Chances are you announced your engagement with a Facebook status update, have created a Pinterest board to collect reception ideas, and have sent wedding guests a link to your online registry. We draw the line at emailed thank-you notes, but mobile app developers have come up with a solution to help you manage nearly every other aspect of your wedding.
All Together Now
A number of services make it easy to communicate every detail of your wedding day by providing all relevant information to your guests — from directions to the church to a link to your registry — via a customized wedding app you create and invite them to download.
With Our Wedding Usher ( ourweddingusher.com , $99), you can create a customized guide to escort your guests through the day. You can share an hour-by-hour schedule, directions to the ceremony, parking options, and for out-of-town guests, a list of the top things to do in your city during the wedding weekend. The app even offers an option to send out alerts in case of a sudden change in plans. Appy Couple ( appycouple.com , $28) offers a wide variety of stylish designs and hip color schemes that allow you to create an organizational app that matches the theme of your wedding. You can even order printed wedding invites to match your app's design. Appy Couple includes a social element where guests can post photos and chat among themselves before the wedding day. With Tie the Knot ( tietheknotapp.com , free) you can design your own wedding app and matching website to keep guests informed about all your wedding events, allowing you to link to your wedding registry and to share information such as your guest list and wedding song playlist.
Candid Camera
Disposable cameras are so 20th century. While you're busy posing for formal wedding shots, why not put your guests' smart phones to work by crowd sourcing your candids? Wedding Snap , ( weddingsnap.com , $129-$249) is the Cadillac of wedding photo sharing apps. The service collects all of your guests' photos and videos into one online album, even going so far as to add professional retouching to your iPhone snapshots. After signing up, the company provides you with 200 business cards to distribute to your guests that explain how to download and where to upload their photos. Each album is assigned a customized code, and you can post the code on your wedding website and share it through social media. After guests download the app, they simply enter the album code and start snapping away, using one of seven filters. You can arrange to have a live slideshow of your guests' submissions streamed during your reception and, not to worry, Wedding Snap will moderate the photos to make sure nothing embarrassing pops up on screen.
Wedding Party ( weddingpartyapp.com ) and The Flock ( theflockapp.com ) provide similar services, but they're free. Wedding Party offers more features, even organizing guests' photos into a minute-by-minute timeline based on when they were taken. A digital guestbook is available, and guests can comment on each other's photos. Once you establish your album, download place cards from Wedding Party with directions on how to use the app.
Techno Music
Stressed out about choosing just the right song for your first dance? Created by a professional wedding DJ, Wedding Songs Planner ( weddingsongsplanner.com , $1.99) helps streamline the process by offering curated lists of popular wedding songs. Choose a category such as bouquet toss, cake cutting or grand entrance, and then choose a musical genre and scroll through a list of songs. The app allows you to preview the songs and even links to the lyrics so you can avoid any mention of love gone wrong. Add the songs you like to a favorites list and email it to your DJ. Fun Wedding ( funweddingapp.com , $0.99) gives users access to 19 music charts that are updated monthly from millions of song requests made through the DJ Intelligence music request system at wedding receptions. It even includes a list of the most overplayed songs. If you want your guests to tear up the dance floor, this insider info may come in handy.
