Weddings Connected
May 22, 2012 11:35 AM   Subscribe

Weddings Connected
My service enables people who can't attend a wedding in person to view a live video of the event. There is almost always some key guests on the invite list who can't be there and my goal is to help them feel more connected. I would be delighted to get unvarnished opinions about the service and the web site.
Role: programmer
posted by dgran (3 comments total)

I don't have any comments on the service itself, but I do question how much actual demand there is for a service like this. As someone getting married in less than a month, if someone can't make the wedding in person, well that sucks and all, but I'm not going to be arsed to try and setup a live web feed for them (nor am I going to hire someone else to do it for me).

The other thing I wonder about: how fast can you work? A lot of weddings don't require people to have their final RSVPs in until a few weeks prior to the wedding. Unless you can work fast, it'll be tough for people to actually use your service unless they know way ahead of time that Aunt Ethel can't make it because she is hospital-bound.
posted by asnider at 9:37 AM on June 4, 2012


I think this is a great idea. Some of my fiance's family can't come to our wedding due to health issues and extreme distance, but would really like to be there, and I've had to miss weddings in the past that I definitely would have watched online if that had been an option. We are trying to set up some sort of video feed of it so our family can watch. There was just an NY Times article about this....I think it's an idea that's getting more popular. Our wedding photographer said she had had a few couples do this in the last year.

However, I think your price is expensive....we definitely won't spend $750 if we do this. If we had to do the set-up and supply our own video camera, I don't think we'd spend more than $100 on the streaming--I mean, all you're adding is a site to view it on, right? What does your basic package offer (other than privacy) that you can't get on google plus or skype? If you are supplying staff time and equipment, than the price is more reasonable, but it's still more than we'd pay (but we're on a budget). Can you come up with a super low budget option, maybe that just covers the broadcasting if people can supply a camera?

There's also a lot missing from your site. Do you only work in one region or all over? Who brings and sets up the equipment? What kind of equipment do you use? What if something goes wrong? Do you give the couple a cd or something with the wedding recorded on it, or store it online, or is it just the live stream? How far in advance do you need to set up? Have you done it yet? Can you post some photos of the work in action? Do you partner with any wedding photographers? I know this is really new, but your site is pretty bare bones--you might want to add more info.

This is a good idea--I think you have potential but it needs some work.
posted by min at 2:17 PM on June 13, 2012


Thank you for the feedback. I realize it isn't clear that this is a full service offering where I go on location and it is offered primarily in Virginia. The pricing is a tricky issue. part of the value proposition is to get the remote attendees corralled and to do a video system test prior to the event and to offer technical support. There are manifold things that can go wrong but good planning and communication goes a long way.

I've looked at some competing solutions that involve connecting up to the web site service where the wedding party uses a webcam on site. This would be more affordable, but here's the kicker: I really enjoy being a part of the wedding and doing the "boots on the ground" support.

My ideal client is a wedding couple that doesn't like to leave much to chance. I aim to increase the odds of a good broadcast. Part of the challenge is that I rely on venues and other wedding professionals to help sell the service to engaged couples.

Again, I really appreciate the feedback. I've possibly aimed at being too brief on the copy text of the web site. Maybe I need to write some more blog postings describing in more detail how it all works.
posted by dgran at 1:01 PM on June 15, 2012


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