You all know I’m a techie. And a gadget geek. And a social media enthusiast. So here I go on one of my rants about how cool a particular product is. Do you all know what an Eye-Fi card is? Its a handy-dandy SD memory card for your camera that uses Wi-Fi to talk to your network and upload the images you just took at your kid’s ball game…..while the camera is still in your purse. Yeah! It’s that cool! You don’t ever have to touch it once it’s set up. And even cooler than that is the Eye-Fi Explore Video card that uploads both photos AND videos automatically with geotagging. Holy schnikees! If this sounds too cool for you, you’re wrong. Go look at your camera. If you have a memory card that looks like about an inch and a half long and an inch wide, you can replace it with the Eye-Fi card.

Can you see where I’m going with this? Since this is the wedding of the future (hahaha!), we wanted to use any gadgetry we could along with the proper social media avenues to share our event. So after I heard about my friend Derek possibly buying one, I had to check it out. I found the Eye-Fi account on Twitter and followed him (Ziv is a real nice feller). I asked if they’d be interested in donating a few cards so that we could document the wedding and do a bit of social media research.

Here are my hypotheses:

• People are interested in community and they want to identify with others; in this technophilic world, we are yearning for those “front porch” days where we knew our neighbors, but no one wants to give up their iPods.
• My grandmother can benefit from social media. Your grandmother can too.
• People are inherently good, and they want to do what they can to help you. They want to be involved. You just have to ask.

The conclusion to my little rant is that the good folks at Eye-Fi have given us a cool Explore Video card to effortlessly upload our memories on the big day, and I’m very thankful for that. We have a photographer, but we want the action shots, you know? Those are best snapped by guests at the party. So what you, the rest of the world, will get is a bird’s eye view to our wedding celebration. Come back on the wedding day and watch it unfold!

First off, I’m in full-on bridezilla mode. I never thought I would be this girl. I’ve been having nightmares about the wedding…mostly some silly stuff like I’m bald on the day of the wedding, or the food is from Furr’s Cafeteria, or no one shows up. SIGH. Anyway, I’m running around like a chicken with it’s head cut off trying to get organized and getting upset that more “wedding items” keep being added to the list. I’m finding myself shaking these things off and trying to remember that this is my special day and I can make it what I want. Because I’m BRIDEZILLA. Sho’ nuff.

Anyway, just wanted to get that off my chest.

Here’s the deal. Each of my bridesmaids has designed a dress or two or three on StyleShake.com. I picked my favorite of each of theirs, and now YOU get to vote on which one you like the best. The contest will conclude at 12 noon (Central time) on Sunday, May 3, 2009, at which time the dress design that has the most votes recorded will be what ALL of my bridesmaids will wear. Please be honest in your voting. I’ll post the winner on Monday May 4th!

I’m so excited! I had an interview about using social media for planning a wedding with a major bridal magazine on Friday. I can’t mention the name of this magazine yet because the article isn’t published, but it will be out next month. Yippee! I hope I’ve provided some information that brides can use when planning their weddings, whether they are social-networking-inclined or not.

When it comes down to it, I am really an advocate of just asking for what you want. It just happens that I use social media in almost everything I do, so it was natural that I went this route with the blog, Facebook, and Twitter. I hope everyone can be so lucky as to have help from family and friends when planning their special event. If there is ever anything I can help answer about how I did it, please, don’t hesitate to ask. Cheers!

Just went to Dollhouse on 18th and Central to set things up with the wonderful Sarah Thompson Lift for the wedding. This will be our meeting place for the girls on the day of the wedding. We’ll get “dolled up” here and let them take care of us! To get in touch with Sarah or Ashley, call the studio at 816-399-4222 to schedule an appointment. They can arrange massages, manicures, food, bubblies, hair, and makeup before any event.

It is a vintage-looking dress-up studio, set up to look like what you dreamt of as a little one. Sarah and Ashley are photo stylists who have worked on huge, funky, crazy brands, and now work with brides. They’re portfolios are gi-normous, just ask ‘em to see it! They are open on First Fridays in the Crossroads for gallery showings so stop by for a look.

Blue Raven Tie

Found these sweet blue raven microfiber screenprinted ties by toybreaker on Etsy.

They offer a bulk wedding pary discount and have a ton more designs to choose from. They have a ton of different colors to choose from so that your wedding party will match your colors beautifully.

Now if I can just get Dan to wear a tie…

I have always been a proponent of asking for what you want. It is an art, really. You must be particular about how you pose the question. You have to be sure of what you want and be prepared to receive what it is you’re asking for. Beware: you might actually get what you ask for.

So the latest in the wedding network experiment is not necessarily Internet-related. I have been trying to think of favors to give to guests that are unique and convey my gratitude to those making the trip. Although I have a pretty steady idea of everything else I want for the wedding, I was at a loss for what to give.

I received a call from good friend Angie D. who has also lent me her hardbound volumes of wedding ideas, including a huge section on etiquette (which I have not read, but that’s a different story…). Angie had been talking about the wedding with a friend of hers in Chicago who is interested in starting a bakery some time in the future. Sarah, Angie’s friend, suggested they make designer cookies for our guests as their gift to Dan and I. I was so surprised and excited by this idea, that I immediately accepted! We all know I love cookies.

Sarah and Angie, I am so very, very thankful for the awesome display of friendship and assistance. You have a huge hand in how this party is unfolding. I will post pictures of the cookies as well as other information (sans recipes) once I have more info myself!

