Guest article by Joey Burdon of Warble Entertainment

Social media has become such a huge part of the wedding experience. It seems as though almost every aspect of our daily lives now revolves around consuming and sharing online. Whether it’s what you’re eating, your opinion on current events or just something you find hilarious, us daily users of social media are constantly posting about what we’re up to.

There are mixed opinions on whether social media should be embraced, or shunned on a wedding day. Some couples opt to enforce their guests to completely ‘unplug’ for the day. This helps keep the wedding intimate in case couples have any fears about their guests being disengaged on the day.

This can be difficult though and your guests may feel uncomfortable being told that they aren’t allowed to use their phones throughout the day, especially if they are naturally ones to want to share amazing moments on social media! There are so many benefits to allowing and including the use of social media on your big day and it can really add another element of involvement from your guests.

Will you be embracing social media on your wedding day? Here are some ways in which you can encourage your guests to snap and share in the right way.

Etiquette

There are a couple of social media guidelines that every wedding should follow, and really it comes down to common sense!

The big one is that guests should wait until after the ceremony to post any pictures of the bride. This special moment shouldn’t be ruined and can perhaps spoil the ‘reveal’ of the bride in her dress on the day. Lots of couples place a wooden sign or chalkboard outside their ceremony to politely ask guests not to share – and we love this idea!

Secondly, if you’re a wedding guest don’t share any unflattering pictures… it might seem like a fun idea in the moment to maybe post pictures online of inebriated guests or something that is potentially embarrassing for the couple, but discretion is advised!

Live Streaming

Both Facebook Live and Instagram Live are a great way of including guests who couldn’t make the trip to be with you on your day.

Whether you live stream the ceremony or do incremental live clips of the speeches and the party on the night, it’s an awesome and instant way to reach out to friends and family who aren’t present. Try and think of an original hashtag so guests can quickly find your pics!

Photos

If you’re not adverse to people snapping selfies on the day, a good idea is to provide selfie sticks or something similar as wedding favours. It subtly encourages your guests to get involved with photos without explicitly having to ask them. Giving your guests the freedom to capture the day means that you will have these great candid shots and moments on record that you may have missed initially. What should you do with all these photos though, and how will you go about viewing them in the first place? This brings us to our next point…

Sharing

Hashtagging your wedding is nothing new but is still one of the best ways of collating all of your guests’ photos in one place somewhere like Instagram. Of course if you encourage your guests to post here then your wedding photos will be public for the world to see! Also, you will have much less control over what people see as you can’t dictate what does and doesn’t get posted.

If you’d like to browse your guests’ photos without the general public having access then there are some great apps like ‘wedpics’ that allow you to see all the images that your guests have taken.