The pros and cons of an instagram wedding. Is it right for you?

Posted on May 24, 2013 by Stephanie in Tech | Leave a comment

Using Instagram (and a particular Instagram hashtag) to help keep track of all the photos your guests take at your wedding is a fairly simple and increasingly popular way to keep tabs on your wedding photos after the big day is over. However, how do you know if an Instagram wedding is right for you? It varies from couple to couple, and there are a few pros and cons that each bride and groom need to weigh before sharing a designated hashtag with guests.

PROS:

1. Everyone already Instagram. It’s fairly simple to explain to your guests that you’re using an Instagram hashtag for your wedding, since most of them are already on Instagram religiously.

2. You get to make one of those cute chalkboard signs telling your friends about your own special hashtag.

3. Filters. Always filters.

4. Let’s get it straight, everyone loves instagram. We’re totally insta-ddicted to it.

CONS:

1. You might not have ownership of your photos. If you’re worried about Instagram (or their parent company Facebook) taking your photos and claiming ownership over them, then think twice about asking guests to post them and read the Privacy Policy. This isn’t an issue for every couple– only for those who feel strongly about owning exclusive rights to their photos.

2. It’s public. While only your guests will be searching for your photos with the hashtag, when your friends post their photos that means their friends on Instagram can see the photos too. And anyone who’s a jerk and feels like crashing the party can start Instagramming with your hashtag too.

3. The photos are actually really small. Downloading photos from Instagram yield photos that are only about 600 pixels wide, which means they’ll be too small to print large copies in high quality.

4. Filters. Yes, this is a con too. You might be flipping through your wedding photos on Instagram the next day and realize that none of your photos are actually just plain photos of the way the day actually looked. And that might be annoying.

5. Older guests without smartphones or who aren’t Instagram savvy can’t participate. This means if they’re taking photos on their SLR, you’ll have to get photos from them separately after the wedding day.

6. It’s really hard to download your photos. You have to find the photos online and then save them one by one.

7. People might not upload all the photos they capture. If you’re an Instagram lover/user, you know not to flood your stream with a lot of the same photos because that might be annoying for your followers. So, your guests might upload a few photos here and there for your wedding but I bet they’ll take a lot more photos that will never end up on Instagram.

So what do you think? Writing from the perspective of someone at a wedding app company, some of you are going to think I missed some pros and/or cons in the list, but I’d love to hear your own thoughts! Did you go for an Instagram wedding, or did you opt for something different? If you did end up Instagramming your wedding, what helped you make that decision?

Photos via Kim A. Thomas Blog and UnJersey Bride

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Wedding Advice: How to deal with an uninvited plus one

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Stephanie in Advice | Leave a comment

QUESTION: How do you deal with guests that respond with more guest RSVPs than you offered?

Kaella’s Answer: Traditionally, only the names listed on the envelopes are those invited to the wedding. However, it seems less people are aware of this rule these days. If you have a very tight guest list, as I’m sure you do, call the guest directly and explain your situation. This may be a delicate subject and you don’t want to risk a miscommunication, so don’t tell you guest over email or text. Finalizing the wedding guest list can be one of the most difficult parts of planning your wedding, and your guest will hopefully understand that you cannot invite every person. Just explain that you are not having kids at the wedding and hope they can see it as an opportunity to have a date night. Or tell your friend, that while you’d love to meet the person he or she is dating, you have a very restricted guest list and would love to set it up another time. One way to deter unintended plus 1’s is to list the names of those invited on the RSVP card with a space to indicate whether or not that guest is coming. This makes it very clear who is invited.

Need more wedding advice? Read Kaella’s previous posts:

About our Kaella: Kaella Wilson is the founder of Kaella Lynn Events, a wedding planning and design boutique based in San Francisco. She believes the difference is in the details. Whether you’re planning a grand event or an intimate celebration, Kaella combines artistic design with meticulous planning and management to produce a memorable event that represents your style. Follow her on twitter @Kaellalynn.

