It’s a common complaint of wedding photographers and happy couples alike. Although, with the latter, it’s typically after the wedding when they see how many of their friends and relatives have ruined the paid photographer’s shots by standing in the way with smartphones and even iPads to get snaps of their own. Fortunately, more couples are speaking out and going “unplugged”, but word hasn’t spread to everybody yet.

For photographer Hannah Mbalenhle Stanley of Hanna Way Photography, she faced one iPhone too much recently and posted a rant to Facebook expressing her thoughts. It’s since been shared over 150,000 times, with over 140,000 reactions and has left commenters divided.

The post reads…

To the girl with the iPhone…
Not only did you ruin my shot, but you took this moment away from the groom, father of the bride, and the bride. What exactly do you plan on doing with that photo? Honestly. Are you going to print it out? Save it? Look at it everyday? No. You’re not. But my bride would have printed this photo, looked at it often and reminisced over this moment as her dad walked her down the aisle on her wedding day. But instead, you wanted to take a photo with your phone, blocking my view, and taking a photo that you will not use.
Guests, please stop viewing weddings you attend through a screen but instead turn OFF your phone, and enjoy the ceremony. You are important to the bride and groom, you would not be attending the wedding otherwise. So please, let me do my job, and you just sit back, relax and enjoy this once in a lifetime moment.

Sincerely,
Wedding photographers

The responses to Hannah’s post have been mixed, with some saying that the guests are more important and have the right to do what they want, and others backing up Hannah’s position completely. Personally, if guests at my wedding started getting in the way of the person I’d paid to be there and record the day, I’d be pissed.

This one of the reasons why I won’t ever shoot weddings. It’s just too much of a headache for me to want to deal with. But for those of you that do, how do you deal with smartphone-wielding guests? And if it was your wedding, how would you feel if your guests were constantly in the way of the photographer you’d hired to be there?