Skyping Wedding Guests

I attended a wedding that did this and it was a mess. Basically, my friend arrived for the ceremony (as a regular guest), and the MOB shoved a laptop in her hands and told her she needed to hold it during the entire ceremony so OOT family could watch. She did. It was 95 degrees. She stood for the entire ceremony, in heels, while the damn OOTers chatted and joked while watching the ceremony. She had to keep telling them to be quiet. Then THEY started making demands - "let us talk to the bride! put us on with the MOB!" And she just shut the laptop and walked away (after the ceremony). She is still annoyed about it.

So. If you do this, make sure you plan ahead well.

Omg! I would have turned that laptop on silent!

I understand, but I would suggest a videographer rather than this. Logistically, it's going to be a mess.

You could have a laptop or whatever set up in the front row on a chair. Have the volume off on the laptop and just have the call run. The only thing is if the internet drops out etc, it may not be very smooth.

I wouldn't worry about it too much. It's kind of their problem, not yours.

Dbl

I agree with the videographer idea. You can get someone to discretely and professionally videotape your day and then create an amazing wedding video keepsake to share with FSIL and anyone else that missed the wedding.

I can't wait to share our video with family in India and Israel that can't attend our own wedding. But I would not Skype the wedding. It will be a mess.

For my sisters wedding we skyped in Nanna who was in the hospital. She loved that she was there even though she was not physically there. My cousin went around with his phone afterwards, and all of the people who Nanna had not seen in a while said hi. It was really kind of special, and it did not interrupt the bride and groom at all

I will be doing something similar for my great grandmother who won't be able attend. Videographers are great and all but that isn't the same as watchin it happen live. I think if you can do it through a tablet or a phone that would work better than a laptop. Also I think it's important that you talk to the person who would be in charge of the device during the ceremony and make sure they are okay with it.

Several of my destination weddings have had Skype (or something similar). Just have someone seated in the front row hold the laptop.

If you must Skype, pre-plan someone to be in charge of it and try to make sure it's someone with a half decent smart phone rather than using a laptop. It'll be much easier, more discreet and less noisy (a lot of laptops are terrible with skype because all you'll hear is a whining fan.. which is also likely to be audible to those around)

Thank you for your input! We already have a videographer, so she'll be able to see some of the pre- and post-ceremony bits plus the reception when she returns from her trip, but we really wanted her to see us actually get married. I think what we are now thinking of doing is asking my personal attendant to connect the "call" and leave the laptop in the front row, and do a test run the night before at the rehearsal so it goes easier the day of.

@Tania and Jason, I'll have to look into You Now! I really like the idea of not having to worry about noise coming from the other end, or making sure that the laptop is muted. Thank you for the suggestion

Super helpful...Im going to need to do this too so that my mom can be there...Thanks Peeps!

A lot of my couples have done this; my best suggestion is to yes, keep the thing silent, and get it in place before the guests file in, so it's not a huge distraction.

She's 13, send her some photos and call it a day. It would be one thing if it was his mother or grandmother but I don't think you need to do that for his teenage sister. Most teenagers could care less about weddings. Obviously your future sister in-law and her parents didn't think it would be that big of a deal for her not to be there so I wouldn't go that much out of your way.