The Modern Bride

In the lead-up to the wedding, I read plenty of articles that focused on the importance of having an unplugged wedding in the day and age where everything is instantly posted on social media. It was a stark contrast to the latest trend of creating a hashtag for the event and encouraging the people to use it.

Instead, you would let the photographer capture the moments without interference from cellphones and amateur cameras. It would also be of great benefit to the guests because they wouldn’t be so focused on their phones and they could have a great time.

As I read those articles, I thought it would be a great idea. Just not for our wedding. In fact, I wanted ours to be as connected as possible.

I would have even live-streamed the thing to loved ones abroad who couldn’t make it, but the time didn’t allow for us to do the set up.

Logically speaking, I am the kind of bride who planned her wedding through technology. We found our venue through searching online, we got quotations for vendors through emails, I browsed dresses and flower arrangements on multiple websites. And I spent months on end writing about my experience on this very blog, in the hopes that I could document the process for later. How could I then shun all forms of technology and ask my guests to put down their phones?

It was really nice for me the next day to go on Instagram and look at the pictures that our guests posted, with their comments and feedback. It was instantaneous: we knew how they felt and we got to see the wedding from their perspective. This also proved handy when the official wedding pictures took two months to be delivered. In that time, we at least had something to look at, and something to show.

Did they ruin the suspense of waiting for the professional stuff? I would say no. They captured moments that the photographers did not manage to get like getting ready with my bridesmaids and the lacing of my dress or hanging out with my friends who came abroad just before we were due to make our entrance.

In the end, this would all depend on the couple. But for me, to be so staunchly against technology and sharing on that one day was unthinkable.  And I think this picture best expresses what was going on: