Inside the new wedding trend: brides getting advice from ChatGPT

Karen Oren, a cofounder of the wedding stationery brand The Ceremony Club, uses ChatGPT for every part of her wedding.

"I get advice from ChatGPT sometimes," said Oren, who's getting married next year. While she has a human wedding planner, she still utilizes the LLM — especially after work hours. "Those late-night conversations at 10 p.m., scrolling through Instagram, getting inspiration, I use ChatGPT with [that] inspiration," she told Mashable. An example is inputting wedding dresses she likes and her budget, and asking ChatGPT to find boutiques near her.

"I make it work hard for me," she joked.

Oren isn't alone. Since ChatGPT launched, people have utilized it in their relationships — to write flirty messages, to win fights, and now to plan their nuptials. Across Reddit and Instagram, couples are sharing how they're using ChatGPT and other AI tools for wedding planning. 

From wedding advice to graphics

"There are so many different blogs and Reddit threads and websites that you can go through for advice, and it's kind of nice to have a streamlined version of what you're looking for with links to different pages to kind of like get exactly what you need," said Alessandra, a bride who got married last month. (She requested to be referred to by her first name only.)

In addition to ChatGPT, Alessandra told Mashable she used Gemini search and the image generator Midjourney while planning her wedding. She used a combination of the latter and Canva to make her cocktail menus. She got specific about how she wanted the specialty drinks to look (three espresso beans on an espresso martini, and a Tajín rim on a margarita) and a hand-drawn style. Since she has a paid Midjourney subscription through her job, she figured she'd use the tools she had as opposed to paying someone on Etsy or trying to make it totally herself.

Rachel, the person behind the hand-drawn stationery Etsy business PipiPrintables, told Mashable that while AI is great for many things, she doesn't believe it can replicate artistic talent. 

"It can try to mimic, but it doesn’t have the same authentic look and feel," she said. Understandably, though, cost is a major factor, and some people are willing to forgo the aesthetics of real hand-drawn art. "I think, like most things, there is a place and market for both."

Illustrator and graphic designer Sasa Khalisa echoed the sentiment. AI can help couples who are tight on budget and time, she said. For couples who pay more attention to their wedding aesthetics, she believes they'd steer away from AI images "as it tends to generate generic or flawed images" — known colloquially as "AI slop." 

Khalisa has seen changes in her business since the onset of AI, including the rise of ready-made templates. She's diversified her business in response by selling digital graphic assets on top of custom-made invitations and portraits to adapt to the changes. 

Physical memories in the AI age

Like basically every other industry out there, AI has also impacted other vendors in the wedding industry.

Wedding photographer and planner Lynea D'Aprix told Mashable she believes competition within the industry will get tougher because of AI, but also believes the results will be "better businesses doing a better job supporting couples."

AI can help reduce busywork and save money, D'Aprix continued, but she noted there are large caveats — including formulaic content.

"AI is helpful, but it is still quite outdated when it comes to wedding information, especially, and it is generic," she said. "If couples opt for using AI, I encourage them to double-check their work with a professional. At the end of the day, AI is just a tool."

She believes couples are equally divided in their feelings about using AI. Some are excited, others are concerned about the impacts. "I've noticed the couples that are open to it are already utilizing it for their jobs," she said, "so it's natural to them to use it for their personal life as well."

That's the case with both Alessandra and Oren. Oren and her sister Leore, the other cofounder of The Ceremony Club, also use ChatGPT in their business. Leore called it their third and fourth employee. "We have a lot of work on our plate all the time, so it just helps get things moving," she told Mashable. "We are a small team, so it does really help us." They said they use it for tasks such as resourcing, development, and photo editing.

The Ceremony Club sells physical memorabilia, such as photo albums and keepsake boxes. And while the sisters use ChatGPT in their business and personal lives, they also acknowledge the pull young adults have away from technology.

"We actually notice that people are kind of sick of their phones and sick of technology," Karen said. "So it's nice to have an option that you're not looking at a screen."

"I think that a big inspiration for [wedding photo albums] was kind of bringing back a nostalgic thing that we all had in our homes, which was our parents' photo albums," Leore said. "So I feel like there are certain things that new technology can't really compete with."