Wedding photographer calls out guest for ruining 'once in a lifetime moment' by taking out cell phone

A woman wrote an open letter to “the girl with the iPhone,” calling out people who interrupt important moments with cellphones and stop photographers from doing their job.

Hannah Mbalenhle Stanley was the photographer at a wedding in Little Elm, Texas on July 8. she was upset after she realized that a girl ruined what could have been a perfect shot by sticking her iPhone in the middle of it, and took to Facebook on Thursday to air her frustrations.

Stanley tells Yahoo Lifestyle that she made the post to make people “aware of how important it is to be in the moment.”

“As a wedding photographer, I see this almost at every wedding,” she says. “So I wanted to try and tell people how important it is to see something like a wedding ceremony with your eyes, instead of behind a screen.”

In her post, she questioned the “girl with the iPhone” who blocked her shot, asking what the point of taking the photo was.

“What exactly do you plan on doing with that photo? Honestly. Are you going to print it out? Save it? Look at it everyday? No. You're not,” Stanley wrote. “But my bride would have printed this photo, looked at it often and reminisced over this moment as her dad walked her down the aisle on her wedding day.”

She added to Yahoo Lifestyle that even though there was an obstacle, she did finally manage to get the shot, and only meant for the post to tell people to pay more attention to what’s happening in front of them.

“My whole point of the post was for people to live in the moment,” she says. “A wedding ceremony is such an intimate moment, and should be respected by putting your phone down and witnessing this special bond between two people.”

Her post immediately gained popularity on Facebook, and some people shared their own experiences where cellphones got in the way

“Every time I go to a school event I can NEVER see my daughter perform because there is always someone in front of me holding their phone up and capturing the show on video,” one person commented.

Another added “Your point is well taken, Hannah. I don't do weddings, but I am a professional photographer as well and am frequently amazed how rude some people are.”

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