When fashion darling Caroline Sieber married Fritz Von Westenholz in Vienna this weekend, they had a guest list to rival Anna Wintour’s contact book, including Christopher Kane, Erdem, the Courtin Clarins sisters, Julia Restoin Roitfeld, Lauren Santo Domingo and Emma Watson. Of course, there were no press photographers giving us a glimpse into the fashion wedding of the year, where the bride wore gowns by both Chanel and Christopher Kane, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t get to see every detail, from the figurines topping the cake, to the leather lederhosen guests wore for the evening session as it was all over Instagram. 

Sieber herself posted a fair few snaps, so chances are, she was happy enough for images of the event to be out in the wilds of the internet without her consent or approval, but what is the etiquette when you’re at a wedding? Should be bride be the first to reveal the dress she’s probably spent months agonising over, or is a photographic free-for-all just an accepted part of the world we now live in, where people share everything from their latest purchases to weirdos they see on the tube on their Instagrams?

I recently went to a wedding where a ‘photo embargo’ was imposed on guests until 24 hours after the wedding (not that, I, an Instagram addict could resist posting a couple of guest pics or a sneaky silhouette of the bride), simply because the couple in question said they didn’t want their wedding live-tweeted. On the flip-side however, I also attended a wedding not so long ago where the newlyweds encouraged everyone in attendance to share their pictures as they snapped them with a hashtag invented for the day. Others I know have balked at the idea of hashtagging your wedding, but actually, it meant that at the end of the wedding, all of the pictures were collected in one neat flickr pool, for both guests and couple to enjoy, and ended up feeling like a great idea (I know them from the internet, I hasten to add).

Isn’t this just the internet equivalent of placing disposable cameras on the tables, but without the development fees or risk of anyone ruining the film with a booze spill? 

Perhaps it comes down to control. Never Underdressed’s editor Carrie Tyler commented that a picture she was tagged in on her own wedding day wouldn’t necessarily have been the first photo she’d have chosen to share with the world, but tagged (and perfectly lovely) it remains, because at the end of the day, there’s photographers everywhere now, official or otherwise, so let the iPhones run free and see the likes roll in – let’s face it – you can always de-tag.