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Photographer calls for BAN on phones at weddings after guest ‘ruins’ special moment

17 July 2019, 10:49

A wedding photographer has slammed guests. Picture: Getty Images

By Naomi Bartram

@naomibartram

A wedding photographer has slammed guests who get in the way by taking photos with their phones.

It’s only natural to want to get that perfect photo of your best friend on her big day as she’s walking down the aisle.

But now one photographer has slammed a wedding guest for ruining her perfect professional shot with their iPhone.

In a lengthy Facebook post, Hannah Mbalenhle-Stanley from Texas revealed how people often get in the way of her lining up photographs for her clients by trying to get their own Instagram-worthy snaps.

Sharing two pictures, she showed the original shot she had lined up of a bride and her dad walking down the aisle, along with another which sees a woman blocking it with their phone.

Hannah said: “To the girl with the iPhone…

“Not only did you ruin my shot, but you took this moment away from the groom, father of the bride, and the bride. What exactly do you plan on doing with that photo?

To the girl with the iPhone... Not only did you ruin my shot, but you took this moment away from the groom, father of...
Posted by Hannah Mbalenhle Stanley on Thursday, 11 July 2019

“Honestly. Are you going to print it out? Save it? Look at it everyday? No. You’re not.”

She went on to explain the happy couple would have printed this photo out, adding that the moment was “blocked”.

“My bride would have printed this photo,” she said.

“Looked at it often and reminisced over this moment as her dad walked her down the aisle on her wedding day.

“But instead, you wanted to take a photo with your phone, blocking my view, and taking a photo that you will not use.”

Hannah’s rant ends with a plea to future wedding guests, urging them to put away their smartphones.

She finally added: “Guests, please stop viewing weddings you attend through a screen but instead turn OFF your phone, and enjoy the ceremony. You are important to the bride and groom, you would not be attending the wedding otherwise.

“So please, let me do my job, and you just sit back, relax and enjoy this once in a lifetime moment.”

The social media post has now been liked more than 169k times, with hundreds of people rushing to give their opinions.

One slammed: “I totally get it. THIS IS WHY the requests of no phones and cameras. Let the Photographers do their job! I have been pushed out of the way, flashes go off at the time of a shot, and this done to me! It is just RUDE.”

“I've shot hundreds of weddings and I've posted many, many times about this same thing!! 🥵,” another photographer wrote.

And when one follower criticised Hannah for her rant, she hit back: "It's my JOB to capture the moment - and we can never get that back because her phone was out.

“People should know better and have more respect for the bride and groom."