We now live in an age where everybody pretty much has a camera on them at all times with an unlimited number of shots. This means nearly everyone fancies themselves as having an eye for a good photo, and also enjoys taking pictures of most of the stuff they see (and especially the stuff they eat) to share on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. It is natural to assume, therefore, that at your wedding and the ensuing reception, guests are going to be capturing things constantly on their smartphones, digital cameras and tablets. But what if you don’t really want them to?
You have hired an expensive photographer to take pictures of your wedding and capture it in the light that you want. You want to share these with your friends and family yourself, and you may not therefore want the first look people you know who weren’t there to get of you in your wedding dress to be from some dodgy shot your friend from work took and posted online of you with a mouthful of food. Here are some tips for keeping happy snapping guests from causing hassle on your wedding day:
Talk to the People You Know Are Avid Picture Takers and Get Them Onside
Most people have at least one friend or family member who thinks they are a great photographer, and who is liable to show up with a professional camera set up and announce themselves an honorary photographer for the event. You probably know who the likely culprits will be, so talk to them beforehand. You can appeal to them by saying that you know how good they are at photography, and that what you’d really like are some good shots of the guests who aren’t in the main wedding party because your official photographer will be focusing on you and the other key people. This way, they will feel appreciated, and hopefully spend the wedding using their photographic talents on other people, who may be pleased to have their pictures taken.
Make a Polite Announcement About Social Media Shares
Obviously it doesn’t sound good to forbid your friends from posting pictures of the wedding on Facebook and Twitter, but what you can do is ask that they don’t post any of you or tag you in anything. This means they can take pictures of themselves and the people they came with, of the buffet and other fun decorative elements to their hearts content, but won’t be posting any ‘spoilers’ ahead of you distributing the official shots, or tagging you in anything unflattering that will make you feel bad. This is a reasonable request most people will be happy enough to adhere to – after all, you paid for professional wedding photography for a reason.
By talking to your guests ahead of time, you can make sure people know how you feel about photography and social media shares relating to your wedding and avoid any issues on the day. This will mean that you can relax without worrying about appearing in dozens of photographs that you might not like all over the internet the next day!
Today’s feature writer, Donald Evans, is a freelance blogger and a wedding planner by profession. He has worked with the best of Toronto wedding photographers. He has a keen interest in photography and his blogs are usually related to the same.