WEDDING NOTES™ - Social Media Use and Your Wedding

The newest challenge to your wedding planning efforts is the pervasive use of social media.  Brides to be are at both ends of the continuum.  Some brides want to limit their wedding news to a closely selected Facebook list, while others seek out the widest possible distribution of every minute detail of their upcoming nuptials and end up blogging, Twittering, and emailing the world.

Here are some thoughts about how to use the best of social media as part of your wedding planning.

• ·         Its best feature is the ease with which you can gather information about vendors, search out ideas you may wish to incorporate into your plans and share pertinent information with friends and family members.  But before you type one word, be sure that your privacy settings are right.  Check them frequently since system upgrades can inadvertently reset them.

• ·         Consider establishing your own wedding website.  It can be a terrific way to share wedding news and specific plans with a controlled distribution.

• ·         You can use Pinterest to collect great ideas you may wish to incorporate into your wedding plans.

• ·         Be thoughtful and careful about what you post and say.  Best rule:  Don't put anything out there that you wouldn't want your mom to see.  Hackers, "frenemies" and thieves can troll the net and wreak havoc with a site that shares more than you should.

• ·         Remember that not everyone is equally immersed in every detail of your wedding plans.  In fact, some people who read your posts may not be invited to the wedding.  Hurt feelings are likely.

• ·         Even folks who are invited to the wedding and who plan to attend can get tired of continual posts.  And think about it - if you share every little detail with every person out there, where is the WOW factor for your special day?

• ·         Under no circumstances - don't even think about sending your wedding invitations out via social media.  Some things just don't work.  Your wedding invitation should match the tone and style of your wedding and that is best done with a proper mailed invitation.  Remember that not everyone is "on" social media.

• ·         Give some thought to how you hope your guests at the wedding will behave.  With the proliferation of IPhone social media will be a part of your wedding.  One can only hope that a friend doesn't  stand up to get a better shot of your dress as you come down the aisle or post an unflattering  shot of you as you get dressed.  Decide in advance how you and your fiancé want to handle guests with phones and set some guidelines you'd like those guests to follow.  Some couples have signs at the entrance to the church or ceremony site requesting "no photographs".  Some even have ushers collect phones to be returned after the ceremony.  You'll need to decide how you wish to handle this new wrinkle in your wedding celebration.