Geeky weddings!

Wednesday, April 30, 2008 Posted in tips, wedding

As a geek at heart, I reached out to the local web women’s listserve to see what kinds of techie things people incorporated into their weddings. I can’t get over what GREAT ideas people had!

iPod at the reception

Yesterday’s post was a lead-in :) We used an iPod at our reception, as did this bride:

“My husband’s cousin got married last fall and instead of hiring a band or a DJ, they simply loaded all their favorite music onto an iPod and rented a basic sound system for the reception. They even solicited song suggestions from friends and family on their wedding website. I thought that was such a great idea that we stole it for my high school reunion. Instead of hiring a DJ, we just loaded a bunch of 80’s music onto an iPod. It was great, and WE got to pick the songs that were most evocative of our high school days.”

Click here to see our how-to on using the iPod at your reception.

Tricked out wedding website

This is something we’ve posted about before! The wedding website can be a really cool opportunity to demonstrate your crazy Joomla skillz. One woman suggested putting up a “live feed” on your website so that any out-of-town guests or ill relatives who can’t attend can still enjoy it as it’s happening!

Another woman wrote, “My husband and I got married this past October and I set up a web site for our guests to see information regarding the wedding, it allowed them to RSVP, and it let them sign up for the potluck we had. It’s not a fancy design (he did the cool mashup US Weekly cover), but the functionality worked really well. I used AJAX for the front end and Perl for the back end. Afterwards, we posted the vows and the “best of” pictures. You can see it at http://www.rachaelschoenbaum.com/wedding!”

Check out that potluck page! Can you believe it? That’s really one of the best ideas - coming back to how great it is to involve guests in the celebration of your union!

Another woman wrote about how great it was to have her groom involved in the wedding website setup. “My husband Jeff actually did all the work to set that up, including photos, drafting the text etc. It’s a great way to involve your husband-to-be in the wedding planning process!”

Twitter

A soon-to-be-bride mentioned using Twitter to update her wedding website, which also includes video posts! The woman who writes Brooklyn Bride, a wedding website you may already be familiar with, Twittered her entire wedding day! This could be a great (and not annoying!) way to keep those who are interested updated in your ongoing plans, even on the day of.

Slideshow during the reception

A woman who had a slideshow wrote that “it was mainly of past adventures with our family and friends who would be at the wedding - it was definitely one of the highlights, especially for some of the extended family who we haven’t seen in a long time! They all wanted to here the stories behind the pictures.”

The bride who is incorporating video elements to her wedding website will also be showing a video of how we they met “as the opener to the ceremony”. And get this - she says she’s “also making enhanced CDs as wedding favors which will include the video presentation in addition to songs we like on the audio portion.” What a great idea - and talk about multi-media!

Wedding contributions and registries

I think this is the coolest idea of all. One woman wrote, “We’ve just opened an account with Smarty Pig (https://www.smartypig.com/about), it’s a goal-oriented (or spending-oriented) online bank account that allows you to share your saving goals, see your progress, and contribute to it. We are using it for our wedding. Already someone has offered to pay for our wedding rings. :-)”

Another bride said she “used www.IDoFoundation.org to register with merchants and charities for gifts and donations. We requested our guests to make donations in lieu of gifts, or make any purchases through this website.” Her husband set up the website and they agreed on which charities, online stoors, and gifts to register for. They “raised over $1200 for a combination of ACCION International, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America, Global AIDS Alliance and National Wildlife Federation while getting great gifts from places like REI, Gaiam, Target and Cooking.com.” How cool!

Special thanks to Naina Mistry, Jennifer Walton, Maria Mejia, Barbara Halpern, Rachael Schoenbaum, Jenn Bopp, Leslie Anders, and Leslye Penelope!

by Lara

show hide 8 comments

link to this post email a friend

April 30, 2008 - 10:40 am Kari - Awesome ideas! Makes me wish these sorts of things were around when I got married (and that was just 6 1/2 years ago - technology changes so much in so little time). Oh well - these ideas work just as well for anniversary parties too!

April 30, 2008 - 11:16 am Carp; - Great ideas. Pet peeve, by definition 'pot luck' means you take what shows up. If it's organized, it's a buffet.

April 30, 2008 - 11:18 am Lara - Haha thanks Carp for the clarification :)

May 8, 2008 - 1:06 pm Caryn - Since I've always been taught (and agreed) that soliciting gifts or donations is tacky, does this mark a change in wedding etiquette in general? It sometimes feels like people having special occasions (weddings, confirmations, even birthdays and C'mas) are being encouraged to put in orders for specific gifts, instead of taking in good grace what friends and family want to give them. Even though I used a gift registry when I got married, I've always felt like even telling people where you're registered is a little shady. Soliciting for people to pay for your rings, honeymoon, etc., just seems like way too much! Am I showing my age, here?

May 8, 2008 - 1:08 pm Lara - Caryn, I don't think you're showing your age. I definitely have noticed that the etiquette is changing - perhaps catering to the ease of shopping online? What were registries like before the online consumer experience? Maybe we just feel more comfortable using the web for purposes like these nowadays.

May 8, 2008 - 4:57 pm Alice - I'm always so happy to see that a couple has had a potluck reception. One of the nicest weddings we ever attended was that of a bride and groom on an extremely low budget--bridesmaids wore dresses they already had, carried garlands of ivy which were laid down at the front of the church, becoming part of the decoration, and flowers were from people's gardens. The reception was at a friend's house, and was a true potluck (I disagree that a planned potluck has to be called a buffet). In neither case were the couple's parents present, so all of us congregants became their "family" for the day. The result was a loving, close community gathering of friends and surrogate family. On another topic, I definitely think it's tacky and low-class to solicit money from anyone to help pay for a wedding in any way. I'm speaking up as a "senior" person, with a 52-year marriage behind me. When we registered in "our day" it was only for dishes and flatware, not towels, sheets, pans, etc.--although I really like that couples do register those things, as well as for colors used in their homes. But absolutely I draw the line at asking for money!

May 8, 2008 - 6:09 pm Lara - That's an interesting point, Alice! But what about the couple who already has all of the living accessories that they need? What do they ask for then, when people want to give them gifts? I know a number of couples who have decided to ask for donations given to charities instead of receiving a gift, because they do not want any more material gifts in their household.

May 8, 2008 - 7:29 pm Alice - I know, when a couple are combining two established households, they'll often already have all the things they need. In that case, if they don't feel they want any of those items to be chosen by the two of them together, I think that asking for donations in the name of a charity is quite all right and would probably be regarded as a noble thing by many friends. But I've known couples who really wanted to have new things together in their new marriage, and gave away the items from their existing households. They could be given to a homeless project or to an organization that helps needy families--I hope NOT dumped in a landfill! On the other hand, they might choose to keep that brand-new toaster, toward the time when their "old heirloom toaster" finally gives up the ghost! We greatly value the many items we have and regularly use, that were wedding gifts back in 1956. What I--and probably Caryn--think is low-class and tacky is the grasping attitude so many people have when they ask for money for themselves.

Your email is never published or shared. Required fields are marked *

*

*