How to hold a virtual wedding?
While couples all over the world are postponing their weddings, you and your partner may be ready to continue on with the marriage, regardless of what’s going on around you. If that sounds like you, a livestream wedding is a great option! Plus, you can still host the Wedding After Party at the Georgia wedding venue of your dreams!
As long as you have access to fast internet, you have what you need to perform the ceremony and stream it online! This is new territory for everyone, so we’ve decided to create a step-by-step guide to planning and executing your virtual wedding with an in-person reception to follow.
Choose a Streaming Service
It’s 2020, and the technology that you have at your fingertips is incredible! There are so many options for streaming online completely free. You just need to decide which will be most convenient for your attendees to access. You can use Facebook by creating a private group for your wedding guests, and streaming from there. YouTube and Zoom are also great options and allow you to create private links for your guests to follow. In addition to all these Social Media sites, there are also Wedding sites that provide live streaming for free such as WebWed Mobile and Wedfuly where you can stream your private ceremony.
Invite Your Guests
Since your wedding is now virtual, it opens up the option to invite more guests than you were originally planning since cost won’t be an issue! If you want to emulate an in-person wedding as much as possible, you can send out printed invitations, however electronic invites can be sent for free and create an easier guest-experience for following a link to your live stream. And if you’re torn between the two, do both! Or you could send electronic invites to your ceremony and paper invites to your Wedding After Party.
Coordinating Your Officiant
Depending on your state’s laws, you could have your officiant come to your house to perform the ceremony, otherwise, you can live stream them in! If you already have someone chosen for this position, confirm with them your plan to go live or to come over, otherwise you can find one on WebWed Mobile or Wedfuly. If you decide to live stream them in, be sure to do a trial run the day of the event, technology has a way of acting up right when you’re relying on it most!
Set it Up
Next is setting it up. Set up your phone, tablet, laptop or whatever device you choose to go with on a tripod or a table. Test this before the big day and have fun decorating what will be visible on the screen. Make sure the lighting is good, and if it isn’t consider buying a photo ring light for better lighting. If you are decorating with candles or lights of any kind, test them out with the camera and make sure nothing is glaring. Take some test videos and watch them to ensure your setup is exactly how you want it!
The Reception
Not only can you have your ceremony virtually, you can even throw your reception virtually! You can use Zoom or Google Hangouts to interact with, see, and hear all of your guests if you have a small group of invitees. Even though you’re not in-person, you can still incorporate traditional activities like cutting the cake, your first dance, fun couples games, etc. Let your guests give their speeches and make their toasts. You can even still stream a video of you each growing up and the journey of your relationship and watch it with your guests. Make your reception the best online party your guests have attended!
The After Party
Even if you choose to do a virtual wedding, you can still have an amazing Wedding After Party or in-person Wedding Reception. You can reserve your venue, makeup artist, photographer, caterer and everything like you normally would, but you can skip the high-pressure ceremony part of the day if you want since that part is already taken care of. Then, it would be a chill day with your favorite friends and family all dressed up out on the peaceful grounds of Spring Lake!
