New Secrets of Technology

Wedding season is here, and each year the different trends that we see to make that special day memorable for the bride and groom is beyond expectations. This year www.theknot.com has decided to take that technology of weddings and help one lucky couple create their dream wedding. It's a crowd-sourced wedding to help the couple afford the dress, bridesmaids' dresses, and rings, but also to showcase all of the options that technology really has available.

I chatted with the Editor of The Knot, Kristen Maxwell, about the how they selected the lucky couple, Samantha and Taylor, and also the different pieces of technology that will have them remember this special day.

Hey there Kristin. Since this time of year is a big wedding season, talk to us a little bit about some of the trends that you're seeing a lot of brides choosing for their big day.

Well technology is growing and it's really showcasing in those wedding ceremonies. Some things that we are seeing and really excited about includes drone video photography. You can get an example of them during the Dream Wedding event on theknot.com. The drones will be flying around the cocktail hour and the reception to capture this aerial photo and video footage creating those beautiful and unique shots that no one else will have.

Another trend that I'm really enjoying seeing has to do with 3D printing. The cake will be topped with a 3D printed cake topper so it will actually be a picture of the bride and groom. They actually had their bodies scanned to make exact 3D replicas of them. Also the bridesmaids will wear 3D printed bracelets and the groomsmen will have 3D printed mustache-shaped cufflinks.

Wearable seems to be this word that we are hearing a lot in technology and we've incorporated that a lot in the dream wedding. Not only will the bridesmaids be wearing Ring Me Cocktail Rings so that can get messages to each other and be right there with the bride the entire day and night, but the bride and groom will be wearing Misfit and Fitbits. This will allow us to track the couples' every movement and then will track the heart rates. This will allow us to see if that heart rate spikes when the bride is coming down the aisle and other moments like that. I think it will be very cool to have this incorporated.

I like that idea of using something like the Fitbit to track those special moments at the wedding. Most people as the bride walks down the aisle may take a cue from the movie 27 Dresses and glance back at the groom to see his face and his eyes as he is watching his bride come down the aisle. But now we can go a little further to see his excitement by looking at the heart rate.

Absolutely and you know that while we haven't seen this, we think it would be very cool to have that track of the heartbeat made into some type of painting/photo that is blown up to hang on their wall. It's something that is unique and not just that gorgeous picture of the couple but also of their heartbeats during the day.

That would be really cool, and then it's a special memory for them to look back on during an anniversary or any day in their marriage to see those special feelings that they each had on that big day. Now I also like the feature you were talking about where the bridesmaids can communicate with each other. Then if they have some surprises up their sleeves, they can communicate with each other without having to worry about if the bride and groom are going to find out.

Exactly. I think it's really fun. Another fun feature that we will have at the dream wedding will not only be smartphone charging stations but there will also be socially-enabled photo booths for guests to share photos on social media sites in real time. There will be live streaming on periscopes. Not only will it be live streamed on thenknot.com, but will also be in all of these other places so we will be getting these constant updates so everyone can connect.

The social media photo booth sounds like a great idea, but one concern I have is that it's proper etiquette to let the bride and groom post the first photos of the their wedding, and this would allow people to break that rule and post them immediately.

Absolutely, and the photo booths will be more pictures of the guests and will be showing what a great time your guests will be having. It will also show how this dream wedding is The Knot event of the year. We are all super excited about it.

It definitely sounds like it. So talk to us a little bit about how you selected the couple that you did for this Dream Wedding.

So Samantha and Taylor were actually selected from one of our top six final couples. Our readers and America voted for them to be the winner. It started with thousands of engaged couples writing in to share their love stories. The engagement of these two started when Taylor proposed in Mexico, and the couple had made two other attempts to plan their wedding. Unfortunately both had to be postponed because Samantha's mother fell ill and Samantha moved in to become her full time caretaker. So with all of the amazing people we've gotten to rally around Samantha and Taylor, we are crossing our fingers that the third time is the charm.

We are hoping that we are able to give them the wedding of their dreams and the digital, high-tech components of the wedding will allow everyone to feel apart of the day. Even Samantha's mother if for some reason she is unable to physically attend the wedding. We want to make sure no matter what that she is connected and there, so we are really excited about that and think it's amazing that technology can still make you feel like you're actually there when you can't be. People will be able to attend weddings, parties, and celebrations even if they can't physically be there. So that's a little bit about Samantha and Taylor. They are one very lucky couple and also one very deserving couple.

Wow. That's an amazing story and I can only imagine their reaction when they received the call that they won this dream wedding. Especially after having to postpone the wedding two times already. I hope that this third time really is the charm.

Absolutely. And everyone here at theknot.com is just so excited that are going to be able to give this to them.

That's awesome! Where can people go for more information about this dream wedding and all of the different trends we are seeing throughout wedding season?

Absolutely. You can go to www.theknot.com. It originally aired on Thursday, June 4th at 3pm, but we will to reairing the wedding for those who missed it. You can also check all of the trends and the things that we have crowdsourced like her dress, the bridesmaids' dresses, and the rings. You can find all of that information there.