It’s no big secret, that the wedding landscape has completely changed post-pandemic. Weddings are back in business, and business is booming.

But, couples planning their weddings aren’t just going with the run-of-the-mill expectations. It’s no longer just pick a color palette, plan a dinner, say I do, dance a bit, and say goodnight before you’re off to live happily ever after. Yes, those things are still included in the overall process of planning a wedding day. But it’s not the sole focus of a wedding.

The objective of wedding planning has shifted to creating a wedding day experience. Meaning that the couple getting married is looking at how their guests perceive, interact, and engage with their wedding. And a whole lot of detail, preparation, and thought goes into making that magic happen for guests!

It’s no secret that your wedding won’t be truly amazing if you’re spending the night hopping from table to table!

Usually without your brand new spouse. While you say hello to everyone. Introduce them to each other, and run through random conversations about everything from “remember when” to “Congrats you look amaze”!  Let’s face it, that’s not the way to spend the night of your wedding celebration. Don’t you want to be able to dive in and get right to the good stuff? The stuff that you’ve spent so much time and money planning?

Want your guests to be able to chat each other up at the bar without the awkward in-person introductions? Or glance over during your reception to see the most “random” group of your friends & family heading over to the photo booth? Of course, you do! Because then your guests can get right to ordering your no doubt amazing signature drink. Or leaving you with a legendary photo strip to look back on for a lifetime! All while you soak up the moment with your new life painter. Here’s the deal, there is a way to make this happen, and we’re going to hook you up, big time!

Want your guests to have the best experience ever at your wedding?

Picture it, during your wedding, you see the people you love the most in your life doing shots together, getting down on the dance floor, and having the time of their life with everyone else in attendance! How amazing does the sight of that look in your mind’s eye? It might seem totally impossible, but it’s not. Your guests absolutely can have the best time ever at your wedding. If they arrive completely relaxed and “in the know”.

How weird is it to receive a wedding invitation and then not a peep about anything until the wedding day arrives and you are standing around awkwardly looking for your escort card and table number? All the while crossing your fingers in the hopes that you know at least someone else at your table? If you’ve been in that exact same situation, you probably just shuttered reading that sentence. As happy as you are for the couple getting married, it’s a major ick factor that we’d like to skip over, please, and thanks!

You want your guests to feel like they are getting the VIP treatment from the second they are invited to your wedding. And part of that is being in the know or having a finger on the pulse of your event. Knowing what is going to happen before it happens, excluding surprise experiences of course, but more on that later! Here’s how you can use Guestie to introduce your guests to each other and create the best wedding day experience ever!

Guestie is a web-based app, so your guests only need to open their browser to access your wedding!

This can be done for your guests, (quite easily) through your Guestie account. You can invite each and every one of your wedding guests to your Guestie account with the click of a button. And they’ll get an alert via email or text. PS: love a good spreadsheet? It’s ok if you do, we love your Type A heart! You can upload your entire guest list via a spreadsheet on your Guestie account. Yep, really! And no, your guests will not need to download another app. Because really, who needs extra noise in their life?!

We are all about seamless guest list management for our couples (their wedding planners too!) and their guests. Because we want to set the stage for you and your guests to have a good time! And that doesn’t start by downloading confusing apps and creating more logins that nobody can remember.

 Keep your guests in the know!

When your guests log into your event on Guestie, they will be greeted by the title of your event, a picture of you and your smiling fiance (here’s where you put those engagement photos to good use!), and the personalized welcome message you’ve written just for them! Your guest will feel like they’ve just received velvet rope access with front row seating, to your wedding day. If you want to catch a glimpse of what your guests will see when they first access your event on Guestie, you can view the demo here! 

Build excitement 

Once your guests are inside your event on Guestie, they can take a nonchalant scroll through your other guests’ profiles! From there they can browse through the guests you’ve invited and learn to put a face to the name. Here’s where the fun comes in! Your guest’s profiles are completely customizable! You get to upload your favorite photo of each guest for their profile. From there you’ll be able to write a fun snapshot of how you know each guest and include any other fun facts or your favorite memory about them. This will allow other guests to learn about each other in a fun straightforward way that doesn’t include awkwardly standing around going, “Hey isn’t that so and so that the bride/groom mentioned?”

Next, your guests will be able to access your private, personalized message board! The message board is where the conversations get started before (and after!) your wedding day! You can pop in notes about your day like “Hey all! In case of rain, we’ll be moving the ceremony under the tent!” Conversely, your guests can kick off conversations with each other via the message board. Like “ Hey friends, I’m heading to the wedding from the westside, anybody want to split an Uber?”

Your guests will get to know each other from the comfort of their own homes, before the day of the wedding. Or, wherever they access Guestie from, we’re not here to judge! The point is, that your guests will have a full view of who will be in attendance and get to know more about each other ahead of time. Can we let you in on a big secret? The benefit of this is that your guests will arrive at your wedding relaxed & ready to take in all that your day has to offer!

Level up the fun

Planning for some serious fun at your wedding? We love the idea of surprising and delighting your guests with interactive experiences. So anything that involves your guests’ participation, is a total win in our book! Like an epic wedding exit, or a La Hora Loca. If you want to level up the fun for your guests without letting the cat out of the bag just yet, we recommend taking advantage of the text alerts in your Guestie account.

If you want to turn the excitement to max volume, here’s how! Post a note on the message board of your account, “vaguing it”. Post a message on your message board letting your guests know that they should be signed up for text alerts because you have something big coming their way on your wedding day. But, in order to make it incredible, you’ll need their help! Your guests will all be chatting with one another trying to figure out what the epic surprise is. 

Using text alerts in your Guestie account is just one of many ways to level up the fun of your wedding day, all for your guest’s experience!

From there, you’ll be able to set up and manage the outgoing text alerts for your great big vague surprise. By the way, if you hired an amazingly talented and organized wedding planner for your big day, you can add them as a host to your Guestie account. That way they’ll be able to keep any “day of” text alerts on schedule. Allowing you to enjoy your best day ever!

Next, you’ll want to set up a text alert anywhere from an hour to a half hour before your big surprise. The text should let your guests know that the big surprise is headed their way and it’s almost their time to shine! Then, one last text alert goes out to your guests 10-15 minutes before the final reveal. This text should include specific instructions on the next steps, just before the big reveal! Like “Hey everyone! Grab a sparkler and meet the newlyweds outside in 10 minutes!”. Or, “Get ready for a beat drop on the dance floor because we have a special entertainment planned, just for you!” Your guests will be primed and ready to have an amazing time at your wedding, which is kind of the point, right?

Look, we could go on and on with all of the amazing ways to up-level your wedding guests’ experience using Guestie. But there’s only one way for you to truly experience it!

Photography by Claudia Rios Photography