Why I'm hoping I'll have a social wedding

I love social media. You'll probably work that out from the number of tweets I've sent since my Pinotnoirgirl twitter account was born on 6th February 2009 (yes, that number is correct, over 20,000 tweets). It may be dull, probably no one ever reads any of the guff I write, but who cares, I love it.

So, with my nuptials forthcoming, I've been really interested to learn about the different options for using social media during a wedding.

The first article I read was on the Brides Magazine website. This was a list of tips essentially to ensure the bride sets a whole load of rules for guests to follow at the wedding. The aim is to ensure unflattering photos of the bride don't appear on Facebook, to make sure the official wedding photos are the first to be seen by the world and to protect the privacy of guests. 

Cartoon from www.itworld.com about social media and weddings

The second was in the Huffington post with an article by Ariane Fisher from @weddingmix. This one was entitled "why Instagram is ruining your wedding memories." It talks about weddings being ruined by guests spending the whole reception updating Instagram and that because photos are all on social media, there's no permanent memory of them. 

We shall not be subscribing to the advice in either of these articles for our wedding. Let's face it, I'm not a celebrity and our wedding photo isn't exactly going to end up on the front of Heat. We haven't signed a deal with OK magazine as the official magazine partner of our wedding. If a few dodgy photos end up on Facebook, it's not exactly going to ruin my day.

And, if my guests aren't anticipating their photos appearing on social media, then they don't know me very well. Hell, I'll probably be doing a running documentary on twitter as I walk down the aisle! I might even post a few selfies.

Using Instagram to share wedding photos

Add to this that we are getting married in Italy which means not everyone can make it to the wedding due to school terms, money and work. So social media will be a really good way of them following what's happening on the day even though they won't be there.

So yes, we do have a wedding hashtag and yes it is printed on the order of service and wedding menu. Unlike some celebs, we haven't gone for a mash up of our names, no #NANBOWwedding or #ABAMwedding. Instead we have the very refined #AbbyAdam2013 and we hope our guests will use it when they Facebook, tweet or Instagram their photos. It'll mean people at home as well as those in Italy can easily share and search for photos and comments. Although I'm hoping there won't be too many twitter updates with things like "Does the bride's bum look big in this? #dressfail #AbbyAdam2013" or "can't wait to go to bed? #dullwedding #AbbyAdam2013".

I found this article very interesting on the Very Curious Wedding blog on how to use hashtags at a wedding. 

I will probably do a few selfies on our wedding day

We have also created an album on the WedPics website. This website is great because it is a central place where all guests can upload and share their photos for all other guests to see, whether they are on Facebook or not. And, as you can upload photos from the engagement party, the stag and hen dos as well as the wedding itself it's great way to have all the wedding photos all in one place.

So if you are coming to our wedding, I look forward to turning round during the ceremony and seeing a few heads bent over mobile phones. I'll take it as a sign you're having a great time and can't wait to tell everyone about it. Oh, and sorry in advance for the cost of your data roaming charges, fingers crossed there's free wifi in the villa.