Zoom Weddings

A Quick Guide to Sharing Your Wedding With Friends and Family

I’m guessing you found this page because you were originally planning to get married this summer or fall, but 2020 had different plans. (Dangit 2020!) If that is you, let me first say I am truly sorry and understand the disappointment and frustration of not being able to share your wedding day with your friends and family as you were originally planning. With that said, a Zoom Wedding is a great way to make the most of the situation.

Here is a quick and simple guide (because the don’t need to be elaborate) to hosting your own virtual wedding and making the most of the times!

What do you need for your Zoom Wedding?

You don’t need much, really. Just the following: 

  • A computer, phone, or tablet to stream through Zoom. 
  • Something to mount or set your computer, phone, or tablet on. 
  • An officiant (can in person or a number of states including New York and California are allowing couples to obtain marriage licenses and clerks can perform a marriage ceremony via Zoom!) 
  • A photographer (because you should really have this documented. Also, ahem, I’d LOVE to shoot your zoom wedding. )
  • A marriage license – check with your local county to find out about their procedures to get a marriage license during the pandemic.

That’s really it for the essentials.  If you want more information, check out my guide on How To Live Stream Weddings.

Invite a few guests!

Just because you are having a Zoom wedding doesn’t mean you can’t invite a few loved ones to join you from a safe distance! In most states like New York or California, you can have up to 10 people while still maintaining social distancing.  So with yourself, your fiancé, your officiant, and photographer, you still have the ability to invite 6 more guests to join you in person (7 if your officiant is also marrying you over Zoom!)

Pick a meaningful place for your Zoom Wedding:  

The beauty of a virtual wedding like this (or any elopement or intimate wedding) is that it can really take place anywhere you get cell service. You can get married in your living room, your favorite park, or somewhere scenic and epic (my personal favorite). No matter what, just make sure you get ADEQUATE CELL SERVICE to hotspot and stream with, and ADEQUATE SPACE for everyone to maintain a safe, social distance.

Keep your Zoom call secure: 

Zoom recommends NOT posting your Meeting ID on your wedding website or anywhere for that matter. Bots could potentially crawl the internet for meeting IDs and hack into your call (which would be a bummer.). Instead, set up the details for the call ahead of time and email out the meeting information. Or get fancier and use an email service like Paperless Post.  

The Mute Button: Use It!

Unless you are directly interacting with your virtual guests, consider muting all guests so that the stream doesn’t jump to other guests during your ceremony if they make noise in the background. You can “mute all participants” as the host of the call, and can easily unmute them if you want to talk to them (which you should!).  Furthermore, when you “mute all” you are given the option to not allow participants to unmute themselves, giving you further control over your Zoom wedding.

5 Zoom Wedding Ideas

  • Don’t Stop at the Ceremony: Bake a cake or a pie to cut, have the first dance, wear a garter! Many traditions you can still incorporate over of Zoom with a little creativity.
  • Do Zoom Toasts: Have a maid of honor who lives across the country? Ask them to give a toast for you and your virtual guests! Bonus if you instruct everyone to have a drink ready beforehand.
  • Get Ready With Your Girls: You can still hang out with your bridal party beforehand. Though they may not be able to button up your dress, they can still cheers with one another and hang out while you do your hair and make up.
  • Visit Your Guests in Person Post Wedding: After your ceremony, consider driving around and visit friends and family at a safe distance! Just because you can’t include them all in person does not mean you can’t see them in person. It just can’t all be at once. Bonus – Bring your photographer along to capture socially-distanced group shots!
  • Make It Personal, Make It You: No matter what you do, make it personal, and have fun with it. These are unprecedented times and Zoom Weddings are brand new. There is space for new traditions, fresh ideas, and out of the box thinking. My best advice: Go for it.

Zoom Wedding Packages:

I offer 3 packages for Zoom weddings starting at $2000. Each package includes at least 3 hours of coverage – enough time to capture the wedding and some sweet portraits afterward. Message me for more details! 

Let’s Share Your Wedding!

I hope this quick guide was helpful for you as you think about and plan your Zoom Wedding! Message me for more ideas and information! Keep pivoting and stay safe!