the photographer’s assistant even grabbed her extra lense that was on the floor, and when she reached for it, said “Please, stop.” It got pretty ugly. Now the bride is po’d that she spent the money and this girl is in front of all the shots, and now the cousin isn’t speaking to the bride and groom.
What a mess.
Almost all of our guests were snapping away photos. It wasn’t a distraction or a nuisance at all on the day of. Of course, we had a relatively small wedding to begin with, so…
If I found out that my photographer felt that way I’d hire someone else. IMO the wedding is more about everyone enjoying themselves and being able to remember their own moments than my photographer getting a ‘perfect shot’ that’s somehow made artificial by restricting others.
I didn’t like a wedding I attended where the photographer prevented all amateur photogs from taking shots, even when they were standing next to him or behind him. It was an outdoor wedding, so there were no flash issues. I was in a wedding recently where, on the other hand, the photographer not only didn’t mind people standing behind him and snapping his setups, but when the other guests would gather people into groups for pictures, he would stand behind THEM and get his own candids! One of my favorite shots is when you have a group of people posed, all looking at some point (not yourself) and you catch them from an angle, all looking away, but posed.
i’m a photog, and i don’t usually have a problem with guests’ cameras. especially since I just can’t possibly be everywhere at once, so guests can get the fun shots of friends and family doing silly things at the reception while I’m with the bride & groom.
if someone is in my way, and i’m able, I’ll kindly ask them to move. however, i can’t make a big scene out of it, and occasionally it does affect the quality of my work. at my last wedding, half of the cake cutting shots had a strange red glow on the bride & groom’s faces…from red-eye reducer on the point and shoots. it’s not something I can fix. I shoot a lot of photos, and part of the reason I do is to simply try to get enough shots that don’t have that kind of interference.
the best way to handle it would be to have your officiant make an announcement prior to the ceremony, just before the family is seated by the ushers. (ie, please turn off cell phones, please remain in your seats during the ceremony and stay clear of the aisle and altar, as a courtesy to the professional photographer)
Also, if you know of someone likely to be an issue, either approach them in private and request that they refrain, or make a little joke about it (now uncle bob, I’m going to know if you got out of your seat during the ceremony…you’ll be in the background of the pro photos! so don’t think you can get away with it, hahaha!)
This was actually one of my biggest pet-peeves during our portrait time. Our photographer was trying to get take great pictures in a short amount of time between the ceremony and reception (at the same location) and extra relatives would butt in with “oh wait, I want to get that group shot too!” Hello? why do you think we paid so much for a photographer?
In the long run though, they’ll probably never see our professional photos and now they have a snapshot of the family to replace that one on their fridge from 5 years ago or whenever the last time they saw us was. And it only took a minute. I got over it.
During the ceremony though? I have no idea if people took pictures, I was too focused on my husband to notice what anyone else in the world was doing.
My advice would be, don’t worry about it! The pictures will be great, both professional and non-pro. In fact one of the neatest pictures I saw from a friends wedding was a shot (from the professional photog.) of the digital screen on someones camera (so you could see the bride and groom reciting vows on the camera’s screen and the real live moment was blurry in the background - I hope that makes sense).
i didn’t notice the flash during the ceremony but during the reception my eyes hurt A LOT. make sure you have plenty of eye drops and an extra set of contacts, just in case
Miss Peony:
Late to the game, but if you don’t want other photos during the ceremony part - understandable, shouldn’t the guests want to actually pay attention? - then just put in the program “No photography, please”
Everyone will assume its the church policy. :evil grin:
I’m a pro wedding photographer and I would say that 99% of the guests who are taking pictures are not a problem. But there always seems to be at least one person at the wedding who is determined to photograph the wedding as if they are the pro and they are consistently standing where I need to be and yes, the group shots have people looking all different directions at all the photographers behind me. I feel that I am paid to do my job and I don’t get to have an opinion on these things, but since it makes my job harder it does affect the photography. But it comes with the territory!
The worst thing is having an amateur videographer. They definitely get in the way because they don’t know where to stand or the etiquette of working together.
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Mrs. Peony, New York
Age and Occupation: 27, Marketing Coordinator
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 30, QA Engineer
Engagement Date: June 28, 2007
Wedding Date: April 18, 2008
Venue: The Fountainhead
Blogging Since: August 7, 2007
About Me: Both Mr. Peony and I are huge computer nerds, and our conversations usually consist of the latest gadgets, programming languages, and video games. At the same time, I can also be very girly with an obsession with handbags, makeup, and high heels. And art! I've studied studio art extensively, almost majored in art history, and freelance as a web and graphics designer. Mr. Peony and I are having a ball of a time planning a wedding for 250(!) guests, doing our best to infuse our personalities (geeky chic) with the wishes of our very traditional Asian parents.
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