Footage from the wedding video of Jonathan Alberico and Jamie Wilborn in Denver, dated Saturday, August 13. Credit: ette16 via YouTube
During the YouTube video of the wedding of Jonathan Alberico and Jamie Wilborn, the officiant mentions "what is new, unexpected, unprecedented." While he was presumably talking about matters of the heart, a genuinely unprecedented phenomenon was occurring in the couple's own wedding party: One of the bridesmaids appeared only virtually, via iPad.
"Renee called dibs to be my bridesmaid many many moons ago and unfortunately she couldn't physically make it out here but thank you, technology," says Jamie, on the YouTube video, holding up a white iPad that framed her friend's face. "Here is Renee. She got to see the whole ceremony, she got to meet everyone and be here for the reception."
The "live via satellite" concept isn't new, and surely there are other examples of people webcamming in to tele-celebrate the nuptials of loved ones, but the iPad and other tablets represent a fully portable situation: Renee could actually be in the wedding, indeed, in the arms of a groomsman who probably would have balked at a 5-lb. laptop.
The only awkward part of the video was at the beginning, when Renee's escort starts down the aisle, hand gripping the iPad. Wedding attendees chuckled, and the man looked a bit bashful. But by the time the ceremony began, he seemed to have a handle on things.
As for Renee, she seems to have felt as if she really was there. "I got all teary-eyed during the ceremony, and I couldn't have gotten that from pictures," she says on the video.
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