Bridging Distance: Virtual Bridal Showers

By Sarah Gubara

This time last week, I was in California for a gorgeous wedding. The bride and groom had a beautiful, traditional wedding, which incorporated the bride’s Jewish tradition. It was everything you would expect from a great wedding.

Yet, there was one very unexpected guest during their wedding process. The internet.

The bride-to-be has a wonderful group of family and friends. The only problem is--they live in different parts of the country.

Refusing to forgo the tradition of the bridal shower, the bride’s Sister-In-Law surprised her with a VIRTUAL Bridal Shower. In a couple of simple steps, she was able to keep the tradition alive:

• She used webinar.com to create the event page.
• She had the bride’s loved one’s send her the gifts, which she mailed to her brother to hide until then.
• She created a slide show which had a picture of everyone’s gifts, recipes, and a message to the bride.
• Finally, she sent an E-vite to everyone with the time and login information.

Everyone tuned in with their digital cams and was able to watch live as the bride opened each present, and cried with joy. They also included pictures of the recipes they sent the bride for her future home, as they all chatted about which one tasted better. Needless to say, the event was a huge success and the bride was so moved by how everyone made the time to “attend” her virtual show.

As a Manager of Social & Digital Media, I spend a good portion of my day on the internet and I’ve seen a lot of creative social media tactics. Yet, I was still shocked to hear about this new way of keeping traditions alive. It’s incredible how social media can help people transcend physical barriers and allows so many opportunities for families to stay connected. Nowadays, “the family that Skypes together, stays together.”

Sarah Gubara is Manager of Social & Digital Media at Maroon PR.  Contact her at Sarah@MaroonPR.com.