Video Transcript

Hi, my name is Dalton Young, destination wedding videographer and photographer. And I want to talk, really quick, about one thing, and that is cell phones. You will see amazing things if you have cell phones in your wedding.

So specifically, I can’t tell you how many times a guest has used flash on their own cell phone while we’re doing photos. So here’s the thing, when we’re doing photo and video, do you really want to see a video like this, where someone’s waving their phone in front of your shot, in front of your wedding film? You’re in the middle of a first kiss and you just see this, and you just see flashes going off, right? You don’t want that, I promise you.

What you do want is to potentially consider, and here’s the thing, it’s your wedding. It’s your wedding, and they’re your guess. Whatever you ask, they will do, at least on your big day, or they should. But during the ceremony, ask that everybody put their phones, you don’t have to ask this, have your efficient announce, Hey, this is a, I forget the word for it. But basically, this is a ceremony where we are asking that your cell phones be silenced and turned off, or silenced and put away. The bride and groom have invested a lot of money in wedding videography and photography, who are basically professionals at doing what they do, blah, blah, blah. You get where I’m going with this.

You want them to announce that this is a basically a cell phone free, put your cell phone away, ceremony. And you may even want to do this during the toast too. But the biggest reason being, everybody wants to record, everybody’s happy. So you’re going to see people wanting to take pictures, but there’s nothing worse than trying to capture the first kiss, and someone jumps out into the aisle or sticks their arm. They’ll stick their arm out into the aisle, with a cell phone, to record from the middle of the aisle, right where the photographer and videographer are standing, and they will block. You’ll see you kissing and someone’s cell phone out in the middle. It can literally ruin the shot. Not only that, but when people get involved with their phones, they tend to get up and move more. So they’re more to jump in front of us during a cake cutting, during a toast speech; everybody wants to record and have their own copy, which is cool, I get it. But at the same time, it’s your investment, how do you want it to look?

I’ve done, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done cake cuttings. I’m just using cake cutting, it’s the first one that comes to mind. But you’ll see the mom or dad come up, with their phone, right beside us, or even in front of us sometimes. They’ll get out their flip phone, or their phone, or their smartphone, and they’ll have flash wide open. They’re hitting flash; they got the flash on and it’s on. They’re taking pictures, and then after the moment’s over, they walk off and you don’t see them again. And I’m like, but they kind of just wrecked the whole shot for us, our composition of the shots, or just the way it’s being captured.

Because with video, it’s not like we’re going to be able to go Photoshop that out. It’s video, we don’t use Photoshop. Even Photoshop can really make it difficult to remove or can create a lot of work for your photographers. So again, just something to think about, having people put their phones away; having your efficiency, it’s a quick announcement too. Just like, “Hey everybody, the bridegroom has asked that you put your cell phones away and silence them so there are no interruptions during the ceremony. The bride and groom have invested in professional photographers and videographers that capture their event, and it would basically mean a lot to them if you did so.”

And usually, people are really good. Yeah, you’re going to have someone sneak it out every now and again, probably. But the whole point is to get most of them down because when you look if we’re doing a wide-angle ceremony shot where we’re capturing the whole crowd and stuff, or whatever the case may be, and you see- You look at the crowd, right? Everybody’s there to watch you, but really what you see is about a hundred different phones, hands up in the air with phones. It just doesn’t look aesthetically pleasing. That’s all I’m getting at.

So consider having phones put away during your wedding ceremony and potentially even during your toast speeches. Or if you do want people to have their phones out, make sure that you give precedence to your photographer and videographer to be in the front, for example on a toast speech, right? Everybody should be behind us. That’s if we’re right in front of you. Or if we’re doing a cake cutting, this is really where that one actually applies. During a cake cutting, nobody should be between us and you, right? Nobody should be jumping in front of us to get the same shot that we’re trying to get, or else they need to be doing our job and not us.

So just think about it. Something to consider. I know a lot of brides go, nowadays; they go to weddings without cell phones. Just something to consider while you’re planning, and while you’re getting close. Especially if you’re getting close, ley you officiate know about it, because they’re used to it, it’s a very common thing. I’m primarily talking about not necessarily church weddings, as much as I am beach weddings, and destination weddings, right? Everybody wants that shot at the beach or the sunset, et cetera, and everybody will bring out their phones to do it.

So if you have any questions while you’re planning, the ceremonies, about vendors and guests, or how to manage things, I’m happy to help however I can. I understand that this may be your first time planning a wedding. It may be your second time planning a wedding, or maybe you’re just planning from out of state and you’re just not familiar with the planning process. It may have been a while. I’m here to be that resource for you, to help you make the best choices, whether you’re choosing to work with us or not. Because all I care about is your wedding day experience, and I genuinely mean that. Your wedding day experience is everything to me, so I will do what I need to do to help you make the best-informed decisions, and give you the best insights from a full-time wedding professional; someone that’s fully immersed in this industry and isn’t just showing up to do it one time or a second time, right?

We’re here to help you make the best choices and get the most out of your experience, as well as out of your investment so that you can have the best wedding day experience to look back on for generations to come. Again, my name is Dalton Young, and I look forward to talking to you soon.

Photography/Videography: Dalton Young Weddings