While some wedding traditions are too dear to abandon, others are in constant flux to adjust to changing times.
If you’d like to make a modern splash that you and your guests are sure to remember, consider bringing some 21st -century tech into the mix for your special day.
Here are some ideas to get you going.
Projected-Light Cake
Wedding cakes often can be described as edible works of art. And now, thanks to technology, you can take them a step further by having video, images, or text projected onto the cake. Depending on the shape of your cake, you can have your vendor showcase your favorite movie, an image of you and your spouse-to-be, or even your beloved dog right onto your cake. Or…you can go with a theme, from the holiday seasons to retro video games.
The trend of projected-light or cake projection mapping has been taking off in recent years, wrote Megan Grant in an article for Bustle.
“It's a concept we've all been familiar with for years — don't you remember back in elementary school, when your teacher would pull out the projector and the screen before she started teaching whatever boring stuff she had planned for the day? It's the same concept, only maybe 1,538,204 times cooler.”
While lighting artists can turn your entire reception into a glowing fantasyland, such operations can be prohibitively expensive.
An alternative is to create a dazzling cake that is itself a light show by adding battery-operated plastic coated rope lights or similar elements. It’s guaranteed to be a hit that guests will marvel over.
Drone Drama
Many wedding videographers now use drones for a variety of shots, but the increasing sophistication and affordability of drones open up additional possibilities, especially if you’re using an outdoor venue.
Imagine a drone that automatically follows the bride wherever she goes, providing a unique overhead view of the reception fun. Such technology was only fantasy a decade ago. Today it’s available off the shelf and surprisingly easy to use.
Photobooth With a Twist
Photobooths have surged in popularity over the past decade, providing a fun and easy way for you and your guests to memorialize the event.
Now you can take that up a notch, with high-tech booths that take a series of photos and automatically assemble them into a GIF, apply Instagram filters, add special effects, create holograms, and more. Then the booth can automatically share the results to social media, complete with a hashtag you choose.
Quality Selfies Galore
Encourage and enable your guests to take high-quality selfies by providing selfie sticks they can use to memorialize as they mingle.
Attach instruction cards encouraging the use of hashtags so you can go online later and find the shots with a click.
Charging Station
To ensure no one runs out of power and loses the ability to participate in the electronic extravaganza, provide a charging station to keep the action going.
Be sure to provide plenty of chargers and cables to cover all possible connections, including Apple Lightning, micro-USB, and USB-C.
3D-Printed Favors
If you can dream it up, a designer can create and 3D-print custom objects for you to give to guests—or simply use as unique decorations around the venue.
The possibilities are endless, and the proliferation of skilled hobbyists in the 3D printing field means this may be far more affordable than you would think.
Cameras, Cameras, Everywhere
Small, battery-powered video cameras are now plentiful, and you can use a host of them to add unique views of the action.
While GoPro is the dominant brand in these devices, there are a huge variety of generic versions available at a fraction of the price that still create great video.
Stash them all around the venue, from the cake table, to the wedding bouquet, to anywhere else that will provide a wealth of candidly captured memories for you to enjoy through the years.
If you don’t want to handle the logistics yourself, ask your videographer to handle it for you and even edit the results.
Stream It Live
Accommodate friends and family who can’t make the ceremony in person by setting up cameras and live-streaming the entire day, from ceremony to reception to the happy-ever-after departure.
Many venues, both churches and commercial, have video gear in place and can help you facilitate the streaming.
Just Like Being There
If you want to get futuristic, there are now services that will cover and stream your event directly to virtual reality headsets for the ultimate immersive experience for special ones in your life who can’t make the trip.
This is likely to be a pricey option, but if your wedding is a spare-no-expense effort, this is the next best thing to being there.
LED Clothing
It may be kitschy and campy, but if you want to add some wow factor to your reception, provide a variety of lighted clothing for you and your guests to don, turn out the lights, and hit the dance floor.
There’s a huge selection of such merchandise out there, from lighted suspenders to bow ties to shirts and caps, laden with glow and twinkle.
As technology continues to advance, more and more ways to enhance weddings will come alive, but for now, the above choices should help you turn your own special day into an unforgettable event.