Weddings are everyone’s favorite traditions—the tipsy toasts, thoughtful gifts, themed-drinks, your family dancing to YMCA, and, of course, all the love. They’re all essential parts of the bride and groom’s night to remember, and with hundreds of apps and sites designed for wedding planning, the ceremony and the fun that follows is easier—and often much less expensive—to plan than ever before. Which is why we’re highlighting our favorite tools for you to have the perfect digital (but no less romantic) wedding.
1. Evernote: You know Pinterest is everyone’s go-to site for wedding (p)inspiration (we’re already all over it), but we have another, tool we love for doing the actual planning. Evernote, one of our favorite apps for note-taking, is a great way to share ideas you find online with your significant other. You can capture images and jot down notes with your Evernote iPhone app while browsing or shopping on-the-go and then view them on one of your desktops when it comes time to decision-making. (image via SocialMediaNZ)
2. Moleskine Journal: Have an original design idea you just can’t describe to your wedding planner? Well, if you don’t have scrap paper handy—and want to actually save your doodle—use the Moleskine Journal app to illustrate your design and share it with your wedding planner via Evernote or Dropbox, both of which sync directly with the app. (image via Fushion Lab)
3. Pingg: If you have family and friends all over the country, a digital save the date is the fastest way to get on everyone’s calendar. Check out pingg, an online invitation company that offers designs from a community of artists, charities, and your favorite companies. Just choose a design, personalize with a message and a photo, and send your save the dates as e-cards to your soon-to-be guests. (images via pingg Invites)
4. Paperspring’s Paperlinks: Your save the date might be your first communication with your guests, but the invites give them the first glimpse of the personality of the celebration. And digital invites can’t do the classics like matte paper, letterpress, and gold embossing justice. But you can add a digital touch to your beautifully printed invites. Try for example Paperspring’s Paperlinks app, which lets you add QR codes to your invite, giving it its own social experience. When your guests scan the custom QR codes on their invites with the Paperlinks app, they’ll reach a personalized landing page where they can RSVP, make comments and share photos, add phone numbers to their contact, and even see a map to the ceremony. (image via Blue Wolf Press)
5. Postable: Designed the perfect invite but can’t find Aunt Lauren’s new address? If you haven’t been sending holiday cards for past decade, you might not realize that collecting addresses can be tedious and often awkward work. With Postable, designed originally for thank you cards, you can avoid the embarrassment of asking Aunt Lauren and your fiance’s former college roommates for their addresses over the phone or via Facebook message. All you need to do is create a free account, add your guests’ e-mail addresses, send a standard form for everyone to fill out and watch the addresses pour in.
6. Appy Couple: You can’t fit everything on your invite, but there is a way to keep your guests happily informed with just a couple push notifications. Appy Couple, which lets couples design an adorable app and accompanying website for their ceremony, features RSVP details, complete a wedding countdown clock, hotel and travel information and ways to send e-mails and notifications right from the palm of your hand. What’s really fantastic is that guests can upload photos from the bridal shower, bachelorette party, rehearsal dinner, and ceremony to share on the app’s gallery page for everyone to see. (image via Equally Wed)
7. Weduary: Brit & Co.’s very own Weduary not only makes it easy for couples to build beautiful, personalized wedding websites in minutes, but has an added feature for the cupid in all of us that lets single guests “flirt” with other singles before the festivities even begin. Weduary’s unique social experience lets guests update their personal profiles, connect with other invitees based on similar interests and mutual friends, and even coordinate travel plans.
8. Spotify: No one can play “Love Shack” quite like a live band, but if you can’t book your favorite quartet and don’t want to forfeit the majority of the music choice to an amateur DJ, then turn to Spotify, where you can create the perfect wedding playlist. All the songs you love, none of the hassle. You can even make a collaborative playlist with your groom-to-be, or invite the whole wedding party to throw in requests. Just make sure you have “Shout” on there somewhere.
9. Fotio: Want an album of perfectly spontaneous photos of your guests without bringing in an oversized photo booth? Bring in Fotio, a Chicago-based photo service that brings in a vintage-looking, non-obtrusive photo booth. It’s actually hiding a Canon and an iMac. The black-and-white photos of your guests planting kisses on each others’ cheeks, taking group shots flashing sorority signs, and making funny faces will show up in a slideshow on screen for everyone’s enjoyment. Later on, the happy couple will receive the full-color images to enjoy.
10. Instagram: If you want to have an even more social photo experience, come up with an Instagram hashtag (a la #RudyandNeilani) and encourage your guests to take and share photos throughout the night. You’ll end up with a personalized Instagram feed of beautifully filtered photos from a wide range of photographers. (image via Alders Photography)
11. Switchcam: With Switchcam, you can crowdsource your wedding video by inviting guests to shoot photos and videos and send whatever they capture to a centralized editor. The editor will then make an adorable three minute video that encompasses everyone’s best experiences from your big night.
Did we miss one of your favorite wedding apps or tools? Let us know in the comments!