Photo courtesy of onelove photography

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The 5 bridal myths that can seriously ruin your wedding

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Stephanie in Planning | Leave a comment

Getting married is a wonderful experience. That being said, there are tons of different pressures and myths surrounding the entire wedding planning process that can turn an otherwise memorable and amazing experience into a stressful second job. Here are 5 wedding myths that you should never believe — because they’re going to make your life a hell of a lot harder in the coming months if you do believe them.

1. It’s your special day. We’re all for having a wonderful wedding celebration that showcases you and your groom’s amazing relationship and your happy future together. That’s what weddings are about, right? However, the minute a bride starts really believing that a wedding is HER day HER way, trouble begins. Because honestly your big day is never going to be just YOUR day, nor is it ever going to be perfect. Keep your wedding day in perspective and remember the things that really matter — the relationship of you and your better half, and the loving family and friends who have been supportive of you two the entire way.

“Me, me, it’s all about me!”

2. You’ll “Say Yes to the Dress”. Going wedding dress shopping can be at the same time an incredibly exciting and incredibly stressful experience. Finding the dress you’re going to wear on your wedding day isn’t easy for most brides. There probably isn’t going to be a choir of angels that descend from heaven when you slip on the perfect gown. Like your road to finding the right man/woman, you’re going to have to slog through a bunch of messes and disasters before you get to the perfect fit. And you may not try on your wedding dress and love it right away, or after a few minutes, or even after a few days. You may have to think about it, and change your mind again and again. And again. And you know what? That’s okay.

“Well, it ain’t perfect. But it’s on sale! Why the hell not just choose this one?”

3. Your bridesmaids are your bitches. Oh, man. We really can’t stress this one enough. Unless you’ve got a sort of friendship with your best friends where you all call each other “bitch” and are weirdly passive-agressive to each other (it happens), don’t — I REPEAT DON’T — think of your … Keep Reading

Giveaway: Win a free gift set of your choice from Sesame!

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Stephanie in Parties & Events, Tech | Leave a comment

We have yet another giveaway for you all this week! We’re so excited to give our readers the chance to win an amazing, unique gift box of your choice from Sesame. Since so many of you guys are tech-forward and iPhone/Android fanatics like us, I know this giveaway is going to be right up your alley.

If you haven’t heard of it before, Sesame is an app that allows you to select and send a variety of gifts to yourself or your loved ones, right from your phone! Sending a gift on the fly is super easy with Sesame: you simply download the app, browse their great selection of gifts, and enter in the gift recipient’s info. Or you could browse their selection online. Just like that, a thoughtful and beautifully packaged gift will arrive right to the gift recipient’s front door in a few days. Each gift set is composed of luxe, unique items curated by an expert at Sesame. Our favorites are the Indulgent Escape, Cocktail Hour, Ultimate Unwind, and Wake-Up Call gift sets — I mean, how can you resist fancy bath salts, custom drink mixers, or gourmet coffee? However, there really is something in there for everyone; so even if our favorites don’t appeal to you, something by Sesame will!

The Cocktail Hour gift set by Sesame

The Indulgent Escape gift set by Sesame

Besides the amazingly convenient gift-sending mechanism and the huge selection of gifts, Sesame gift sets are so prettily packaged that opening up the present is pretty much almost as fun as finding out what’s inside. Sesame gifts really are perfect as presents for a couple at an engagement party, or for asking your best friends to be your bridesmaids. So, are you ready to win your very own gift set from Sesame? Great! To enter our giveaway, you must:

1. Find the Sesame giveaway post on our Facebook page.

2. Comment on which of the gift sets you’d like to win! (Numbered below 1-4)

ENTER NOW FOR A FREE SESAME GIFT!

Sesame is ALSO giving all of our fans $5 off a gift set order! So even if you don’t win, you can still take advantage of this great deal to get a gift set. You can redeem this $5 off in the Sesame app or by going to sesamegifts.com/redeem and entering in the code: weddingparty

So that’s it! To learn more about what’s in each amazing gift set, download Sesame from the App Store or visit sesamegifts.com. We’re going to be announcing a winner on our Facebook page Friday afternoon, so hurry up and enter for a chance to win ASAP! And don’t forget to give Sesame a “Like” on Facebook, and follow them on Twitter.

Giveaway Terms here.

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