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But whether a couple wants a fully "wired wedding" or simply takes advantage of technology in a limited way, Forden says the main motivations are efficiency, control and cost. Playing music with an iPod, for example, gives the bride and groom free rein to select their own music, without paying for musicians or a DJ.
"That's what we're doing for music during the cocktail hour," says Rachael Weiss-Malik of New Haven, who is getting married Monday in a ceremony in Italy. "My brother is in charge of putting together the playlist on the iPod."
Weiss-Malik and her fiance, Greg Sirianni, also have a wedding blog on the Internet, at www.rachaelandgreg.com. They're using it to distribute information to far-flung family and friends, and they even asked guests to RSVP via the blog.
"It's a way to let people know what's going on and to have a record of it for later," Weiss-Malik explains. "It's working out very well. We don't have to repeat the same information again and again."
The blog also gives the couple a chance to tell everyone their story.
We learn, for instance, that Sirianni is an industrial hygienist and an adjunct professor at the University of New Haven. We also learn that Weiss-Malik moved to New Haven in 2004 as a student and that she loves cooking and photography.
The blog includes photos of their dogs, Zane and Tori, as well as photos and short biographies of parents, grandparents, siblings and assorted members of the wedding party.
"Our extended families haven't met," Weiss-Malik says. "So we introduced everyone over e-mail. We wanted them to get to know each other a little bit before the wedding, because you can get so lost in the details during the wedding itself."
One other thing technology enabled the couple to do was tinker with the wedding date at the last minute. When a scheduling problem in Italy made it necessary to move up the wedding by two days, the bride and groom sent out mass e-mails and updated the blog with fresh details about airline flights, accommodations and other information.
"It makes things tremendously convenient," Weiss-Malik says. "We didn't want to fall into the trap of having a traditional, consumer-type wedding. This lets us spend more time celebrating our relationship."
Another New Haven couple, Dr. Gowriharan "Ty" Thaiyananthan and his wife, Nandhitha, had a wired wedding in India in February.
"We had a webcast of the actual wedding and the reception," says Thaiyananthan, a neurosurgery resident at Yale-New Haven Hospital. "It was a four-part ceremony."
A relatively small number of family and friends were able to attend the wedding, but at least 100 people in the U.S. watched over the Internet, including Dr. Kenneth Vives in New Haven.
"I set up my computer to snag the webcast," Vives says. "It started at about 9:30 in the evening, our time, and it was absolutely fascinating. You felt like you were there."
Thaiyananthan says his wedding photographer in India suggested the webcast. It involved setting up an extra microphone and a computer during the ceremony, but it was entirely unobtrusive.
The only unexpected thing about the wedding webcast, he confides, is the fact that so many of his colleagues at Yale-New Haven viewed it. "People I don't even really know were telling me, 'Hey, I saw your wedding,'" he says.
Of course, there are wedding webcasts originating in Connecticut, too.
Philip Ly, founder of I Do Stream in Tolland, began offering the service two months ago. One option is a $349 do-it-yourself package that streams a wedding to 100 simultaneous viewers and is available on-demand for 30 days.
That package requires a camcorder, a laptop and Wi-Fi or wired Internet access at the broadcast site. Ly also has pricier packages in which he partners with a wedding videographer to set up the webcast.
"There's definitely a lot of interest," Ly says. "You couldn't even do this kind of service two years ago, but now, a lot of churches and other venues have access. I just got a call today from someone wanting to broadcast a wedding to relatives in Macedonia."
After the big day is over, there are digital wedding albums to consider. Gone are the days when couples had to lug their wedding album around to show friends, or invite people over for a viewing. Now, the whole photo gallery can travel as fast and far as e-mail.
Yet Forden cautions couples to stay mindful of family members who don't have Internet access. Those folks will need hard copy and phone calls to stay in the loop.
Above all, Forden says, wedding couples and their invited guests shouldn't be afraid of all the new digital options.
"The most solemn and meaningful part of any wedding is the exchanging of vows," she says. "This doesn't change that one bit."
Jim Shelton can be reached at (203) 789-5664 or jshelton@nhregister.com.
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