HOW ZOOM CAN HELP YOU PLAN YOUR VIRTUAL WEDDING CEREMONY

Let’s see a show of hands if you’re indoors, bored, and this close to talking to the ants in your house. Yup, same here.

The Covid19 crisis has got people staying home all day, social distancing, no one travelling, businesses shutting down and moving their activities online, no parties, and worst still, no weddings! ‒ gasp.

Since gatherings are prohibited to avoid the spread of the virus, and family couldn’t travel, couples had to cancel or postpone their wedding plans. You may have had plans to tie the knot with your partner this period and had to cancel it too. But what if I told you that you could still have your special day? What if I told you that you could go virtual with your wedding? Astonishing right?

Well, we’re about to show you how to do this using Zoom. We’ll also tell you some interesting things you could do to spice up your virtual wedding. And if you aren’t planning to get hitched soon, you could still put this in your wedding coordination ideas.

WAYS TO USE ZOOM FOR A VIRTUAL CEREMONY

Like those in theatre say – ‘The show must go on!’ Your wedding can go on, and we’ve got a great option for you. Zoom.

What is Zoom and how does it work? Zoom is a video conferencing platform which was mostly used for business meetings or webinars (virtual seminars). However, you can use it for other events, like your wedding.

It’s very easy to use. You can host your ceremony with the free basic account which gives you free 40-minute limit on group events and lets you invite up to 100 attendees – which is way more than you get in a courthouse wedding. If you want more guests or more time, you’ll have to subscribe to a plan though. Your invitees don’t need to have an account to join your wedding ceremony, they just need the invite ID.

Who’s going to officiate?

You can get your preferred officiant to physically join you and your partner – while maintaining the physical distance rule though – or they could do it from wherever they are too. You can tell a relative to take snapshots/screenshots of your other relatives online and even get a professional photographer to take some great wedding pictures – if you can.

Now since you can invite loads of people to your virtual special day, you’re probably wondering how you can do that. Oh no, no boring SMS or emails. It’s your wedding! Virtual or no, we’ve got to make it special.

Introducing – drumroll please – The Paperless Post! It’s quaint, it’s just a click away, it’s customizable, and it’s you.

SO WHAT IS THIS PAPERLESS POST?

It’s an online invitation design platform that lets you personalize cards, sends them out and even enables your guests RSVP.

We’ve been using it for quite a while now to send holiday cards to our preferred vendors, clients and such, and it is rather handy. You could try it too. To show you a preview of one of these babies, we’ve invited you to your first virtual party. Be sure to come with friends!

And just in case, if you’re all about DIY and need to postpone your wedding, there’s also an invite for that.

You can start on Paperless by opening an account here.

HOW YOU CAN MAKE YOUR VIRTUAL WEDDING POP

You’re probably thinking – But, how do I decorate? – You could use backings and backdrops. How? Zoom has a feature located in your account’s ‘setup’ menu that lets you use an image or video for your background.

They have some cool backgrounds, but if you want some extra pizzazz, you could use any of the free and customizable backgrounds or backdrops offered on Canva.

Canva is an easy-to-use graphic design platform where you can create a variety of graphics including card, banners and so on. You could make your backdrop by signing up for free, browsing through available wedding templates, pick and customize it, download, use it on Zoom...and, voila, you’ve got that WOW effect.

Get your free Canva account here!

What about the reception?...

Don’t worry, all this is just for your ceremony. If you want, you can plan your gorgeous reception later when everything’s back to normal and we can move freely. Maybe even send us an invite too – wink wink.

And that’s it! You can now plan your virtual wedding ceremony and join other happy couples who are using the ‘#zoomwedding’ hashtag.

Got questions you can’t ask your wedding planner? Or want to know what other exciting (and quirky) ideas you can use for your wedding? Then join the family!