No Tweets. No Facebook posts. No Instagram pictures. They’re the three little social media rules that are fast becoming the norm at modern weddings as more and more couples ask guests not to share their private wedding news and pictures online.
With mobile phones almost as pervasive as people, an increasing number of couples are requesting guests not post or share pictures of their big days online before they get a chance to vet the pictures – or at least share them first.
Others wanting to protect their privacy simply do not want the images online at all.
Wedding photographer Meaghan Cook told The Sydney Morning Herald that she banned social media on her big day, largely because it was a private event for the couple’s friends and family, not one to be shared for all the world to see.
“Our wedding was a private moment in our lives and wasn’t for public consumption,” she said. “For us it was about taking back ownership of the day.”
“It’s ridiculous. I’ve seen posts going up during ceremonies and wedding photographers spruiking their pictures online before the bride has even had a chance to see them.”
Wedding celebrant Koren Harvey told the SMH that more worrying was that guests these days seem so concerned with capturing the moment – they don’t actually experience it.
”They [guests] don’t engage with the day at all and before the couple has had a chance to process what is happening, it’s all over the internet,” Koren said.
“Those present [at the wedding], the couple’s loved ones, have been invited to be just that – present,”she adds.
But, while the trend of requesting guests keep their images to themselves is increasing, it’s not a rule for every modern couple.
One Easy Weddings bride, Katana_Geldar recently wrote on our forums, “We welcomed it. We knew we weren’t going to get many photos for quite a while (we only just got them), so it was nice to see photos posted by our friends so we could see the ourselves.”
Another bride, Maddie Gale of Dee Why, told news.com.au that she had no problem with guests posting images to social media, “It’s the thing now, to post photos as soon as possible,” she said. “We saw photos online before we had even got to the reception.”
What’s your view? Yay or nay on allowing guests to post your wedding images on social media?
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