Love it or hate it, social media is here to stay. But how much of a role should it play in a wedding and the build-up?
Here are a few thoughts.
Engagement/wedding
Resist the temptation to post the good news of your engagement or wedding date on Facebook until you’ve told all your family and close friends first. It’s a common-sense, tactful thing, and may avoid causing a lot of offence.
Invitations
There’s nothing wrong with using social media for your invitations (e-vites) – it’s a lot cheaper than printed invitations and can still look good. (You can always send printed invitations to your more conservative friends/relatives, if you choose.)
Invitation replies
You need to be able to track these, so you have to be consistent and clear. It may be best not to use social media here (not [quite] everyone has a Facebook account, for example). E-mail is probably safe, but technological problems are not unknown! What if your computer dies? Thus Royal Mail may be the best bet, so ensure your address is on the invitation, even if the invitation is sent via social media.
The big event
It pays to communicate with your guests. You may well be happy with a photography free-for-all. That’s fine.
If you want no photography during the ceremony, however, you can put a note in the programme or post this fact on the wedding website. Most – if not all – people will respect your wishes. ‘Unplugged’ weddings are becoming increasingly common nowadays.
Hopefully, guests who do take shots regardless will, at least, not post these for a few days. (It’s best to go with the flow, if people disregard your request – it’s not worth letting their lack of consideration spoil your big day.)
Of course, people should be welcome to take photos of themselves, if they want.
Afterwards
Do send out ‘thank you cards’ – but not by e-mail or social media. They’ve got to be hand-written.
So use social media to help you, by all means, but be tactful and condsiderate about it.