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Getting married in the digital age
Monday, August 11th, 2008
Last week I got married (Read this blog by Lori Schwartz on engagement in the digital age). It was a fine affair-we kept it as small as we could and capped our budget at about half of the average spent on weddings in the U.S. We also attempted, out of curiosity and a desire to save some dough for our honeymoon, to go digital for as much of the planning and execution of the wedding as possible. My father-in-law was a little disappointed at the lack of traditional means of communication, but our friends who attended gave a rousing thumbs up to the experiment.
Here was our attempt at a 21st century wedding:
-No mailed invites. And no, we didn’t use Evite. This one step alone saved us tons of money and time-not to mention a few trees. I looked around for a wedding website company that would enable us to put all our festivities online in a secure environment. While some companies charge upwards of $1000 for a Website, I found weddingtracker.com which, for $65 allows couples to download their software and takes care of buying a domain for the couple for a year’s time. The software is so inexpensive I had to contact the company to make sure I was really getting what they promised. The software enables creation of your own personal Website with online RSVPs, guest tracking, table chart and seating applications, and gift recording. We simply sent out an email with the website URL and password, and our guests used the Website to their fancy-leaving us messages, registering online, downloading maps, reading our FAQs, etc. I am more than a little proud of this decision-and encourage future couples to look into the concept as well. Many couples use Websites now as an addition to their traditional invites-but with such a complete online experience, who needs those stuffy invites anymore? Advertisers might be wise to get in on the action.
-No registry at a store. Instead, we asked guests who wanted to give to us to contribute to our honeymoon fund. This saved on packing and mailing costs, not to mention needless trips to return unwanted gifts. There are many Websites that now allow couples to register (often for free if you do it with the travel agency you’re booking with, or Starwood Hotels has an awesome honeymoon registry program) and guests can “buy” the couple a massage or a portion of their airfare. If you have all the china and silverware you want, consider this as a great (and potentially green) alternative to a department store registry. Department stores-consider updating your registry programs to include flexible online setup and purchasing.
-No expensive photo albums. We will print out a couple of the photos and put them somewhere safe, but for our time and money, online galleries are so much more practical. We’re using Mac.com’s (or sorry, Me.com they now are calling it-and don’t get me started on how bad their new applications are). But numerous other sites such as Flickr and Google’s Picassa could be used as well. One downside to Mac’s offering is it does not link to a photo order plan where guests can have hard copies mailed to them-although, given this is the digital age, is anyone even doing that anymore?
-No expensive floral centerpieces that wilt the next day. Instead, I used small submersible LED lights at the bottom of a vase, with a strand of orchids submersed in water. We saved between $1000-$3000 by doing this and got many requests for where to buy the cool $2 LED lights.
-Finally, thank you notes we are also sending, of course, via email. The grandparents get a handwritten thank you, and maybe our parents, but to everyone else, we’re not only saving a stamp (heck, we don’t even have attendees addresses if we wanted to send a thank you card via post), we’re providing links to our online photo galleries and sending attachments of our favorite digital images from the wedding. The only thing missing from this equation is that while there are plenty of companies that will print up thank you cards with photos of the couple, I haven’t been able to find a company that will build an original html card to be sent via email. Again, Mac cards come close, but you can’t customize them enough. Any takers out there?
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August 12th, 2008 at 5:24 am
Thank you for mentioning the benefits of a honeymoon registry and describing the attributes behind this increasingly mainstream registry option for engaged couples.
It is great to see how popular the honeymoon registry is becoming. When Traveler’s Joy first started accepting Members over four years ago, we realized there was a large number of engaged couples that were not satisfied with the diversity of the traditional wedding registry market. Since then, the honeymoon registry has become a mainstream option for brides and grooms and the industry has experienced significant growth.
We are proud to have helped thousands of couples travel to destinations they may never have considered – a great feeling for everyone at Traveler’s Joy.
I encourage you to contact us with any questions about our service. Most importantly, enjoy your honeymoon!
Best Regards,
Brandon Warner
President & Co-founder
Traveler’s Joy Honeymoon Registry
Traveler’s Joy, Inc.
http://www.travelersjoy.com
August 13th, 2008 at 11:57 am
I cannot believe how much you improvised with a little creativity that saved you a lot. These are fantastic ideas! Now-a-days, people don’t have time for registrations, gift-buying, and snail mail responses. I’ve always wanted a small, intimate wedding-but without sacrificing the quality. Your wedding sounds like it was perfect. Thanks for the cool ideas, and for saving some of our trees :-)
-Nika Hall-
October 7th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
It sounds like your wedding and registry were a resounding success. Along those lines, we have some quick ideas for anyone setting up a honeymoon registry. The two most important factors in your guests’ enjoyment and success of your registry are the etiquette with which you spread the word and the level of personalization in the registry itself.
When we started our registry service four years ago, we built the couples’ ability to personalize their registry into our easy registry creation tool. But we didn’t know then how important it would be to help educate our couples in the etiquette department. Since then, we’ve added articles and links, and include techniques to help spread the word when you register with us.
We see a lot of honeymoon registries with a focus on neither of these crucial aspects of the registry, but instead spend their time trying to sell you travel or sell their service to the couple, not the guest. We started the service because we couldn’t stand all the fees too! We hope you’ll visit us at Smart Honeymoon!
John
http://www.smarthoneymoon.com
November 4th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
[...] to integrate new media solutions. We’ve highlighted the use of new media previously for weddings, and for other important life milestones. But for those who are considering or who will soon make [...]