5 Important Social Media Guidelines for Your Wedding Day

Social media is a great invention, but you don’t want your entire wedding party to spend the whole evening on their phones, tweeting, scrolling through Instagram and watching funny videos of cats. If you want your guests to actively participate in your wedding you have to set some rules and boundaries. Here’s a little social media guide for your special day.

Change your privacy settings

Even though everyone already knows about this trick, many couples still forget to change their privacy setting on their accounts. It’s the only way to prevent some embarrassing and private photos from leaking into the ether. If you change your settings, every time someone tags you in a photo you have to approve it before it becomes public. After the wedding, you can change settings for the photos you want the world to see.  

Restrict the use of phones

You really want your guests to participate in the celebration, and not spend the whole time on their social media, so restrict the use of phones, at least until the wedding ceremony is over. You can say that on your wedding website, note it in your wedding program or announce it prior to the ceremony. Even though social media is great for sharing moments with others, the real deal is always better, so try to make your ceremony a really intimate and special moment.

Share photos

Your guests will inevitably take some amazing photos, and if you ever want to see them you have to create an appropriate medium through which they can share their photos with you and other guests. You can make a Facebook page or get an app such as WedPics and create an album of photos and videos you can manage. This way you’ll have many pictures from many different angles and points of view, and you’ll be surprised to see all the things you and your professional photographer missed during the event.

Create a hashtag

If you can’t live without Twitter, you probably already know your perfect wedding hashtag. If not, then better think of one (the sooner the better) and use it in all your social media mentions. You want your hashtag to be simple and easy to remember. For instance, you can use your initials, your “ship” name, your new married name, or come up with a creative hashtag that’s completely personal. Just pass it around, use it yourself, and encourage your family and friends to use it too. Who knows, you might even go viral and become Internet celebs!

Provide Wi-Fi

You don’t want your guests to be Wi-Fi-less. Most of the reliable wedding reception venues  have a Wi-Fi available, but if social media’s a really important part of your wedding, you better consult with your venue coordinator. Check the signal strength, and see if it’s password protected. If yes, make sure to provide your guests with the password by writing it on signs around your venue or include it in the program together with your hashtag. This will encourage them to Instagram and Tweet about your perfect wedding all night long.

No matter if you love or hate them, having a wedding-day social media strategy is very smart move. You’ll have control over what gets posted and you’ll get many great photos and memories after all is over. So, don’t hesitate. Create your plan and enjoy your wedding stress-free.