The Cultured Girl

Wedding season is upon us, which means that all around the country, people are shelling out ridiculous sums of money to attend or participate in action-packed, three-day blowouts. But every time I get a wedding invite in the mail, I’m puzzled by why my digitally savvy peers still insist on such analog (and expensive) wedding traditions. Brand Noise this week has a cool post on precisely that topic. Here’s how some people are giving weddings a high-tech, low-budget upgrade.

• DIY digital photos. With everyone and their grandmothers using digital cameras nowadays, you hardly need to hire a professional photographer (depending on how formal you want your photos to be). Instead, ask everyone to hand over their digital pics, and use a service like Pictureal, which will professionally edit the best images, let you customize the selections online, and then send you a DVD with the final edits.
• E-mail invitations. With so much of the wedding moving online—from gift registries to hotel information—why not send Evites instead of pricey printed cards? You can always draw up some formal invitations for family or older guests who might not have email.
• Ipod soundtracks. Time was, you had to hire a DJ to get access to an extensive music collection. But increasingly, couples are ditching the DJ in favor of an extensive digital music collection on an iPod or computer. Just make sure you have someone manning the playlist who knows when to get people fired up or cue up the occasional slow song.