s-t-f-u.com/phones-down
Put the phone down, you're at the actual thing
You paid to be here, and you're watching it on a five-inch screen you brought with you.
There is a photographer. They are being paid. Their photo of this moment is better than yours, and yours has the back of your own arm in it.
You will not rewatch the fourteen-minute video. Nobody ever has. But you also won't get the memory of having actually been there, because you were looking at a screen.
Why it lands badly
You block the people behind you
Your raised arm is somebody else's entire view.
It's in the professional's shot
The aisle photo now features eleven glowing rectangles.
You don't remember filmed things as well
Recording it seems to make you file it away instead of live it.
The footage is bad
Shaky, dark, distant, and the audio is clipped. You will not watch it twice.
Do this instead
Take one photo, early
Get it out of your system in the first minute, then put it away.
Watch with your eyes
Sounds trite. Is the entire point of having gone.
Wait for the shared album
Someone competent is doing this. You'll get the good ones for free.
When it's completely fine
You've been asked to film it. You're the family member of someone who couldn't come. The couple explicitly want a phone-photo wall — plenty do. Read the room, not the rule.
Questions people ask
- What if the couple asked for a hashtag?
- Then film away, that's consent. This page is for the ones who didn't ask.