I’m sure both weddings and the internet/social media have been such an important part of most of our lives these days, this topic is something that most of us can relate to. Is it appropriate etiquette to leverage social media at a wedding? Will my guests be comfortable with such an idea? To do or not to do? Here is a short piece on the possible use of Social media at Indian weddings.
(Image Source:beyondld.com)
Even before planning a wedding, we meet many couples that are engaged and many of the grooms have told us how they go online to read proposal stories and to even watch video’s on how to pop the question! That’s a start for sure :-) Check out this video – one of the best proposals ever!
If you have decided to plan the wedding on your own or with a wedding planner, the first thing I’d tell you to do is decide what your Indian wedding is going to look like. Build a look book or an inspiration board from all the reference material available online. Do not keep changing the look and feel of your functions or else you will land up with a complete disaster. Pick the theme and then stick with it!
The first thing most couples do is start looking for their perfect wedding venues. Social media today allows us to go online read reviews of various wedding reception venues in India, tweet pictures of the venue and even ask friends for their opinion of the wedding venue of your choice. Imagine back in the day when things might have been more traditional, and most couples probably didn’t see the venue till it was really close to the wedding date. Seating and layout at wedding receptions can be planned with software available online and you can share this with your best friend in another country right away for her opinion!
Next, the couple would begin putting together the wedding guest list. I’m sure if someone’s not a friend on your Facebook list the likelihood of inviting him or her to the wedding will be quite low. This won’t be the same case for parents, as all are not Facebook users! Once the guest list is saved and the news of the wedding is out, you can change your profile settings, relationship status and even tag your fiancé in pictures for your family and friends to see the person that you are getting married to. You can also do a pre-wedding photo shoot and break the news of the engagement online. You can also send out a save the date to your friends on Facebook or create a group for the pre-wedding parties like the bachelors / bachelorette? And let them directly communicate with each other through a group. So much easier isn’t it?
You can create a wedding website or even a blog with all the information about the wedding where guests can login, see pre-pictures, watch videos of the couple and even see all the function details of your Indian wedding.
You can do this much before the wedding and let your guests even be a part of the planning. I’m sure with so many weddings taking place in every family,they will surely be able to add some value to your planning process. If your guests are from all over the country or overseas, a wedding website will really help them understand details of an Indian wedding, like what to wear, the meaning of some of the wedding rituals and customs as well as the fun events like the mehendi & the sangeet. Many pictures / videos get taken by guests at weddings and a wedding website can have a feature for them to go back after the wedding and post the wedding pictures and videos back on your wedding website for all your guests to view.
(Image Source:Martin Whitton)
Very often it becomes difficult for guests to share those pictures back with the couple and a website will make that process so much easier. In addition, a wedding website will help guests figure out air & local travel, touristy stuff and other important information about the country of the wedding. Managing RSVP’s on the website should not be too difficult or else depending on the number of guests that are on Facebook you can create an event for RSVP purposes. Integrating Google maps for local directions will also be helpful.
You can also link from your wedding website to a wedding gift registry online so that you do not receive the same boxed gifts from more than one person.
Today wedding gift registries have gotten really creative where you can pick not only gifts, but even cash is an option or you could ask your guests to contribute towards a wedding fund like maybe a honeymoon fund, a spa day or even pick multiple charities that they can make a donation to as your wedding gift.
So finally you have reached the wedding day and hopefully you have a wedding planner that’s in control of everything. If not it won’t hurt to use applications available for I-phones, I-pad’s, blackberry playbook that will help you maintain a To Do list irrespective of who’s actually been delegated the task. Such applications will help you make sure that someone is doing it and you can easily keep a track of it.
At your wedding reception, you can have everyone who is on twitter wish you online and create a custom hash tag # for your wedding. Considering the number of guests that attend Indian weddings I am sure you might even set a trend on Twitter :-) Another great idea – put up a projector and stream all the tweets live! Imagine pictures, wishes and more streaming live at your wedding which can be viewed by all the non social media peeps!
Many couples also opt for live video streaming from the wedding for guests that could not make it for the wedding. You can take this a step further and with a decent internet connection you can Skype and have guests from all over the world actually video conferencing live that can be projected and can wish the couple or even raise a toast!
Once the wedding is over and its time to go on the much needed honeymoon break, you can go online and read up about destinations, do surveys as a couple and figure out the kind of honeymoon destination that will work for you, and even build reference guides of the place that you plan to visit for your honeymoon. The best deals are available online with reviews, freebies and more.
Also, don’t forget, during the wedding planning process you can choose to ask professionals questions about areas you may need some professional help with. You can use Yahoo answers or Twitter and reach out to the top wedding professionals and am sure they will be able to help you if you end up getting stuck while planning your wedding. Hope this article helps you with great tips to plan your Indian wedding with the help of social media options that are available.
Do let us know how you used the internet and social media while planning your Indian wedding….
