Long, long ago, brides relied on florists to "run" the wedding. Once the church was decorated and bouquets made, the florist would stand at the back during rehearsal, cueing each person to head down the aisle, reminding everyone to "walk, pause . . . walk, pause."
Simpler days.
Today, couples are turning to technology for their wedding cues, relying on apps that create seating charts and collect RSVPs, share itineraries and connect with vendors. Sarah Patton Adair, owner of Nashville's Social Bliss Events, said her brides use multiple tech tools to stay on top of wedding planning.
Examples of Wedding Planning Apps
Calendly: "We use Calendly to schedule all meetings with our clients," said Adair. Calendly, a scheduling automation platform, eliminates endless back-and-forth attempts to pick a day/time that suits everyone, instead offering slots that the couple chooses. Event planners and vendors then select from those slots and Calendly sends reminders to keep everyone on track.
Cognito Forms: Social Bliss clients fill out a profile on Cognito Forms, an online form builder. The profile captures everything from the bride and groom's cocktail of choice to their favorite color. “From there, we operate out of Dropbox,” said Adair. “It lets us – team and client – make changes that we can all see live, in real time.” If a client prefers Google Sheets, that can be used instead of Dropbox.
Asana: Behind the scenes, the Social Bliss team uses Asana, a web and mobile platform that functions as a sort of project manager for the wedding. “We input due dates, tasks, everything we’re doing,” said Adair, “so we can all see tasks, progress, and communication.”
Notes: Believe it or not, the basic iPhone Notes app can be used to organize a wedding. “You can share your Note with another iPhone user,” said Adair, “and if they make changes, you can see them right away.” Social Bliss uses Notes to send items like destination wedding packing lists.
Minted: Most couples still mail save-the-date cards and printed invitations, but now they often include a QR code to a site like Minted. “I personally used Minted for my wedding,” said Adair. The bride and groom create a custom website that's a preview of the wedding, with photos and all the details in one spot. Couples can customize questions for their guests – ‘who is your plus-one?’, ‘do you have any dietary restrictions?’ – and Minted collects the data. “It’s the easiest way to gather RSVP responses,” said Adair.
WhatsApp: For destination weddings in other countries, Social Bliss relies on WhatsApp, which uses internet service for phone calls. “WhatsApp allows us to text, call, FaceTime vendors in different countries,” said Adair. “Five of our weddings were destination events last year; WhatsApp eliminated those international cell phone charges.”
Honeybook: Wedding planners love Honeybook for proposals and contracts. "Most of the vendors we use go through Honeybook," said Adair of the self-described 'clientflow management platform'. "It allows us to house and sign contracts in one spot."
Other Popular Tech Tools for Destination Weddings
Timeline Genius: Planners and couples use Timeline Genius to create a visual version of everything that needs to be done before the big day, and everything that needs to happen on the big day. Timeline Genius eliminates scheduling conflicts and makes clear who is responsible for what. It can even send information like floor plans to vendors so they know not only when to arrive, but where to go when they get there.
Joy: This digital planning platform includes a mobile app that works with both Android and iPhones. Couples looking for wedding website options like that Joy is not only user friendly but free, with no ads. Joy describes itself as a one-stop shop for all wedding guest communication. Customers can create an email solely to handle RSVPs and guest questions so their personal cell phones aren't bombarded. Joy recently added an Open AI-powered service, Wedding Writer's Block, that helps write vows and toasts.
WedSites: Like Minted and Joy (and The Knot, and Zola, and Wix . . .), WedSites offers unique wedding website creation. Email announcements and updates can be sent straight from the dashboard, it captures RSVP data, there's a seating chart tool, and a budget calculator/expense tracker. What sets WedSites apart is its multilingual functionality. It offers a "preferred language" choice for each guest, translating everything to match their selection.
The 2023 Annual Real Weddings Study from The Knot reports that 91 percent of wedding planning is now done online, and found the use of QR codes on save-the-dates and invitations jumped by 18 percent from 2022.
For better or worse, for richer and for poorer, tech-dependent wedding planning is here to stay.
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