Blogging Brides

Last summer our local newspaper ran an article about the growing trend of bridal blogs. At the time it was particularly interesting because my family & friends didn't know the extent of my own bridal blogging. The brides interviewed ranged from women who had created "wed-sites" to women who were letting online readers choose specific details of their weddings via online polls. Honestly, nothing there shocked me, as I am quite familiar with the online wedding planning sensation. Still, it did get me thinking about my own bridal blogging journal.

After getting engaged, I turned to such online sites like TheKnot.com and LiveJournal for ideas.
It amazed me that there were always new posts appearing on these communities and when I posted I almost instantly received tons of feedback from other brides just like me! It was only a matter of time before my iolvement in these communities deepened from occasionally commenting and absorbing ideas, to rushing home after dress shopping and posting tons of pictures. It was then that I revealed my new obsession to Mr. Chickadee. He was indulgent at first, laughing good-naturedly when I talked about my "friends" online. However, when I told him not to go snooping around my websites because there were dress pictures there, he changed his tune a little.

"You put pictures of yourself online?"

Um, yes, of course I do. (I also put pictures of him online). He knew this, of course, as I absolutely lived for the picture feature on Facebook. But still, he was worried. I tried to insist that these were "locked" communities, or message boards for brides only, but he was still skeptical, insisting all sorts of creepy people could be lurking about, looking at these pictures. I kept insisting that this wasn't the case, but maybe he had a point.

Sure, I use an alias here and blur out the names on my mock-up of the save the dates, but I was still telling people where we lived and when we were getting married, not to mention showing them all how smoking hot I was in a big white dress (hehe).

In addition to those predators out there who want to glean personal information from your wedding plans, there's the (perhaps more common) problem that arises when you rant about an AWOL bridesmaid or crazy family member in your blog and it gets back to her. I try to prevent this by never putting something on my blog that I wouldn't feel comfortable having my mom/grandma/mother-in-law/little sister read.

So what do you guys think about sharing the intimate details of your big day with the entirety of the internet?

I still maintain you can do it in a safe way, so long as you're careful about not giving away too much private information, but perhaps it is a big risk we're taking.

Still, it's a risk I'm, at least, willing to take for the sense of camaraderie and support I get from the other blogging brides-to-be out there.

(For more information about safe blogging, check out the articles at ConnectSafely)