Earlier this month, Molly Guy from Stone Fox Bride wrote and article for Vogue.com – she gave a list of “The 10 Wedding Rules to Break” I’ll hand it to her – there was a really nice quote in that article. Let me drop it right here for ya…
“At its core, a wedding is a raw, essential celebration of true love. Anything that detracts from that . . . well, it detracts from that.”
Oh Molly Guy!! You’ve got me : ) I’m loving this! Read on folks – take a look at some of the things to say “I don’t” to…
Ditch the rings? Sure! You do you girl! If you don’t want that gold bling, she suggests you get tattoos. And that “$400 crinoline monstrosity” bridesmaid dress? She says to toss that aside and let the girls pick their own attire.
But hold the phone – literally.
Molly suggests that you should say “I don’t” to a professional wedding photographer and rely on your guests for taking pictures on their phones or with disposable cameras. I’ll admit I’m a bit biased {because I am a professional wedding photographer} but this is where I don’t quite understand Molly… You see – she starts out with calling for weddings that don’t detract from the true love, meaning and emotion of the day. If people chose to only rely on Instagrammed photos, wouldn’t it more distracting to have 50 guests with their phones in the air every minute trying to get good shots for you?
For me, this is a fry cry from living in the moment, you know, the “raw, essential celebration of true love” she’s asking us to participate in. We already live in a society where we spend more times with our noses to our phones – all of the intentionally unplugged wedding ceremonies we’ve photographed have been about the moment, emotion and love that day. And trust me – we still got plenty of photos : )
Despite the obvious difference in quality – I could go on about other reasons why hiring a professional photographer is a better choice, but for now, here some images of weddings we shot this last year, side by side with some guest images. I’ll let you decide which set you’d rather have ; )
So just let your guests be guests… Or results may vary ; )
Wow, I LOVE this – as a photographer who’s shot weddings, myself, I read that article and had a major “hey, now!!” moment. I REALLY like the way you put the guest photos next to your professional (and GORGEOUS, I might add!) pictures. Definitely helps people get a grasp on the concept. =)
Unplugged weddings, for the win.
Actually get’s to her core point – that the wedding should be about the moment, emotion, love, etc… whereas turning all your guests into your photographers goes against her concept.