In my almost-eight years of running Offbeat Bride and working with wedding photographers, I've heard of photographers offering potential clients discounts for all sorts of things: discounts for destination weddings, discounts for LGBT-identified couples, discounts for sci-fi weddings or elopements and all sorts of other niche weddings.

But yesterday was the first time I saw a photographer who's offering a discount for couples doing an unplugged wedding. Is this a new thing?

I found out about Washington DC photographer Sam Hurd's discount when I stumbled across his URL in Offbeat Bride's referral logs. Clicking over, I found this in his FAQ:

Can my uncle take photos during my wedding?

He sure can... as long as he stays out of my cross hairs. I do offer a discount for "unplugged" weddings.

I'm familiar with all the reasons why photographers loooove unplugged weddings. There are dozens of comments from photographers on this post that make it clear that unplugged weddings make it easier for them to do the jobs they've been hired to do... but I've never seen a photographer translate this benefit into a discount for their clients. I got in touch with Sam and asked him about what motivated him to start offering the discount, and here's what he said:

I've been offering the "unplugged discount" throughout this past year, and for me it's proven to be extremely valuable. The past two years, my rates have increased significantly and I've noticed an upward trend of clients asking about discounts - the unplugged option is my go-to line dealing with that.

It not only provides the client with a win-win result (my life is easier, my photos more valuable, and they get to save some cash) but it changes the tone of the conversation from just being about money to being about the mood of a wedding day, and my clients realizing I have their best interests in mind.

I think we're all familiar with why couples opt not to do unplugged weddings - some of us love social media! Some of us have heard horror stories about photographers losing their memory cards, or going out of business! Having a super-plugged wedding is super awesome for some of us!

...But for those who want to keep things a little quieter device-wise, who want to look out during their ceremony and see their guests faces instead of a wall of iPads and smartphones, and who don't want their vows accompanied by the digital chirpings of a dozen small point-n-shoots... I LOVE that photographers are now actively offering discounts to make that possible.

Photographers, I know there are a ton of you reading - would you offer a discount to couples doing unplugged weddings? And couples: would an unplugged discount make you more likely to consider going unplugged for your wedding?