The Ultimate Guide To Host A Virtual Wedding

The Ultimate Guide to Livestreaming Your Wedding

A man and woman walk hand-in-hand away from their ceremony on their wedding day.

Whether you’re planning an intimate elopement, a destination wedding, or you just want to make sure all of your invited guests have the opportunity to celebrate with you on your wedding day, there are plenty of reasons why you should have a virtual wedding option for your guests!

But, you may have some questions about what it is, why it’s a good option, how to do it, and what you’ll need. 

In our ultimate guide to livestreaming  your wedding, we’re discussing the basics of a virtual wedding, how to use the Lovecast App, the equipment you might need, and the benefits of their virtual wedding platform.

Basics of A Virtual Wedding

Although in-person weddings have been around for thousands of years, virtual weddings have only recently become popular.

So what does it mean to host a virtual wedding?

To put it simply, it means using technology, such as a cell phone, to broadcast your wedding so people who aren’t able to attend in person can watch in real-time from wherever they’re located.

You don’t have to wait for months to show your friends and family small, edited clips of your wedding day. Instead, they can watch from their own homes at the exact moment it’s happening. It’s honestly the next best thing to being there in person!

Benefits of Hosting A Virtual Wedding

Why should you livestream your best day ever and have your guests attend virtually in the first place?

Well, with schedule conflicts, illness, or distance, it’s likely that you’ll have at least a handful of guests who can’t make it to your wedding. But that doesn’t mean they can’t celebrate with you!

Offering a livestream service for your friends and family who can’t be there in person is a perfect alternative. They’ll feel like they’re still with you, even if they’re states, countries, or continents away!

If you decide you want to livestream your entire wedding day, including your reception, Lovecast will send out notifications to your guests before the exciting moments. Want to notify your guests before you walk down the aisle?  How about before your cake cutting, your toasts, or your first dance? Yep, Lovecast will send an email notification to your guests so they won’t miss a thing! Want them to get text notifications, too? Opt-in to our Lovecast Premium service!

Plus, Lovecast was built with weddings in mind. This is why they offer plenty of features so you and your guests can still celebrate together.

Lovecast offers a live chat for your guests so they can send messages throughout your ceremony and reception. You can read those messages at any time! Your guests can also sign a virtual wedding guestbook, complete with their name, picture, and a sweet message to you. And, you can link your wedding gift registry right to your Lovecast website, so your guests can choose to purchase a congratulatory gift easily.

Invite your remote guests to your wedding festivities via virtual wedding

How to Host A Virtual Wedding with Lovecast App

Livestreaming your wedding ceremony and reception might sound like a daunting task, but we promise it’s not! Using our Lovecast App to stream your wedding can be done in 5 simple steps:

Step 1: First download the Lovecast App and create your event.

You’re the only one who needs to download the app, too. All of your guests will just need the link to your Lovecast website.

Step 2: Run a test stream to make sure everything is operating smoothly.

Before your ceremony, it’s best to run a quick test stream to make sure your internet connection is fast and strong. You’ll also want to check your camera angle and lighting so that your guests have a great visual of your ceremony and reception.

The best part about this? The app creates two separate links for you -- one for your actual event (this is the one guests will see!) and one to test your livestream (this one is just for you).

Step 3: Designate someone to manage your livestream.

Ask a friend or a family member to help you manage your wedding ceremony livestream. This is the person who can help you set up your equipment (we’ll get to that in a minute!) and actually start the livestream when it’s time. Lovecast makes this super easy through their option to designate a co-host. Your co-host can be invited to your event through the app, and you can leave them plenty of notes so they make sure it’s set up exactly how you want it. Plus, they’ll have access to start the livestream from their own device!

Step 4: Decide what you want to livestream during your wedding day!

What are the important parts that you don’t want your guests to miss out on? Whether it’s your wedding vows and first kiss, your first dance, or your cake cutting and toasts, you get to decide which parts to livestream to your guests at home. They’ll have the opportunity to opt-in to notifications for each event throughout your celebration, so they won’t miss a single part of your day!

And if you want to livestream every single second of your wedding day, you can do that, too! Go for the Lovecast Premium option and get 24 hours of livestream coverage.

Step 5: Share your Lovecast website!

Your guests don’t have to worry about making an account or logging in with an email and password. It’s as simple as clicking the link to your Lovecast website and watching your wedding in real-time!  And the best news? You can have as many guests as you want!

Wedding Livestream Technology

Now that we’ve discussed how to livestream your wedding, you might be thinking about what you’ll need for it.

All you’ll really need is a smartphone that has a camera that can film a video! But, if you’re looking to give the absolute best possible experience to your guests watching from home, here are just a few of our recommendations!

Tripod

Smartphones aren’t the heaviest things in the world, but holding one up for an entire 30-minute wedding ceremony definitely gets exhausting after a while. So, to prevent a shaky video thanks to tired arms, grab a tripod for your wedding livestream.

External Microphone

Yes, your guests want to see your wedding ceremony, but they also want to hear it! And if your livestream set up is at the back of the aisle, they might have a hard time doing that without some extra help. Go for an external microphone that plugs right into your phone. It should pick up the audio of your ceremony, no problem!

External Battery

Not many things are more disappointing than your guests watching a livestream of your wedding ceremony, only for your phone to die halfway through. So make sure your phone is charged up! To totally keep that from happening, purchase an external battery ahead of time, and keep your phone plugged up throughout your livestream!

Want to read more about what we recommend to make sure your livestream is perfect? Click here to see our ultimate virtual wedding equipment guide!

Tips for Making Sure Your Virtual Wedding Runs Smoothly

tips for your virtual wedding

Choose the parts you want to include in the virtual wedding ahead of time.

Discuss with your partner what parts of your wedding day you definitely want to livestream. Is it just the ceremony? Do you want parts of the reception? Or do you want full-day coverage for your guests watching at home?

Choose those parts early on so you can decide whether or not you need to upgrade for premium services. Whether you’re planning on using Lovecast App, Zoom, or other services there are usually limits on your time.

With Zoom, you’re limited to 40 minutes of live video, unless you pay for their monthly Zoom Pro option. Lovecast App offers 90 minutes of free livestreaming for your wedding day. If you want to stream your entire wedding day, Lovecast Premium offers 24-hour coverage. 

Chat with your vendors about livestreaming.

As you’ve probably already noticed, there are lots of moving parts on your wedding day.

The best way to make sure your day goes smoothly? Communication! Make sure you chat with your venue, your planner, your photographer, and your videographer about livestreaming your wedding. They’ll certainly appreciate it, and they can probably help you when it comes to setting up to stream your ceremony and reception!

Designate your co-host early.

Go ahead and designate your livestreaming co-host early on. It’ll be great to include them in the process of setting up your stream and running tests for camera angles, lighting, and internet connection. They’ll know exactly what to do when it comes down to hitting the record button!

Set up and run a test beforehand.

Speaking of running tests -- be sure to do that! Test the audio, angle, lighting, and connection speed to make sure your livestream is perfect for your guests.

Make sure your guests know ahead of time.

Don’t forget to send out the link to your Lovecast website to your guests ahead of time. The last thing you want to do is scramble to send that link to everyone who opted into viewing your wedding from home!

Chances are you’ll have at least a handful of your guests who won’t be able to make it to see your wedding day in person. But don’t let that stop you from celebrating with them!

Use our ultimate guide to host your virtual with Lovecast App to make sure all of your guests, whether they’re with you in person on your big day or at home, can celebrate with you no matter where they are!

All sounds exciting? Start planning your virtual wedding now!