(ARA) – Technology transforms every aspect of modern life these days, even the biggest day of most people’s lives – their wedding day. From wedding planning Web sites to digital photo slideshows presented at receptions and rehearsal dinners, technology is helping couples plan their weddings in ways that are much easier and save more time than ever before. Technology also helps engage the couple’s loved ones in, and preserve their memories of, their special day.

Here are four of the hottest technology trends that are revolutionizing the way Americans plan their weddings.

Planning and Research Goes Online

Brides once turned to monthly or seasonal wedding magazines for advice and ideas. Now, modern brides go online for their wedding planning purposes. Popular sites have made it easy for brides to track the latest trends, look at thousands of gown options, and organize themselves for their big day. Where once a bride might tote around clips torn from magazines, fabric swatches, and contracts in a wedding planning binder, now most of those things are found and stored digitally through a wedding planning Web site.

Projectors for Rehearsal Dinners and Receptions

Every couple wants to make their wedding as personal as possible, and leave guests with the feeling that, “Oh, that was so Todd and Rebecca!” Where once brides and grooms may have decorated a reception or rehearsal dinner with photos of themselves arranged around the room, now a multimedia presentation is all the rage. Video and still images, typically set to music, features the couple throughout their lives, apart and together, and are replacing traditional photo albums and can create an exciting personal touch to any wedding celebration.

Web sites like www.projector123.com rent state-of-the-art high definition projectors for as little as $99 for a weekend. Couples order a projector online, have it shipped to them or their reception site for next day arrival, and then connect the projector to a device like a laptop to project their photo montage presentation for the enjoyment of their guests.

“Jason and I really wanted to have a photo slideshow at our rehearsal dinner, but the restaurant wanted us to pay $500 on top of our reservation fee for all the equipment! So we went online to Projector123, and were able to order our own equipment and have it shipped directly to the restaurant,” says Christine Goldenberg of Los Angeles, California, a bride-to-be. “Finding areas to cut costs for a wedding can be challenging, and by ordering the projector online we were able to save a significant amount of money.”

Personal Wedding Web sites

Personal wedding Web sites are popping up everywhere; for a small fee, couples design their very own Web site in advance of their wedding day where they post pictures of themselves, detail the specifics of their wedding day, feature bios of the bridal party, reveal their honeymoon destination and provide gift registry information all in one convenient location online.

“Most people have access to the Internet, so you now have the ability to use technology to make your wedding day as special and memorable as possible,” says Jay Joyer of Irvine, California, a recent newlywed. “We had a small wedding, but wanted all our friends and family to feel part of our big day so we set up a wedding Web site where our guests could sign our online guestbook, read the story of our proposal, or make hotel reservations through the Accommodations section of our site. Everyone said it made making plans or staying up to date on our wedding so easy.”

As most guests now have access to the Internet, a personal wedding Web site is the ultimate convenience for guests to stay in touch with the couple and their latest wedding planning developments.

Online Ordering of Wedding Photos

No more waiting months for wedding albums. Many wedding photographers and videographers now take digital pictures or film and post their proofs online. This streamlines the developing and choosing processes and entire albums can be viewed by couples and their guests no matter where their location.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

Trackback URI | Comments RSS