The Role Of Social Media In Wedding Planning

The Role Of Social Media In Wedding Planning - Eternity UK

The Role Of Social Media In Wedding Planning

16th June 2022

“Bridezilla”: A soon-to-wed woman, who (by no fault of her own!) can easily stress about the little details of her wedding, causing angst towards the wedding planning process.

Managing budgets, families, priorities, & so many more aspects can really make wedding planning a stressful and unfortunately unpleasant experience at times. Luckily, there are so many tools & tips out there to try and streamline the process as much as possible.

In this post, we spoke to Samneet, from the The Dancing Dentist, to share her thoughts on the psychology behind social media and the impacts it can have on wedding planning.

Known for her love for dentistry & dancing, Samneet has grown her platform for a number of years, and is well known & familiar with the good, the bad & the ugly sides of social media.

THE TABOO's

Weddings…one of the biggest milestones of a person’s life. It’s not surprising why people would want to extravagantly share it with their loved ones, from the venue, the outfits, and to the couple themselves. But, has the reality of getting married become a competition to have the best wedding instead of focussing on tradition and the sanctioned union between both parties?

The fast-growing era of social media is making it easier & easier for millennials these days to find inspiration for their big day. Traditionally, especially for South Asian ceremonies, red is worn by the bride to represent love, strength, bravery & commitment, and this is portrayed through wearing a sari, lengha-choli or ghagra symbolising prosperity & fertility in her new life to come. However, it is seemingly becoming a norm for traditions to change due to brides venturing to other colours to maybe follow a particular trend or desired theme inspired by the online community.

Even though red is still a statement colour in most south Asian weddings to some extent, times are definitely evolving where the realisation that other colours do in fact have significant connotations relevant to newlyweds. With an increasing number of destination weddings occurring, the idea of a heavy lengha is also becoming a thing of the past. Imagine walking down the beach in layers of material underneath your lengha, with heavy embroidery stitched onto it in the blazing heat of Cancun? I’d rather not (!) The light, flowy dress is the current vibe for destination weddings currently, not to say that people don’t wear heavy attire on the beach, it’s just less likely.

Wedding service providers are also taking social media to the next level by using large platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Youtube (to name a few) to market their brands on a wider basis. This not only helps them grow, but also aids the bride and groom to be to have all of these services presented to them at the click of a button. Isn’t social media just great? Who knew technology could become so advanced and it’s only improving by the days and it’s amazing how much you can find in just a few minutes.

On the flip side, as much as looking at all these lavish weddings on Instagram is addictive, people may find it hard to live up to these expectations. South Asian weddings are already so big, through a combination of catering for such large extended families & accounting for a number of events; so all the little things can really add up! If people struggle to budget for what they may have seen someone else do online, it can be a little disheartening if they are prone to falling into the comparison trap. It’s important to remember that there are always alternatives for anything & everything. Even if your wedding doesn’t exactly match what you’ve saved on your Pinterest board to a T, it will always be unique and special to you.

It’s important to take everything that you see on socials with a pinch of salt. A wedding doesn’t have to be theatrical to be beautiful (but if that’s what you truly love, then we’re here for it!). Like they say, “big things come in small packages”, and intimate weddings with just close families can be extremely special, strengthening the bond between both sides even further. Don’t just take it from me, we’ve seen a number of celebs do exactly that recently.

This definitely became apparent over the recent and ongoing pandemic, forcing ceremonies to be under 30 people. People who got stuck in this uncontrollable situation have definitely made the most of it, and even though they’ve faced such stresses, I’ve heard first hand from close friends who have recently tied the knot that it was the best thing that ever happened for them to have small wedding. A true blessing in disguise.

So to summarise, I truly think social media is a great source of inspiration despite people having many qualms with it, and it’s all about how you want to interpret things you see online. It’s at anyone’s disposal; so whether you just want to scroll through cute wedding pictures for outfit inspos or actively search for wedding planning tips & tools, I say take full advantage of it! Always remember, if it’s not for you, don’t sweat it, there’s plenty of other ways to go about your big day!

– Samneet, The Dancing Dentist