Five Ways To Use Social Media Effectively To Plan Your Wedding

If you are one of those brides who has been planning your wedding since you were five, if you are always looking for new ideas to make your wedding more fun and unique, if you are constantly on Pinterest pinning outfits and DIYs and Instagramming pictures of potential outfits captioned “ Yay or Nay”, if you are snap-chatting wedding décor ideas with your fiancé, checking wedding blogs to follow then you are definitely a social media bride. Here I describe five ways to effectively use social media to make your wedding your own.

Find Vendors: Social media platforms are great places to source wedding vendors for every small detail. From lighting & décor, to wedding cakes, wedding outfits, makeup artists, photographers, photo booth props and more, there is a wealth of information. To efficiently find the vendor you’re looking for, you can join groups on sites like Facebook, each with over 1000 members, to ask wedding-related questions and get answers from vendors, planners and brides. Another method is to use Instagram hashtags to find specific vendor information, e.g., #WeddingPlanning, #WeddingDecor, etc. Once you have shortlisted your favorite vendors, you can view their virtual portfolios, which include honest reviews from customers. This will give you a clear idea of what each vendor offers and help you define fair expectations. Also, try to build a connection with them by interacting with them on these platforms before you approach them with requests/questions.

Recommended: Check out the group Help! I'm getting married! Don’t forget to check out their vendor list.

Must have photo booth props from Confetti:

Group Invites: Let’s face it, between a full-time job, shopping, and making other wedding arrangements, it is next to impossible to hand out personal invites to everyone. This is where Facebook comes to the rescue. There are two solutions to cleverly add the special touch of a hand-delivered invite using social media. The first is to create an event for the wedding to which you can invite friends and family. You can customize the event with photos, a timeline of events, etc. to give it the feel of a personal invite. The event invite can also include RSVP, so you can estimate the number of guests. The second option, and the one I prefer, is a group message. This type of invite is more private and personal than an event invite. It lets your create groups for family, high school friends, cousins, etc. Attach the e-invite for the details and write a heartfelt message to each group to personalize your invite.

 Recommended: Event invites like these, which capture natural moments and build an instant connection with the guests. Add pictures from the pre-wedding shoot to let your guests enjoy the lighter fun moments of your life.

Group pins: As a bride to be, this one is my most favorite applications. A group board on Pinterest lets multiple users pin on the same board. Pin anything from ideas to inspirations for your save-the-date, outfits, home décor, hairstyles, bachelorette parties, etc., and take opinion polls on them. This will make planning a whole lot easier and keeping track of the small details extremely easy. My bridesmaids and I have a lot of fun with group pins and I bet you will too.

 Recommended: A group board with a fun name. Pins include ideas, DIY, Décor and bachelorette ideas. Krupa’s wedding Wish list has all the pinners commenting and sharing ideas. What a nice way to bond with the bridesmaids!

Collect Wedding pictures: If you are eager to see pictures of your wedding but cannot wait a week for your wedding photographer to give you his/her photos, here is an idea for what might be your quickest wedding image source: ask guests to snap pictures on their phone and add them to a wedding album you’ve created on Facebook. Facebook offers the features of an owner inviting contributors to share pictures. Another smart way to collect pictures from everyone is to create a hashtag for your wedding photos and encourage your guests to use the hashtags while Instagramming. The hashtag can be something fun and catchy or something simple like the couples’ names or surnames. Though you can’t save an image on Instagram, you can relive the moments shortly after your wedding.

Recommended: A simple hashtag of the couples’ names and a sign to remind your guests to use it.

Thank You notes: You will be exhausted once the wedding is over and will probably need a week or two to recover from it. The beginning of a new life could be over whelming too, especially if you are moving to a different city/country. The after effects of a wedding include complete memory loss of your guests and any conversations with them. Don’t forget though that your guest took time out to participate in your ceremonies and make it special for you. Use Facebook to thank them and make the message as personal as you can. For your closest guests, you can create an album of pictures with each guest and caption a message of gratitude. They will surely appreciate it.

Recommended: Make Polaroids of all the pictures with cute nicknames and add a personal message.