Would You Skype Into a Wedding to Save Money?

The other day, I was tweeting with some friends about Ernest Cline’s interview in Slate (because “chatting about things we read online” is at least half the point of Twitter), and we were discussing how Cline’s predicted concept of immersive virtual reality would change the world.

Eventually we got to weddings, and how having immersive VR would mean you’d no longer have to travel to weddings. You could just put on the helmet and be at the wedding.

And then I remembered that at the last family wedding I went to, some family members attended via Skype.

It was a lovely, well-integrated setup; there was a chair set up in the front row with a “Reserved” sign and some ribbon, and at the appointed time someone turned on an iPad and the guests Skyped in. (The Skype guests were all in the same room, so we only needed one iPad.)

A cousin was quickly recruited to hold the iPad and take it around so the virtual guests could see everything and say hello to people. Once the ceremony started, the iPad stayed still and everyone quietly watched, like you would at any other wedding.

This Skype session was set up to help relatives who would otherwise have had difficulty traveling, but I could very easily see Skype — and, eventually, immersive VR — being a way for people to attend a wedding without having to pay for flights and lodging. The happy couple could also use Skype and/or VR (or some kind of in-between service like the Beam robot) as a way to invite more guests without having to provide seating and meals.

Yes, part of the point of a wedding is to see everybody and hug people and signal your status as an available single person. But why wouldn’t you Skype into a wedding if you had the chance? You don’t have to worry about hiring a babysitter, because if the kids get too noisy, you can just hit the mute button on your end. You also don’t have to wear pants, although I suspect there will be this cultural pressure to “dress up” for the Skype video, or at least “dress up the top half of your body.”

I was a little surprised that The Knot didn’t seem to have any articles about Skype attendees, but not at all surprised to see a wedding live-streaming guide on Offbeat Bride, with some typical advice (“save a seat for your virtual guests”) as well as advice I hadn’t considered:

If you’re doing a public stream, remember that your video could get flagged for copyright infringement if you play copyrighted music. Consider having someone mute the mic on the device during the music.

Offbeat Bride also suggests mailing wedding favors to your live-streaming guests, although part of me feels like that’s taking it a bit too far. The point is to keep things simple, right? For everyone to connect while saving money, preserving spoons, and conserving resources?

Would you Skype or FaceTime into a wedding to save money? Does a virtual attendee “count,” or would you feel slighted if someone elected to Skype into your wedding instead of attending in person?

And when we finally get our immersive VR helmets and holodecks, will all weddings take place online?

This story is part of our Wedding Season series.

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