Weddings and Social Media: A Match Made in eHeaven?
I remember a cartoon from a few years back where two newly-weds stood at the altar, just having made their vows. Both had their cell phones out and were updating their relationship statuses to “married” in front of a bemused-looking priest.
Fast forward to today, when people actually do this. According to one poll conducted by David’s Bridal, 49% of newlyweds change their relationship status between the ceremony and the reception. An additional third of all future brides update relationship status within hours of becoming engaged. Social media increasingly gets a wedding invitation, and for better or worse, we’re all along for the ride.
Social Media Wedding Planners
Perhaps it isn’t surprising, but brides increasingly use social media to communicate with vendors, find wedding day ideas, and update their wedding parties. Pinterest’s emphasis on images makes it an ideal platform for finding wedding ideas, and 40 percent of brides report sharing ideas with wedding vendors through Pinterest.
A whopping 77 percent of brides like or follow wedding brands, and 61 percent use mobile wedding planning apps to track and organize wedding plans. Wedding websites or blogs are also becoming the norm, usually with links to online gift registries.
Overshare Much?
People deeply involved in an event or project often tend to overshare on social media, and that trend is very much in evidence with wedding posts. Brides (and some grooms) are so invested in the wedding they assume everyone else is as interested as they are. This often isn’t the case.
Your friends don’t need to see updates on every change to the bridal gown or every possible design for the banquet napkins. If you’re posting wedding-related information three or four times a day, you’re heading perilously close to Bridezilla territory.
If it helps, think of your wedding like a business. For example, document translation services don’t update social media with every sentence they translate – they post important information relevant to their customers. Wedding planning is exciting and nerve-wracking, but try to restrict yourself to a couple of wedding-related posts a week. If you want to go into more detail, you’ve always got your wedding blog.
Social Media Wedding Etiquette
The new importance of social media has changed wedding etiquette slightly. For instance, posting items from your gift registry is considered gauche and suggests you think social media friends not invited to the wedding should still send gifts.
Some people think overly frequent wedding posts are rude as well as oversharing, as they continuously remind people not invited to the wedding of their exclusion. Personally, I think other people’s thin skins aren’t your concern, but I do agree with limiting posts to sane levels.
One last thing. Please, please don’t post moment-by-moment accounts of your honeymoon. We all want you to have fun. We just don’t need to hear about it. Share a few photos of the honeymoon location when you get back, and leave it at that.
Adrienne Erin is a bemused social media marketer who has seen a fair share of wedding updates on her Facebook feed as of late, and it is only slightly driving her insane. See more of her work by following her on Twitter.
Image Credit: 1.
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