Canadian couples discover the benefits
of exchanging vows in Webcast wedding

Monday, February 4, 2002
MELANIE SEAL

When Lori Dickinson and Tyson Reiser walk down the aisle on Wednesday evening, most of their guests will be in pyjamas.

The couple, from Waterloo, Ont., will say their vows in a Las Vegas chapel with 10 of their closest friends and family on hand.

But another 40 or 50 people will be at home, watching the wedding live on the Internet after Ms. Dickinson, 28, and Mr. Reiser, 30, sent out e-mail invitations for the Webcast wedding to family and friends in British Columbia, Calgary and Manitoba. Even great-uncle Bill down East — who probably wouldn’t have made the guest list to a traditional wedding in Waterloo — will be watching.

“We weren’t into spending $20,000 to get married in front of acquaintances,” Ms. Dickinson said.

The couple have latched onto a trend that has married the instant world of the Internet to the world of instant wedding vows in Las Vegas.

Only four or five chapels in Las Vegas do Webcast weddings now, but they have found a strong demand.

The Little Chapel of the Flowers Webcasts a dozen ceremonies a day — double on weekends, and more than 100 are already booked for Valentine’s Day. The average cost of a ceremony is about $300 (U.S.).

“People can log on and see three weddings going on at once, sometimes,” Dave Ellis, spokesman for the chapel, said.

Couples such as Ms. Dickinson and Mr. Reiser are thrilled to hear that the Webcast is part of the chapel’s regular services and jump at the chance to exchange vows over the Net, he said. And like this pair, most archive their wedding on the site for a month for an additional $60.

Inside the chapel, four cameras pan and zoom silently from black domes in the ceiling, all operated by a master control room, sending the video — and audio — live to the Web.

“It’s a little odd knowing everyone [on the Internet] can see it, but it’s a great idea for family members,” said Janice DeWolf, a bridal consultant and president of Rosemary’s Consulting in Ottawa. “It’s also a great alternative to sending out video tapes.”

Producing a professional wedding videotape can start at $800. Most people receiving a video of someone else’s wedding watch only a portion of it, then tape over it, she added.

A Webcast wedding will likely appeal more to younger generations than older ones, she said.

While Ms. DeWolf is not sure the Webcasting idea could make it to Ottawa, she said she wouldn’t be surprised if weddings in Niagara Falls and Vancouver are soon served up live on the Net.

For now, it’s definitely raising the bar for chapels in Las Vegas, the continent’s matrimonial magnet.

“A lot of the chapels around here are all about quicky weddings, getting couples in and out,” Mr. Ellis said.

At Little Chapel, he said, couples are given half an hour, including a 15-minute Webcast ceremony and time for pictures. He and his wife renewed their vows on their first anniversary, after moving from Arizona.

“All couples meet with our wedding co-ordinator, who also controls all the cameras. They will learn, for example, that we’ll be zooming in on the bride as she walks down the aisle.”

Lynn LeFebvre, in an interview from a Las Vegas hotel room the morning after her wedding, said: “I didn’t even notice [the cameras]. I was crying from the moment I walked down the aisle.”

She and her husband, Denis, were eager to Webcast their wedding because not all their family and friends from their Northern Ontario hometown of Espanola could make it to the ceremony.

It’s definitely a great way to cut costs, Ms. DeWolf, the wedding consultant, said.

That’s also the real appeal for Ms. Dickinson. By Webcasting her wedding, she’s cutting out the huge reception, the speeches, the glass clinking and the receiving line.

Ms. Dickinson, a consulting analyst, said she was able to turn a $20,000 traditional Canadian wedding into a Vegas wedding that, including the $300 ceremony, dinner for 12 and a week’s holiday, will cost her $5,000. And everyone she knows can see it at no extra cost.

The Internet wasn’t her first plan, but after she watched a few live weddings with her fiancé, the Webcast was a deciding factor.

“I knew what I was going to get,” she said. “I knew I was already taking a chance by going down to Vegas to get married. You don’t know the minister, you could be rushed out after the ceremony. The pictures could be crappy.”

Despite her enthusiasm for the Internet, Ms. DeWolf draws the line at e-mail invitations to a wedding, but she adds that virtual guests can relax and they’re off the hook for a wedding gift.