How to Handle Social Media on Your Wedding Day

This entry is from our Expert Guest series where wedding and honeymoon professionals share their best tips on creating memories that last a lifetime.

Nowadays, with social media playing such a large role in our lives, it is important to give consideration to how you wish your wedding to feature on the various social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat etc. In our experience, the extent to which your wedding features on social media differs from couple to couple. Those that embrace social media or are involved in it in a work context may fully encourage the use of social media while, on the other hand, those couples who desire a live in-the-moment vibe to their wedding, social media is certainly not welcome.

Whichever side you fall on, our top tip would be to always ensure that either your Wedding Planner or Celebrant outline your social media expectations to your guests at the start of the day.

Below, we outline how to navigate both ends of the spectrum so that your guests can easily understand your expectations of them when it comes to social media.

For those of you who “Like” social media here are our top tips:

1. Create Your Own Hashtag

Typically, it will take your professional photographer 6-8 weeks to send you your photos. If you can’t wait this long and want to see all the photos your guests took of your special day, creating your own hashtag is a clever way to collate all your photos throughout all the platforms. Your hashtag should be clever, short, and sharp. It can be a combination of your names, initials, your married names, or whatever you feel is appropriate.  There are also come great online resources which can help you come up with a clever hashtag; we are often inspired by this website http://www.ewedding.com/free-wedding-hashtag-generator/

Remember your wedding hashtag is not just for your wedding day; it can be used throughout the run-up to your wedding, including engagement photos and bachelorette photos.

Including your hashtag on your save the dates, wedding website, invites, and fun printed signs to display around your venue will inform your guests that you are comfortable with the sharing of photographs and will encourage them to do so. Make sure your entertainment is also familiar with your hashtag so they can encourage people to use it.

Make sure your hashtag is easy to remember and therefore will be used. You might also what to do a quick check on the various platforms to make sure your hashtag is unique and photos of your special day won’t get jumbled up with all the rest.

2. Facebook Live/Insta Stories/Snapchat

Not everyone you wish to be at your wedding may be able to attend due to work commitments, geographical location, or personal circumstances. The live video features on social media are a great way for those special people in your life to watch the special moments unfold in real-time. Our one piece of advice, however, is to designate who you want to do the recording. Make sure you pick someone you trust to live stream only the poignant moments. If you wish, you could make a list of the moments you wish for them to capture to avoid any confusion.

3. Wi-Fi Welcome

If you want your guests to be uploading, hashtagging, snapping, livestreaming, and whatever else these platforms may come up with make sure you make it as accessible as possible for them. If your venue has Wi-Fi be sure to notify your guests of the password. A good idea is to include the Wi-Fi password on your ceremony booklet and your menus.

And for those of you who “Unlike social media here are our top tips:

4. Social Media Ban

The best way to ensure there are no photos uploaded of your special day is to have a social media ban for your guests. While it may seem a bit rude, it is your special day, so it is more than reasonable for you to ask your nearest and dearest to honour your request.

We would suggest the best way to remind guests of your request is to make a small statement to this effect on your invitations and have your Wedding Planner or Celebrant make another announcement before the ceremony begins.

5. Halfway House

We understand that the reason you may not want photos uploaded of you both is that you want to be the one to choose and upload the first official photo of you both as a married couple. You can, therefore,  allow guests to upload photos of each other but just politely ask that they refrain from uploading photos of you both.

6. Cell Phone Free Ceremony

The moment the bride begins her walk up the aisle is one of the most special and intimate moments for the happy couple. Your professional photographer will be taking every opportunity to capture those special smiles, winks, and tears you express for each other during this moment. You may not want these photographs compromised by the intrusion of numerous cell phones as guests take a photo of you preparing to meet your groom. Again, have your Wedding Planner or Celebrant advise your guests of your wishes to have a cell free ceremony. A sign at the entrance to the ceremony venue to gently remind guests of this request is also a good idea.

7. Share Professional Photographs

You may decide to thank your guests for honouring your wishes and advise them that access to the professional photograph album will be provided through your website. Your guests will be pleased to have access to professional photographs of the big day.

So, there you have it our top tips for integrating or omitting social media from your big day. Whatever you choose to do on your big day, know that your guests are your nearest and dearest and will honour your requests.

As always, we would love to hear from you so please do drop us an email to ann@annsmythweddings.com.

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Bio: Ann Smyth Wedding is a full-service wedding planning, coordination, and event design company based in Spain. Whether you need a wedding planner from the beginning as you find the perfect location and lineup vendors or just need a coordinator on the day of your wedding, we can assure that your event will flow seamlessly. With three service packages available to help busy couples, we help create a perfect wedding day experience for you.

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