In defence of iPhones at weddings.

Another wedding, another person weighing in about what not to do on YOUR day.

Wedding photographer Thomas Stewart has posted a massive Facebook rant about why couples should demand phone-free weddings.

Phones, he said, get in the way of capturing ‘the moment’. They get in the way of the ACTUAL paid-for-professional photographer doing his job. They stop us from connecting human to human. Sometimes brides can’t even see down the frickin AISLE to look at their GROOM because there is a sea of iphones looking back at them.

It’s interesting for a couple of reasons. Because while we’re all for unplugging and being in the moment, if a bride and groom asked you to put your phone in a basket before the ceremony, would there be a tiny part of you that thought ‘diva’?

As Mia Freedman says in this week’s podcast calm down: you’re not Kim Kardashian.

Also, is a wedding even without phones truly ‘unplugged’ and ‘in the moment’? Wedding photographers and videographers lurk in the periphery anyway.

Or are photographers just annoyed that there are other enthusiastic amateurs stepping on their very important photographic turf?

When Jamila Rizvi got married, she went the complete other way, setting up a wedding hashtag. And she says despite a room of 200 guests, she didn’t notice a single iphone. All she noticed as she walked down the aisle was the look in her grooms eyes.

That the entire day passed in such a rush and whirl, that one of the best parts of her wedding was the next day, as she and her new husband sat together and trawled the wedding hashtag.

In that moment, they both saw their wedding through the eyes of the 200 guests.

She saw all the things she didn’t notice on the night. Guests playing croquet. Her face as she hugged her mother in law. Her guests playing with the giant picture frames. Her sister rocking a hula hoop in a floor length gown.

Hula hoop in a formal gown? Do it. #jezamwedding

A photo posted by @mimrizvi on Dec 21, 2014 at 3:53am PST

And as the days passed, the wedding memories started to fade, and the professional photos yet to come, those photos, the raw guests’ perspective, remained.

This is my favourite group of photos from the big day. Xxx #jezamwedding A photo posted by @mimrizvi on Dec 21, 2014 at 3:59am PST

Sure, you can have your polished, perfect, posed wedding shots from your professional photographer. But in an age where everything is so perfect and glossy, the iphone album has its place, too.

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Would you have an unplugged wedding?