I have a very strict rule about NEVER changing my relationship status onFacebook. Maybe because I’m up to no good or (a more probable reason) because it doesn’t mean anything. In fact, I only learned about Facebook because a college girlfriend showed me my then boyfriend’s (of 7 years) profile, which proudly labeled him”SINGLE.” And despite the fact that we dated for several years after, neither one of us changed our “Single”Facebookstatus.
But perhaps I will change my mind when (if) I marry, joining those who feel the Facebook relationship status update trumps the marriage license!Lauren Barnes made time to do so on her wedding day tellingUSA Today,”Nothing’sofficial, until it’sFacebookofficial!”
And it’s not just Facebook. It seems many brides and grooms are not only taking the time to interactively network during nuptials, they are making social media a vital member of the wedding party!
The $78-billion-a-year weddingbusiness is getting a social media over-haul with new trends such as video save-the-dates, high-speedscannable”QR”barcodeson invitations, personalizedhashtags, wedding Twitter keywords, interactive seating charts andlive-streams of ceremonies.Who can forget the bride who just could not do without her bridesmaid so she had herinteractively walk down the aisle via Skype?
One groom,Steve Poland, 31, from Buffalo, N.Y.reveled in merging his love for his bride and his love of tech saying,”We used the Twitterhashtag’Poland wedding,’ our nuptials were read from aniPadby our friend, who got ordained online, and our wedding invites were printed by the hip Us.moo.com as postcards that we mailed out. I was really hoping to use Turntable.fmas our music, but it didn’t work out.”
Wow, Steve Poland would certainly make Steve Jobs proud!
But the Poland’s are not alone, in fact they represent a growing trend — according to surveys by the magazine sitesBrides andThe Knot, tech is on the rise in the world of weddings, with 65 percent of couples now setting up special sites to manageRSVPs, stream video of the ceremony and-or reception, and keep guests in the loop. Likewise, one in five couples use mobile apps for wedding planning.
I can see the money-saving and environmental benefits of going paperless for invitations, but having the necessity to globally stream your ceremony orshare the moment with your 400-plusFacebookfriends like newlywedsWilliams and Barnes, is indulgent. And it begs the question: What are you really marrying for –the love of your partner and a desire to share your lives? Or to perpetuate a persona and interactively “check that box” for the world to see?
