The Bridezilla online wedding hosted by Microsoft
I occasionally come across a “serious” news article where you simply scratch you head and wonder if the two martini lunch limit is still in effect. The news article in question is “Bridezilla goes digital” by Mary Teresa Bitti of the Financial Post which I believe is part of the Canada.com network. I say “believe” since when I tried to find out more about the Financial Post, I got a pop-up image of a penguin which I thought resided only in Antarctica.
Paraphrasing Owen Sagness, vice president of the online services group of Microsoft Canada, “the digital wedding . . . is using technology to make it (weddings) faster, easier (and) cheaper. At the end of the day the outcome of the wedding is the same.” While I can certainly agree with Mr. Sagness that a couple passes from a state of being unmarried to a state of being married, I find the suggested “digital” transformation via Microsoft to be practical, but oh so boring!
Imagine receiving a digital wedding invitation in your eMail box. If it hasn’t already been filtered out by a Spam filter you get hyperlinked to a “cool” e-Invite site which displays a fabulous pixilated image of a wedding invitation. You are thinking “Boy this is convenient! I can automatically reply to this e-Invite by clicking on a few fields, select moose steak, salmon or tofu for the rehearsal dinner, get re-directed to the gift registry site and/or chose to participate in the wedding through a webcam presentation.” If you are a traditionalist like me, you may want to print out the invitation in Adobe Acrobat and fax or mail your response card. But “gosh this is so darn convenient” that you decide to respond digitally.
There is no question that technology makes most everything “faster, easier and cheaper” but is it relevant? The Chinese have an old adage that “evil travels in a straight line.” While efficiency is often appropriate for many business situations, I remain skeptical of its value in social situations. Surely, Mr. Sagness would not recommend that his children solely participate in online schools, online religious classes or online hockey. Social interaction on a personal level is the foundation of a civilized society. Over centuries the institution of marriage is considered to be one of the most sacred and cherished ceremonies. Does it make sense to diminish the importance of that occasion to a webcast wedding that may conflict with a local hockey match? If significant events are of value to you, embrace the traditions which link our ancestors and their traditions. I respect technology as much as the next person, but certainly don’t find it a credible substitute for personal interaction.
November 21st, 2008 at 11:57 am
I concur with the author(s) of this blog.