Guests with phones: what it does to your pictures
Almost every entrance photo today has someone holding up a phone. The guests mean well — they want to keep the moment. It just ends up in your picture rather than in theirs.
What is actually lost
The entrance is the one minute that does not repeat. An arm in the aisle, a lit screen in the row, someone stepping forward — each of them stands between you and the camera. What goes missing is not detail but the faces of the people watching: they are looking at screens rather than at you.
What actually helps
- One sentence before the ceremony, spoken by the celebrant and not by the photographer.
- Covering the ceremony only — everyone may photograph afterwards, which makes the request easy to accept.
- A sign at the entrance works less well than a sentence somebody says out loud.
- The promise that everyone will get the pictures. That removes the actual motive.
What does not help
A sternly worded note in the invitation. It is read when nobody is thinking about it and forgotten when it matters. And a photographer who corrects guests costs you more atmosphere than they gain in frames.