Wedding Photos and Social Media – Etiquette 101
These days, wedding invitations sometimes come with requests regarding Social media. Yes, there are brides who ask guests not to post their snaps on Facebook before they’ve released their own official, picture. If you think about it, it’s not that unreasonable request. If someone has spent a whole load of time and effort organising their big day, it should be down to them to decide how to show it off to the big wide world.
Do as you’re told!
It’s a good idea to pay heed to your friends requests. You could risk causing a real upset if you don’t. Frankly, is it worth risking ruining your relationships with your buddies? If you’re such an important person to them, then it’s important to bear their feelings in mind. Weddings cost so much these days; couples who are getting married often have to make tough choices to decide who makes the guest list. If you’re one of the chosen few then why disrespect their wishes? Just don’t be that friend.
Be IN the moment, not just an observer!
Always try and enjoy being in a moment than an attempt to film it for posterity. An excellent example of this is a story once observed with biting accuracy by renowned British music journalist, Simon Price. Witnessing disco legend Nile Rodgers invite some of the audience up on stage at Glastonbury, an odd thing happened. Although in this day and age it’s becoming a more and more frequent occurrence. Instead of enjoying the moment, and being part of it, they chose to become a mere observer. Now, you could kind of understand filming that happening if there were no other cameras present. But when you could be dancing? And it’s being filmed by loads of the main news channels?
Are you a photographer? Thought not!
If your friends wanted you to be the official photographer, they’d have asked you. The ever patient snappers at Lesley Meredith Wedding Photography often have to ask people to put their camera phones out of shot. It doesn’t look good in pictures. They’ve employed a wedding photographer to take photos of people enjoying their celebrations. They don’t want to watch their guests watching it through a little screen!
On the other hand, they might have their own hashtag…
There are also brides who are happy or people to post from their big day and may even invent their own hashtag. This helps locate all the posts so you can see in real-time how events are unfolding. But just because you have a camera phone to hand, doesn’t mean you should be using it indiscriminately. One of the biggest mistakes a bridesmaid could make is to post a pic of the bride in her wedding gown – before her fiance has seen it. It sounds crazy, but it has happened to more than one unsuspecting bride. Imagine if it happened to you – you’d be devastated!
The golden rule – does not post anything on Social Media until after the ceremony and only with the bride’s permission.