One trend that has been very popular the last several years at weddings, is having an unplugged ceremony sign right before your ceremony entrance. This is to tell your guests that you would appreciate it if they would be present at the moment with you and your partner during the ceremony. Most times, guests want to capture their own moments of your ceremony on their cell phone (Or even iPad). Having an unplugged ceremony, allows the photographer to get unrestricted ability to capture your photos during your ceremony. But what if you want to allow your guests the ability to capture their own photos, but still want that unplugged ceremony feel?

Well, I have the perfect alternative to that unplugged ceremony sign, a photo minute! 

Last weekend I photographed a beautiful wedding in Sacramento. It was a wedding that narrowed down from over 100 people to just over 40 people, due to COVID and travel restrictions. My couple Maggie + Raquel wanted to make their wedding as personable as possible for their 40+ guests and one way they managed that was with their photo minute. Before either of the brides walked down the aisle, their officiant made an announcement to explain what the Photo Minute was. Basically, it’s a minute for your guests to either stay at their seats and take a photo of you two standing at the ceremony site or for the guests to come up and take a selfie with you. Once they both were at the front of the ceremony site in front of their guests, their Officiant made a quick announcement about the photo minute, and then there was a rush of guests to the front. 

What I liked most about this photo minute, was it gave the guests a feeling of inclusion in your ceremony as well as perked up the energy of the ceremony. Sometimes when guests have been sitting in their seats for typically 30 minutes before the ceremony, energy can start to fade. But I noticed with the photo minute, gave the guests a moment of true excitement to share with you as the couple and a minute to stretch their legs. Here are some photos of what it looked like from my perspective. 

But you know what, it worked! There were no other phones brought out during the ceremony, and all the guests truly got to enjoy the ceremony with you and also have that awesome selfie with you at your ceremony. 

I would highly recommend and I will definitely be recommending it to all my future couples as an alternative to the unplugged wedding signs.