Do you let baby get messy when eating?

My baby is approaching 6 months and showing all signs of being ready for food, so I started puree today with mostly breastmilk. Baby was excited, it went great. But, their dad and I have different ideas of how to feed baby. I said let them grab the spoon (there wasn't much on the spoon) and if they grab where the food is and gets messy, nbd because it's a new texture and baby should be able to explore in every way. He said that just because babies can get messy doesn't mean they have to and didn't seem to want to let baby try to spoon feed themselves. He said he would rather they learn the proper way instead of learning the hard way what not to do. I think he was under the impression I wanted baby to get messy for the photo op but I just want them to have fun. Food is fun after all! What do you think? Are there any reasons I shouldn't let baby spoon feed themselves or get messy? I'm a ftm so I don't really know what works best or is proper

Edit: I appreciate all of your feedback! As I mentioned in one comment: he has autism that includes a lot of food aversions and isn't just some weirdo who thinks a baby should never be dirty lol. I'm going to probably do most of the feeding anyway and this has been great input!