COOKIES!!! Yum! In the mean time, take a look at some of the cookie designs I’ve found when searching for Valentine’s Day cookie recipes:

http://fancyflours.wordpress.com/category/valentines-day/

I sent the following email the makers of the Flip video camera with the intent to kill two birds with one stone. I wanted to help out a friend who is working with the American Cancer Society (we all know how much I love to help my buddies at the ACS), and to obtain video of the wedding without a costly videographer.

The Flip Mino

Flip Guys: Hello! My fiance and I are throwing a Social Media Wedding on July 3rd of this year. We are working on a partnership with the American Cancer Society for this event. I am a member of the Social Media Club of Kansas City where we are conducting a research project on social networking. So far I have planned the entire wedding using email, IM, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Please keep reading; I hope I haven’t lost you already. The short story can be found on my blog: http://wedlog.wordpress.com. The part of the wedding I am working on now is the videographer. We refuse to pay wedding prices and think our friends could do a better job anyway. My idea is to have a flip available at each of our 10 tables for guests to use throughout the wedding. We will have an upload station with card readers and usb plugs for people to upload video and stills throughout the wedding. People will deposit the cameras on their way out and the Flips will then be donated to the American Cancer Society to help cancer patients document their feelings and share with their families during their therapy. So my proposition is this: will you donate 10 Flips to the Social Media Wedding/American Cancer Society in return for your product to be named to the media and on my blog? The media will be attending the event to report on new technology and social networking in everyday life. Steve Penn is writing an article in the Kansas City Star and a professor at Emory is researching our journey and writing about it in his urban design blog. Thank you for your consideration!

I hoped to get a response from them but didn’t expect anything. I mean, I basically asked for a bunch of free stuff.

I got three separate emails back from different departments. It seems like my email had bounced around the company for awhile. The first reply was what I expected: “We are unable to provide free products.” The kind gentleman did guide me toward the Flip Video Spotlight program which is a “challenge grant program that provides reduced cost camcorders to qualifying organizations”. Very interesting.

Next I received a response from the Flip Video Sales and Marketing team:

Thank you for your interest in Flip Video! We really appreciate your
ideas and thinking of us to participate in your wedding, but at this
time we do not have the appropriate resources to take on your marketing
opportunity. Though Pure Digital Inc. is growing fast, our marketing
team is still quite small and we are only able to focus on a few key
projects at this time.

I have to admit they are very polite. I really didn’t expect any replies at all to this nonsense.

The third response was also very polite and included a generous offer:

Congratulations in advance on your upcoming social media wedding! It sounds like a very fun wedding and we can send you one Flip Mino and offer you a 20% discount on the other 9. Does that work for you? We get dozens of requests for cams each  day and do not have the inventory to send 10 cams for free.

So now my goal is to figure out a way to make this work. Being a cancer survivor, I know that having an outlet to share your feelings and thoughts is so very therapeutic, even for friends and family. Why not include video blogging as a therapy resource?

So how do we make this happen?

SWEET!!! We have secured a location for the wedding! In talking with Jon S. we have secured the park being built above Cosentino’s Market downtown FOR SURE on July 3rd for our wedding! I am so excited I could scream! They will provide power and wi-fi will be available too, making my plan come together nicely.

our wedding venue

Here are my ideas: I want to have an upload station for people to upload their pics/video on the spot. How can I make this happen? Do I ask my guests to bring their cords with them? Hmmm, I need help on this one.

Also, I want a photobooth-type situation, with a really cool vintage couch and props for people to experiment with in taking their pictures. Is that silly? We’ll be on a rooftop with the Power and Light district in the background and of course fireworks at 9pm so photos should just make themselves.

I really am too excited about this!

We have been together for 6 years, and have two awesome children. We never thought we were the marrying types, until I was pregnant with my second child and soon thereafter was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer. You can read about that story on my other blog. But don’t worry, I’ve been in remission for a year and a half, and now we’re planning a wedding!

You can imagine that we don’t want to spend a crap-load of money since we have other obligations, not to mention our ideas about the over-priced wedding industry. It started when we cooked up our idea of a perfect wedding together and attempted to follow-through with the planning.  Dan and I want to get married on July 3rd, 2009 which is a Friday night. The river market area in Kansas City puts on a fireworks display that night so we thought it would be beautiful to get married in the dowtown area so our guests could view said fireworks.

So we looked into a venue (which I won’t name here) that was advertised to be $1000 for a 4 hour time period. We were delighted and began envisioning our wedding in this outdoor rooftop venue! Our next step was to talk to the event manager and sign contracts. When he caught wind it was for a wedding the price suddenly rose to $5000 which we of course were not willing to pay. My heart was broken. So I decided to ask my friends and family for help.

I posted a Craig’s List quandry asking people with apartments, condos, or business buildings downtown if we could rent their rooftop for a wedding. I emailed friends and family. I IMed my friends. I posted the link on Facebook. I started getting responses! After a few leads that didn’t pan out, I got a link to an article in the Kansas City Star from a friend on Twitter about a community park being built on the roof of the parking garage next to the new Cosentino’s Market downtown.

Read the article here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/story/977977.html

I called the journalist who wrote the article and the Marketing Director for Cordish who manages the park. And then I realized what I was doing. I was using my mad social networking skills to plan my wedding my way with help from some very nice people on the Interwebs. So this blog is all about how Dan and I are bucking the system to make this occassion our very own, using help from our friends, family, and online community. You will find me most often “tweeting” about it on Twitter.com by looking here: http://twitter.com/twig1gy, or on Facebook.com. I also use IM, or chat, email, and now this blog.

Thanks for visiting!

Hillary and Dan