Although as trends go, I gotta say…um, I know it sounds crazy patently obvious, but technology’s here to stay. The Knot isn’t going too far out on a limb here. I think it’s more a question of how brides and grooms will use technology in their planning. Will they keep the actual event traditional, but facilitate the planning by purchasing some of the great software out there? Or will they use the free tools from sites like Martha Stewart and The Knot?

The only wedding planning software available for the Mac. Are you listening, Steve Jobs?!?!?

What about taking it to the next level by posting photos on Facebook and asking their friends to vote on everything from wedding-day ensembles to centerpiece options? Photo-booth kiosks where guests’ photos are downloaded onto a hard drive instead of printed out? And I’ve even heard talk of emailed invitations and online RSVPs (greener options, yes, but I’m not quite there yet). Stay tuned…

I added the Weddingbook app for Facebook as soon as I found out about it, but I ended up creating a Facebook event for our wedding, too. I love some of Weddingbook’s features, like the countdown widget and the wedding party photo gallery, but all in all Weddingbook just didn’t have the options I wanted. Weddingbook seems geared toward brides and grooms who want to use Facebook to plan their entire wedding; that didn’t appeal to me because there are too many tools out there that can do the job way better. And when it comes right down to it I am a tiny bit old-fashioned. Sorry, folks, you won’t be getting your invitations via Facebook.

To me, one of the best things about Facebook is the way everyone can post photos quickly and easily. I hope my guests take tons of candids and post them to Facebook right away. As the bride, I am sure to miss a lot of what goes on at the reception, but if people are clicking away on their digital cameras, and upload the photos to the Facebook event page, I’ll get a much fuller picture of the night we worked so hard to put together.

The photos are what I’m after, but if you think of it as a quick and painless way to add a little interactivity to the mix, there’s a lot to be said too. Guests will get to know each other a little better before the wedding, or at least know what the main players look like. The wall can act as a message board for questions and good wishes, and a way for guests to communicate with each other (think sharing cabs from the airport, or buddying up for cultural excursions while they’re in town). A nice feature is the option of including guests who aren’t on Facebook yet–they can click a link in their email and be taken to your event without having to set up an account or log in. You can see all the responses and quickly and easily send a message to the entire guest list.

The wall and photos and videos are available to all invitees (although I bet non-Facebookers can see the content but not add to it). In my head, Facebook can be the 21st century version of leaving disposable cameras at every table! It’s my fervent hope that people will take tons of pictures and video at our wedding and post them to Facebook for all to see (tip: if you do a Facebook event for a wedding or any other non-public occasions, keep the event closed to prevent crashers, but after the party, change it to “open”, so even non-invitees (co-workers, old high school friends) can see all your awesome pics!

Don't tell Dave I'm also engaged to someone named Kevin

Weddingbook is a wedding planning app for Facebook with some handy dandy features. I’m a sucker for anything related to wedding software, so I added it immediately got started by adding members of the wedding party from my Facebook friends.

The app even let me add people who weren’t on Facebook (you know who you are), so at the end I had a nice little gallery of thumbnails. We are only having two attendants each so it didn’t take long to add everyone, and there were progressive choices like man of honor and best woman.

I then entered our wedding date, and opted to add the countdown box to my profile page which was kinda fun. You can also add your guest list, but I couldn’t figure out a way to add people who aren’t on Facebook, which makes little sense, so if I’m doing it wrong, please comment me and let me know. The other thing I noticed was the little message at the bottom that said, “your guests won’t be notified due to Facebook restrictions”. You can invite guests but not let them know? Wha? And there’s no way to track RSVPs. Looks like I won’t be managing my guest list via Weddingbook.

I didn’t use the vendor search feature either since we are pretty much all set on that. Seems like the most useful parts of Weddingbook are: neat-O wedding party photo gallery, kewl little wedding day countdown widget, and the forums. Oh, and you can post a link to your wedding website, which I haven’t done, because the dang site isn’t done yet. D’oh! I really need to get on that.