Your Instagram Wedding: Save Money with Instagram

I don't know about you guys, but I love Instagram.  You can take a picture of literally anything and turn it into a personal work of art in - hey!- an instant.

But did you know you could use Instagram to save a ton of money on wedding photos?

Obviously, formal wedding portraits and photos are important; the bride walking down the aisle, the groom's face, the big kiss.  Family and wedding party photos are also a must.

http://www.waxingunlyrical.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/url.jpeg

But do you really want to pay a photographer to stay all the way through your reception, too?  That could get really pricey, really fast.

Enter our friend Instagram.  This trend has been brewing for a year or so now, but almost every wedding I coordinated this summer had a sign similar to this one.

Here's how it works. Say Joe Johnson is marrying Hannah Jones on July 19, 2014.  They have the money for a photographer for the important parts of their ceremony, but not for the whole reception.  However, all of their friends and most of their family have smartphones, and most of them have Instagram (if not, they can download it from the App Store for free in about 2 minutes).

A week before the wedding, Joe and Hannah create the hashtag #Johnson719 on Instagram.  Their married last name + wedding date; it's almost guaranteed that the hashtag won't be taken.

When someone creates a hashtag on Instagram or Twitter, they create a link.  If you click on the hashtag, you are taken to a page of everything that has ever been tagged with the same hashtag, in this case, #Johnson719.

Here's a visual example of a Twitter search I just did of #unidigadv, our class blog page:

Notice the hashtags are all circled in red; regardless of whether or not I follow these people, I can see exactly what they tweeted about #unidigadv.

So now that Joe and Hannah have their hashtag, they create a couple of signs to go around their reception hall, asking their guests to please take photos and tag them with #Johnson719.  Maybe they also send out a tweet with the same hashtag a couple of days before, so their guests can program it into their phones (hashtagging can be hard after a few champagne toasts, after all).  

This not only allows the bride and groom to get free access to hundreds of pictures of their reception, but it allows everyone who attended to see everyone else's pictures of the night as well.

THAT'S NOT ALL, FOLKS!

Once your big day is over, you're going to want prints of your favorite pictures from the night.  The first dance, the cutting of the cake, and so on.  How can you get them?

Printstagram (I'm not joking, click it!) is a photo printing website specifically for Instagram photos.  Since Instagram takes square photos (4x4 instead of 4x6), developing them at Walgreen's isn't an option unless you want cut off shots of your friends and family.

With Printstagram, you can print your Instagram shots as regular photos, greeting cards (perfect for thank you notes), posters, photo books, and so much more.  The process is similar to Walgreens: upload your photos, get them exactly how you want them, and click OK!  They'll ship the photos directly to you.

You can see more of what Printstagram is all about in this short video:

Not only is this a great way to really personalize your photos, but it's much cheaper than hiring a photographer for the entire day and night.  Some weddings that I saw did keep the professional photographer around for the big moments listed above (first dance, cake cutting) just in case, but I never saw one stay through the whole reception if there was an Instagram option.

What do you think?  Would you use Instagram for your wedding photos?  Sound off in the comments!  And you can follow ME on Instagram @graciedracie .

Til next time,

Gracie K.



Instagram photo: http://dayloveevent.com/wp-content/plugins/php-image-cache/image.php?path=/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/instagram-and-your-wedding-L-VFpxue.jpeg