Bride sparks debate after demanding wedding guests to put their phones away

A bride sparked an online debate after demanding her wedding guests put away their phones.

In a viral Instagram video posted by Australian videographers Khyla Nixon and her husband Andrew, bride Anna Reuss could be heard chastising her wedding guests for taking their phones out to film the ceremony.

The videographer wrote in the overlaid text: “The bride should NOT have to say this during her big moment.”

As she walked down the aisle, the bride could be heard laughing and asking people to put their phones away, sweetly trying to get people to stay present on her big day. “Put your phones away,” she said nicely. “Come on!”

The videographer captioned the clip, writing: “How do you feel about phones out during your ceremony?”

In the comment section, people sided with the bride, with some noting that the bride looked like she was hiding her disappointment in some of her guests.

“She’s smiling but I know she’s really upset. I’d feel so disrespected honestly,” one user wrote.

“My wedding was yesterday and our officiant announced to put phones away,” someone else added. “I did NOT spend thousands of dollars to see phones!”

Some advocated in favor of having their phones out during a wedding.

“I want memories, PULL DEM PHONE OUT cause im gone record,” one person commented. Another added: “I understand it being annoying, but if that’s what ur focused on during one of the biggest moments of ur life.... idk man.”

In a pinned comment, the account explained that guests had been asked to put away their phones for the duration of the ceremony on March 23 in Queensland, Australia. Khyla explained to Today the bride had a “chill” mentality and strove for a “relaxed feel” throughout her wedding, which meant guests needed to unplug from their devices.

“They just wanted a really relaxed, fun day,” she said. “Nothing too over the top and stressful.”

With 100 people in attendance, only 10 were called out for being on their phones. “It was quite a lot of the first front few rows,” Nixon added. “So, the immediate family.”

“The celebrant actually did ask all the guests at the couple’s request ... to keep their phones away,” Nixon continued, adding the officiant told the guests something along the lines of: “They’ve got paid professionals. They want you to be in the moment.”

Nixon noted it was the first wedding ceremony she’d filmed that had a no-phone policy be so blatantly disregarded. She added that the moment wasn’t anything more than a blip on an otherwise beautiful wedding day, and wasn’t brought up again.

She’d decided to post the footage after stumbling across it while editing other clips, and thought it could encourage people to be more present at wedding ceremonies.

Increasingly, she’s found that more and more guests are recording wedding ceremonies on their devices, and she predicts that there will be no end in sight.

“We’ve seen people just sort of living behind their phones during these moments,” Nixon noted.