There was a pretty serious divide in our household in the weeks after the Apple Watch was announced, with Ben insisting he needed one in order to continue life on Earth and Sarah not really seeing the point (other than “some of the girlier bands are cute I guess”). Ben dropped subtle hints, and then some that were anything but, and finally had made enough of a point that Sarah agreed to try them out. (Because his sad description about not being able to send her his heartbeat was just far too much to bear).
So we made our way to the Apple store one Tuesday, and came home with brand new Apple shackles (which was the not so flattering name Sarah had given this new piece of wrist technology) ready to test them out at our upcoming wedding. Well, we’ve used them a ton now and can officially say, we are on the Apple Watch band wagon! Sarah is officially an iConvert and Ben loves his every bit as much as he knew he would.
We thought that (just like Sarah) many of you may not really see the point of adding one of these to your arsenal, so we thought we’d put together a helpful list of the top five features we use most at every wedding to see if a watch is a good fit for you!
1. The Timer Feature
More often than not during a wedding day we are working under some serious time crunching conditions. Maybe it’s that we only have 10 minutes to do the dress shot before we have to be back in the room for the makeup artist’s finishing touches, or that we only have 20 minutes with the bride + groom before we have to start bridal party portraits. Whatever situation it is, we have found that the Apple Watch is AWESOME at giving us helpful reminders along the way and keeping us on time during the hectic parts of the day.
2. Taps
This is probably one of the BIGGEST reasons we love the Apple Watch so much. There are times during a wedding, whether it’s in the middle of the processional or when we are on opposite sides of the dance floor later that night, when we simply need to get a hold of each other FAST. This is where the taps feature of the watch is so darn handy. We simply leave our watch faces open to each other’s messenger screen, and if we need the other person to look our way for any reason we just tap the screen. This sends a teeny vibration to their wrist and let’s them know to look at the other person pronto. So maybe one of us notices mom crying but just can’t get the angle, or we need the other person to step out of our shot. We can simply send a tap and then gesture for them to move it!
3. Hands Free
Picture this. Your hands are full with four bridesmaid bouquets you are carrying from the other room, when suddenly you get a call from your second. You know you have to answer it because they’re calling about the First Look, but you physically CAN’T. Sarah lived this exact scenario at a wedding this past weekend, and she WAS able to answer. With her nose! We know that sounds like crazy people talk, but hear us out. The apple watch responds to touch, whether that comes from your finger or (for those of us who don’t mind looking crazy!) the tip of your nose. So not only can you take a phone call secret agent style on your wrist, you can do it even when your hands are completely full of camera equipment or wedding details! It’s so handy! (Or should we say nosey! ; )
4. Weather
As wedding photographers in Florida, we are always on the lookout for rain. We plain wedding days around when we will have dry breaks to get outside for portraits, always keep an eye on sunset, and know that everything weather wise can change at a moments notice in the sunshine state. The Dark Sky app for the Apple Watch makes it so easy to stay on top of all this during a wedding day, and even notifies us when rain is going to be starting. We literally get a little ping right on our wrist to let us know it’s on the way. It’s so incredibly tech savvy it makes us feel like we belong in Minority Report. (Anyone else LOVE this movie as much as we do?!)
5. Incognito Messaging
The messaging feature of the Apple Watch not only lets us send talk to text messages, but it also lets us send quick doodles each other’s way. We know what you’re thinking, and no, we don’t just use it to send each other mushy heart drawings (although there are PLENTY of those). During a wedding we will send each other symbols we know stand for certain things (like a quick “C” to remind each other to switch to continuous before the ceremony starts or an arrow to direct the person’s attention to something they aren’t seeing. It’s super helpful, and just one other thing that makes our jobs a little easier.
Do you have an Apple Watch and love a specific feature we didn’t talk about here? We would love to hear about your favorites!
Love + Laughs,
Sarah & Ben
