People who take photos of the bride walking down the aisle

[haloreacher]

Who are not the photographer... why?!?! If you want a photo why not wait for the professional ones to come out instead of getting a low quality/bad angle shot. And it makes photos of the guests and bride look shit because everyone is standing looking at their phone! No one actually really looks at the bride, just through their phone

I don't go to enough weddings to know what is appropriate.

I haven't seen people taking photos in church ( amateur or professional) I must have lead a sheltered life.
Are you suggesting that guests should pay the photographer for pictures of the celebration? I've never heard of that either. Surely people can take pictures of whatever they like unless eg for solemnity's sake, they are forbidden, surely in that case though there wouldn't be professional photos either.?

Oh! I so wish that our guests had taken lots of photos of my wedding, but nobody did (not of the ceremony anyway)!

As it was, we only had the official photographer's photos and we were strictly limited to only one roll of film. So, he took 36 photos of before, during and after the ceremony and that was all we had.

When the proofs arrived about two weeks after the wedding, I realised that there were very few among them that were nice shots of everyone, so I had no choice of which photos to choose for the album, which has 12 photos in it.

I think it's lovely that nowadays, there are so many photos taken!

I'm not sure why, but I hadn't really anticipated that when I walked down the aisle everyone be would be filming and photographing me, it made me feel a uncomfortable (I was already feeling a bit nervous about everyone looking at me!) To be honest I'd have preferred it if people were just smiling at me instead but I couldn't really have told them not to take photos, I'd have looked like a complete bridezilla!

I didn't want anyone except the actual photographer taking pictures really. But despite telling people this, a few did at various points.
I ignored it, nothing was going to ruin the day.
(My dh remained facing forward, and didn't watch me walk down the aisle, and was of course the last person to see me, which is what I really wanted. So that was most important).

If you want a photo why not wait for the professional ones to come out instead of getting a low quality/bad angle shot

Do you mean, apart from the fact that yours will be free and you'd have to pay £££ to buy a print from the photographer
Plus yours would be there instantly and not have to wait for weeks
Plus, as others have said, some phones actually have pretty good cameras these days.
Plus, you might want to just have a memory, and not be too worried about the quality anyway as you aren't printing it out or keeping for ever, just want to share with someone else who knows the couple but isn't there
Plus, you might just want a couple of snaps to keep with other memories from that months / year of your life, not really be looking for a professional photo to put on the mantle piece
Plus, you might just get a shot from a different angle / more relaxed, or less posed than the photographer?

All that said, I tend to agree you should leave your camera in your bag / pocket during the service. Not sure if you mean on the way in or way out. By the 'way out' it does seem the right time to take a few snaps.

I took some as a gift for the bride, while the pro was busy.
That night I handed the card full of the day, she emailed it her brother that night and had facebook pictures as well, she was so happy.
It took 6 months for the photo's to come back.

Did the same for sibling, their pro die, before he could do the book, a year later they still had no photo's except the ones I took.

last wedding I went to, many of us put pics on FB before the partying was done. I loved the pics being so "live news".

I love the non professional pictures, just as much as my professional wedding pics. The photographer cant be everywhere, so guests capture some absolute cracking pics, like me picking confetti out of my dress. 😂😂

I went to a wedding last year where we were asked beforehand not to turn and look at the bride because the photographer (who was stood at the front next to the registrar) didn't want pictures of the backs of our heads. I wondered if that bothered the bride that nobody turned to see her come in? I guess her husband to be was facing her and that's the most important person really! I've no idea, I'm not married so it's not something that i'd considered before.

I'm not a bride actually so no I haven't been caught at a bad angle I'm a photographer so photos of the guests are never that great when it's everyone looking at their phones

To each their own. I personally don't like it which is why I very politely requested on our order of service that guests do not take any photos inside the church - it was more because i felt it was disrespectful to take photos throughout a religious ceremony. My guests very happily obliged.

But others like it, and it's their wedding, so it's not a problem. If someone feels strongly enough about it they'll make the request like we did. If they don't, you can assume they don't mind.

@lljkk it's very bad form to post pics before the bride & groom do.

It's also rude to take pics and hand your phones/cameras and heads in the way of the professional photographer that the couple have probably paid a fortune for.

There is one shot that is the most important to me at my wedding and if anyone gets in the way or messed it up I will not be a happy bunny as that moment can not be recreated.

My daughter got married on Friday. A couple of people at the back captured some beautiful pics of the bridesmaids, my daughter and her dad as they made their way down the ailse, that I couldn't see because I was at the bottom. They were fabulous.

I was at a wedding last year. The brides nana was in hospital and was distraught to miss the ceremony so she was FaceTimed on the day by a guest. One of the best photos of the day was taken by a different guest as bride walked down the aisle with her DF, the photographer caught them as well as nana on FaceTime watching her walk down the aisle. It is a very beautiful and precious photo as nana sadly died a couple of weeks later.

Wasn't a church wedding btw.

@walkingdowntheboulavard thats lovely. 💜

Dd got married in our village church last year. The vicar did not allow any photos in the church other than a few taken by the photographer. And the vicar stipulated where the photographer had to stand. Dd and SIL didnt actually want everyone taking photos of them inside the chuch so all was good.

The vicar told us, during the rehearsal that he’d become so strict after a wedding where the groom started taking selfies of himself and his bride DURING the ceremony

I should add the photos we have got inside the church, taken by the photographer are absolutely beautiful.

This really didn’t bother me when I got married. If someone asked me to not take pics at their wedding I would respect that, but I generally believe in brides and grooms having the wedding they want and guests being respectful of this instead of moaning how it inconvenient to them. A lot of people won’t see it as a big deal to take photos but I doubt very many would if asked not to.

I was really grateful to the people who took pics of me walking down the aisle. I had a photographer as well but some of my fave photos were taken by guests! They also put some of the first ones up on social media which I found really nice as I was waiting several months for the professional ones. So family who could not attend would not have gotten to see any photos until months later if it wasnt for guests taking some good shots.

and my photographer was a lovely woman and took some great pics but she did seem a little annoyed by my friends taking pics with their slrs etc.
Which in turn annoyed me a little because I was paying her a grand for a few hours work so honestly I thought she should just be okay with whatever me and my husband were okay with.
I mean she was working for us not trying to win the portrait of the year award. I get that photographers want their work to look the best it can and thats admirable but at someones special once in a lifetime event I think you also have to take into account what the couple want... and if that involves their friends taking pics then so be it.

Just to say my photographer didnt actually complain at any point and was lovely and took amazing pics so I wouldnt hesitate to use her again for anything or to reccomend her.

One of the best photos from our wedding was taken by my Aunt on her iphone. She captured a lovely moment between us while the photographer was busy setting up for the formal photos.

One of the best photos I've ever seen was taken of 2 lovely friends on their wedding day by someone on their phone.

They were coming out of their fugly church (pebble dash type building) and there's loads of arms in the background (people chucking confetti etc) but they look ecstatic... it absolutely captured them perfectly. No way could a staged professional pic do that.

I was happy about it too! Our photographer was only allowed to stand in one specific corner of the registry office, and although she got some lovely shots of me walking in with my mum, sister and cousin, all the wedding photos are of the back of DH's head :( He is the kind of person who only photographs well when he's NOT posing, so I would have loved to have seen his expression when he was focusing on something else. I was far too nervous and distracted to have many memories of the ceremony at all :(

That said our photographer was great and managed not to make DH look awful but she did complain a lot at him for ruining a lot of the photos - she is a friend!