Planning A Wedding Using Social Media

(Your Name Here) went from being “in a relationship” to “engaged”. We have all seen it happen, the happy post from a couple announcing their engagement.  While it is no surprise that people are turning to social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to share the news of their upcoming marriage, many couples are taking advantage of these tools to help them with their planning. Here are five ways that social media can help you plan your wedding.

Find Inspiration
The days of flipping through bridal magazines and cutting out pictures are a thing of the past. Social media sites like Pinterest make it easy to find and organize your wedding ideas, digitally. There is an entire category dedicated to weddings and events where brides-to-be can simply type in a color scheme or theme to find ideas that fit into their budget. To make things even easier, each picture is typically linked to a site where you can buy the styles you want, learn DIY crafting tips and become informed about the latest trends. After you organize these pictures into categories (pinboards), share them with your family, friends and vendors so they have a better feel of how you envision your wedding.

Wedding blogs, such as Love Toast, are another great place to find unique wedding ideas. Here, you are able to see pictures of real weddings from around the world, read stories about the bride and groom, and get planning advice on how they successfully pulled off such a memorable event. It’s an easy way to get caught up on the latest trends and get tips from brides who have already been in your shoes.

Research Vendors and Ideas
We already know that Facebook and Twitter are great sites for keeping in touch with your vendors, but did you also know that it’s a great place to find them? If you are starting from scratch and don’t know where to begin looking, try asking your friends. Update your Facebook or Twitter status and ask people who live near you if they recommend anyone. People are happy to share their experiences, good and bad. It’s a quick and easy way to receive reliable references from people you trust.

If you already have a vendor that you trust, check out who they “Like” on their Facebook fan page. Most businesses have a list of preferred vendors that they recommend. Since businesses work with many different companies in the industry, they quickly learn who is good and who is unreliable. Talk to them about it. Businesses will never recommend companies that they don’t trust as it’s a poor reflection on them.

Often overlooked, YouTube is another great site for researching wedding ideas. Having trouble writing your vows or trying to come up with a clever first dance? Check out videos of what other couples have done.

Receive Discounts
Every bride has a budget. Let social media sites like Facebook and Twitter ease the pains of your purse by connecting you with special discounts and promotions. Often times, vendors have special deals during the wedding offseason (November thru March) that are only listed on their Facebook and Twitter sites.

Vendors also run contests on these pages to bring in more traffic. SCE Event Group is currently holding their $5000 Dream Wedding Giveaway in which one lucky couple will win an entertainment package that includes DJ services, a photobooth, lighting, and theatrical enhancements. The catch? You have to get your family and friends to vote for you on Facebook.

Another great way to receive discounts by using social media can also come after the wedding by posting reviews on your vendors’ pages. Let’s say you loved your photographer and your florist. If you post a good review on their fan pages or begin recommending them to your friends, they might thank you by offering a discount on extra prints or future floral purchases. Businesses always appreciate when clients write good reviews, especially if it leads them to more clientele.

Stay in Touch with your Bridal Party and Guests
Let’s face it, there is only so much information you can put on an invitation. When guests are from out of town, they often need more information on directions and hotel accommodations. To solve this problem, couples began creating wedding websites to share extra information with their guests. However, creating these websites can be costly and, often times, difficult to update if you are not familiar with web design or blogging. So, why not use a site that you and your friends are already on? Facebook allows users to create a Group page that is optimal for sharing information with a small group of people. For instance, you can create a group called “Joe and Jen’s Wedding” and invite your guests to join. Here you can update information, post pictures and videos, poll the group on music and meal choices, and chat with everyone at once. This is also a great idea to keep your bridal party informed of upcoming events.

In my experience, I have used Facebook Groups to plan Bridal Showers and Bachelorette Parties. It is a great place to share ideas without going back and forth over email. The best part about it is that you can choose who is able to see the group. Perfect for planning a surprise for the bride!

Share Memories
So the wedding is over, but that doesn’t mean the fun has to stop. Facebook is becoming more popular among Photographers and Videographers for sharing pictures and videos from your wedding. It is a great promotional tool to bring in more business, plus couples and guests have the opportunity to relive each moment of the day. Tagging and Sharing options make it easy to send pictures to friends and it gives people that weren’t at your event a chance to feel as though they were a part of it.

Flickr is another great tool for sharing pictures. Here you are able to upload images from your wedding or event to Flickr, share the link with your guests, and they in turn can download and print the images from home. Flickr has even teamed up with Snapfish, so guests can order high quality pictures and photo albums to be sent directly to their homes. Just make sure you get permission from your photographer before doing this to avoid breaking any copyright laws.

Clearly, the possibilities are endless. As these sites get more developed and people continue using them, the list of ways in which they can help will continue to grow. In my opinion, the key to planning a successful wedding is to stay organized. By using social media sites for getting ideas, researching vendors, and interacting, planning your wedding will be a breeze.

Have you used Social Media in your wedding planning?  Do you plan to?  Please leave a comment below if you have other tips as to how Social Media can help during your wedding planning.