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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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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The top 5 reasons your guests will love using Wedding Party

Posted on May 11, 2013 by Stephanie in Tech | Leave a comment

Hopefully by now, you’ve all figured out how Wedding Party will be beneficial for you (the bride and groom). I mean, how convenient is it to collect all your photos and have all your wedding info in one place?

However, Wedding Party isn’t just great for you — it’s fun for your friends and family too! Here’s what couples and their guests have said about why Wedding Party makes your wedding a unique and engaging experience for your wedding guests:

1. Your guests can share their perspective. All the photos from their smart phones, tablets, and digital cameras will get added to your app so you can see every moment through their eyes.

2. Your guests can meet other guests. Every guest can add their own personal profile picture to the guests pages, so everyone else can see who they are! If they want to get to know each other more, they tag and share their favorite photos to Facebook — it’s perfect for getting them connected online and off!

3. Your guests can learn all about your wedding events and info. With the wedding details page, you can update them on every celebration you’re having on the app — from the location to the time and date — so they’ll be excited and on-time to every event.

4. Your guests can share special notes with you and others. With our notes feature, they can wish you well on a unique and fun in-app note; or, they can comment on their favorite photos and add captions to the best moments.

5. Your guests can use it for their own wedding! And recommend it to their engaged friends, too

Photos via onelove photo and Anna Delores

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New to Wedding Party: Upload your photos from the web!

Posted on April 28, 2013 by Stephanie in Tech | Leave a comment

We’re happy to announce that the ability to upload your photos from a computer or laptop is finally here! With Wedding Party, you can now select photos that you have saved on your computer and add them to your app in a few simple steps. This feature is great if you have engagement photos that aren’t saved to your phone, and for your guests who will be taking photos with digital cameras.

Adding photos from a computer to your app is simple. First, you’ll need to go to you unique Wedding Party website. If you don’t know the URL, you can always find it on your app dashboard. This is the link you’ll need to share with your guests who want to upload their photos from the web, too.

When you get to your Wedding Party website, check the buttons at the top of the screen. You should see one that says “Upload”. Simply click that and start uploading your photos. Once your photos are uploaded you’ll be able to see them instantly on your website, and on your mobile Wedding Party app after a sync.

Try this out today and see what you think! Encourage your friends and family to start uploading photos themselves (either through the app or the web) — it’s a great way to get all your loved ones sharing their favorite memories of you two, and will get everyone really excited about your big day. Photos anywhere from the moment you get engaged to your honeymoon are perfect for adding to your app, so you’ll actually get a full photo album of your wedding journey. How cool is that?

Learn more about Wedding Party! Visit our FAQs for more info about our app and it’s features.

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