Source: PeopleImages / Getty
I just saw my first Zoom Wedding commercial. This pandemic will not slow the wedding industry down! In fact, in Las Vegas—one of the wedding capitals of the world—while the city is slowly reopening, the wedding bureau, and all of the little chapels with their pink Cadillacs and Elvis impersonators, were some of the first things to open. Love cannot be stopped. When a couple decides that they want to unite their lives forever, it’s an undeniable urge.
Of course, weddings as we know them, may not take place again for a long time. Think of what goes into a regular wedding. Potentially a hundred individuals may have to travel from various parts of the world to get there. So instantly, that’s airports and airplanes, and people aren’t quite comfortable going into those with a virus at large. Then, they need to stay in hotels. They need to stay in rooms that conceivably thousands of people have slept in before. And hopefully they’ve been cleaned properly, but the risks associated with it if they weren’t are higher than ever. Then there is the wedding itself. Dozens of people sitting within inches of each other for the ceremony. Then again for the reception, clinking glasses and dancing. What about holding that shared microphone to give toasts? Weddings are breeding grounds for a virus, if there is a virus to go around.
So now, the Zoom wedding is at large. And, honestly, there are a lot of benefits to it.
via GIPHY
No agreeing on a destination
Couples can argue for weeks about where to have the wedding. If they’re from different parts of the country or the world, each can want to have it near their family. Or, one may want to have it in one destination spot, while the other has their eye on a different place. Choosing the destination is a huge deal that can just be skipped with a Zoom wedding.
via GIPHY
Or relatives mad about the destination
Even when the couple comes to an agreement on the destination, that doesn’t mean the arguing is done. Then they can have family and friends who are frustrated with them in their choice of destination, and voice those frustrations. But nobody can give pushback about the destination when it’s online, somewhere everyone can go easily.
via GIPHY
No guest list drama
Creating a guest list can create a lot of drama when it comes to wedding planning. Are you just inviting the inner circle? Well who does that include? Maybe that second layer of friends? But can they bring dates? If this person brings a date, then that person will feel entitled, and everyone hates her boyfriend. See how things get out of control? No such issue with a Zoom wedding guest list. You don’t have to spend time with any of them, so you’re less precious about the attendees.
via GIPHY
So everyone can feel included
You can have the credit of making everyone included. Sure, your cousin’s girlfriend’s friend can watch. And yes your aunt’s rather new boyfriend who you haven’t even met can watch. And that childhood friend you barely talk to anymore—she can watch. You can make all of these people feel that they matter to you, with very little effort. It’s just the creation of a link.
via GIPHY
No buying dinner for people you don’t like
You don’t have to spend money on people you don’t like. That’s one very unfortunate side effect of regular weddings: watching some guest, the sight of whom makes your blood boil, eat a $60 plate of filet mignon that you paid for. Yeah, there’s none of that with a Zoom wedding. The attendees can eat food they paid for themselves, from their homes.
via GIPHY
People can’t be late—sort of
You won’t deal with the stress of important individuals running late. There won’t be that drama when you realize that the officiant or the maid of honor isn’t yet ready. Nobody has to do much besides brush their hair and log online to be there, so everything should run pretty smoothly.
via GIPHY
No months of time-consuming planning
This is a big one. You get your life back for the six to 18 months couples often spend planning a formal wedding. You don’t have to spend every waking hour after work and on the weekends picking out floral arrangements and auditioning bands. You can have that time to yourselves.
via GIPHY
No tens of thousands spent
The savings are tremendous. I mean this wedding can be practically free, minus the cost of a marriage license and Wi-Fi. Think of all you could do with that money. Though there are ways to save money if you do things the traditional way, the best way to save that money is not spend it at all!
via GIPHY
No hanging with people you don’t like
When you have a normal wedding, you have to hang out with people you don’t like—for hours if not days. Remember that some people come in for days before and after the wedding. So you have to hang out with some weird uncle you’ve never really liked, just to be polite. But not so when it’s a Zoom wedding!
via GIPHY
You’ll probably still get gifts
The great thing is that you can probably still receive gifts, without having to make a $10,000 to $50,000 investment in a formal wedding, to see those profits. When you announce that you get married, your loved ones tend to send gifts, whether or not there was a wedding.
via GIPHY
No accommodating out-of-town guests
If visitors come from out of town for the wedding, and especially if they come from far away, they may stay several days. So then you feel obligated to find ways to entertain them and make sure they’re comfortable for the days surrounding your wedding, which are already stressful as it is.
via GIPHY
You can just dress from the waist up
You can brush your hair, put on a cute white top, and put on some simple makeup. It’s not like anybody will see you that close. They may not even see you from the waist down. So you can save the tens of thousands you may have spent on a wedding dress that you would never wear again.
via GIPHY
Weather can’t ruin it
The weather can’t ruin a Zoom wedding! Maybe you wanted to set up the laptop in the backyard. Alright well, now you’ll do it in the living room. But you don’t also have to figure out how to keep 50 decorated tables and a dance floor and a band dry, too. It’s just you, your boo, and the device on which you’re streaming.
via GIPHY
No last-minute snafu
There are always those stressful last-minute snafus at weddings. The flower girl wandered off. The baker brought the wrong cake. The band singer lost her voice. A groomsman got very drunk and threw up on the dancefloor before the wedding even started. There’s none of that with a Zoom wedding.
via GIPHY
It’s private, but shared
I’ve always felt that a marriage should actually be very private. Sharing those vows and melding your lives like that is quite intimate. I think it’s weird to do that, and then have to talk to hundreds of other people after—not your new spouse. With a Zoom wedding, you can go back to just being with your new spouse after you exit the screen.
