Young adults who are flocking to their friends' weddings this year are less likely to find formal rehearsal dinners, traditional buffet fare and staged photographs. Instead, they may meet the couple's families at an informal mixer, dine on late-night bites at an after-party and encounter a social media concierge who will ensure the day is documented on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
As millennials put their own stamp on the occasion, hotels are catering to their tastes — making sure casual, personal and social media-friendly events are available. Some hotels are offering options like helicopter entrances and weddings that take place on surfboards to make the celebrations more memorable and photo-worthy.
Like many modern couples, Sarah Groh and Brian Stockless used a personalized hashtag that allowed guests to label and share photos on Instagram of their wedding at the Dockside Guest Quarters in Maine last August. Simple framed cards that read #GrohOldWithMeStockless were added to table centerpieces and placed around the venue. No instructions were included on the cards, "because no one needed them," Ms. Groh said.
For couples who do not want to rely on friends and family to post photos online, some hotels offer specialized assistance. At Velas resorts in Puerto Vallarta, Riviera Maya and Riviera Nayarit, a personal social media concierge will post images to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram throughout the wedding ceremony, and compile a Pinterest board for the couple after the event.
For family and friends unable to make it to Mexico for the wedding, the concierge will stream the ceremony live through a personalized page. The four W hotels in New York City also added a social media concierge service last year.
Skipping the typical on-site photo booth, Amanda and Nick Hailey shared pictures from a seven-foot "foto-robot" that was at their reception at the Pan Pacific Hotel in Seattle. The team at F7 Photography in Redmond, Wash., built the photo-taking robot, which explained its picture-taking process to participants in a British accent. "Hotels are looking for something different they can offer," said Jennifer Guzman, who helped build the robot.
The process of recording a wedding is also evolving alongside new technology. At Frenchman's Reef & Morning Star Marriott Beach Resort on St. Thomas, couples can rent a drone to capture the wedding from above.
Making every aspect of the event beautiful and shareable for the couple is critical, says Sloane Aureli, a social catering manager for the W hotel in Washington. She says the hotel approaches weddings "from an 'Instagrammable' point of view, from how the food is plated to how the specialty cocktail is displayed." Hotels know those images could be shared with thousands of people on social media — people who might be future customers. "Where brides would come in with stacks of bridal magazines, now they're coming in with iPads bookmarked to Pinterest pages," Ms. Aureli said.
Hotels are also catering to millennials' desires for wedding fare that is more casual, more personal and less traditional. The W hotel in Vieques, an island off the coast of Puerto Rico, says it has had a 75 percent decline in requests for formal rehearsal dinners and an increase in requests for barbecues instead. Beachside bonfires with a specialty cocktail, entertainment and passed appetizers have replaced some traditional rehearsal dinners at the Cove Eleuthera.
Food stations and family-style dining are replacing traditional buffets at the WaterColor Inn & Resort in South Walton, Fla. Its low-country boil rehearsal dinner has been supplanting formal meals. The change is even affecting the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan, where families can have a chef create a family-style rehearsal dinner in front of them and their guests. The couple can help out — making for another photo opportunity.
After some guests have left the wedding reception to go to bed, many couples are continuing the revelry with after-parties, serving sliders and other small bites. The Westin La Paloma Resort & Spa in Tucson offers "After Glow Parties," where the couple can invite guests to linger until the morning.
In addition, there is the drive to do something unique, Ms. Martinson said. "So many of their friends are getting married, there is always a push to do something that someone else hasn't done yet," she said, and for those couples, there are many choices.
The Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire, Scotland, offers the wedding party a falconry lesson, and a Harris Hawk that will swoop into the ceremony as the ring bearer. Aqua Hotels and Resorts in Hawaii will be offering a "Surfboard Nuptial" starting this fall, so the twosome can paddle out with an officiant and the wedding party to get married in the ocean. Couples can make an impressive entrance or departure on a private helicopter at the Westin Cape Coral Resort at Marina Village in Florida.
Couples can also come up with their own twist. The Phoenix Hotel in San Francisco hosted a Burning Man-themed wedding, complete with fire-eaters.
Couples are going for "very unique, 'out of the box' ceremonies, and the structure of the weddings are not as traditional," Brandyn Hull, a director of public relations for Kimpton hotels, said, adding, "All rules are out the window."
Source: Weddings Take Offbeat Turns, With Help From Hotels and Planners
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