The BEST way to MULTI-STREAM your wedding

The Challenge

If you’re taking the “DIY approach” to live streaming your wedding, you probably want to include ALL your guests right?

The entire point of live streaming is to incorporate friends and family who can’t  be there in person, whether because of COVID or some other reason, but getting folks to join your live stream can be an enormous undertaking. 

No matter how many reminders you send, how many RSVPs you receive, it’s incredibly easy for guests to lose track of time and miss the wedding entirely.

So what’s the solution?

The Solution

Well, if you can’t get guests to come to you, then you go to them!

Thanks to the brilliance of modern technology, we can now do something called “multi-streaming” which essentially means streaming to multiple locations at the same time including:

• Facebook (for those guests who never check email)

• YouTube (for those guests who never check Facebook)

• Twitch (for those guests who are constantly gaming)

This allows you to include all of the friends and family you’ve accumulated over the years even if they are geographically and digitally dispersed across the world.

But multi-streaming can be a complicated endeavor because all these different locations want to be the “one platform to rule them all”.

They want to monopolize your time and they hate sharing time with anyone else, a bit like a jealous boyfriend.

This means it’s not as simple as going live through Facebook, switching apps, then going live through YouTube.

You need to outsmart them …. with technology!

There are entire companies who are dedicated to the cause of helping you multi-stream your event and provide a bunch of features that make the process a breeze. 

What to look for

If you’re going the DIY live stream route, here are some things to look for in a multi-stream provider.

1. Ease of use: You want something that is easy to set up and operate. Live streaming can be complicated and the more complexity you reduce, the better off you’ll be.

2. Cost: Especially if you’re only planning to live stream your wedding, you don’t want to break the bank on a multi-stream provider. You want the service who will provide everything you need at the lowest cost.

3. Support: Tech companies nowadays do everything through AI and bots, which can be infuriating when you’re trying to get an answer to your question. Most of the time, when you can get a human helping you troubleshoot, you’ll be better off.

Best options

Don’t have time to do all the research? No worries, we’ve done it for you :)

We’ve scoured the internet and here are the best solutions we’ve identified.

1. Melon

2. Restream.io

3. Castr.io

Each provides a similar service, but with some very important differences that could make your break your live streaming experience.

Let’s run each of these options past the criteria we put forth above to see how they stack up against each other.

1.Melon

Melon is a strong up-and-comer in the multi-stream space and they’re quickly making strides to become the hottest game in town.

• Ease-of-use: Melon prides itself on having a simple user interface compared to other competitors like Restream. It’s designed so that your average Joe can get up and running without having a degree in computer science.

• Cost: While Melon does have a free version, we would recommend going with the Pro version which is only $15/month. It will give you all the features you need without breaking the bank or locking you into a long-term commitment.

• Support: Melon gives you support from an actual person! Praise the Lord! If you’re running into issues you can talk with a human being and they’ll get you up-and-running. Seems like such a basic thing, but so helpful.

2.Restream.io

Restream is a long-time player in the multi-streaming space and they are commonly used by folks with a little bit of experience in the live streaming space.

• Ease-of-use: Restream is a bit like killing a mosquito with a cannon ball. It has a lot of awesome features that you will probably never use and will most likely get in the way of you actually having a good live streaming experience for your wedding. Complexity is the enemy of execution and this is especially true with regard to your wedding day.

• Cost: For a similar feature set as Melon, you’re going to be paying a whopping $49/month which is a hefty price tag if you’re just planning to stream a single event and not use half the features they provide. They do have a $19/month option, but this gives you far less features than Melon.

• Support: We couldn’t find anything that mentioned user support, either during the stream or prior. It seems as though they’ve provided a knowledge base and chat window on their website, but their features don’t mention troubleshooting or support of any kind.

3.Castr.io

Castr is a fan favorite among professionals, especially those who have a lot of experience live streaming to multiple destinations.

• Ease-of-use: Castr has many good qualities, but simplicity is not chief among them. Even looking at their website is disorienting and they throw out terms like “multiple ingest” and “platform toggling” … which make no sense to 99% of people. And their service is not the easiest to get started with either unless you’re familiar with live streaming and know what you’re doing.

• Cost: Here’s the good news. For most of the features you’ll need, Castr is only going to cost you $15/month which is substantially less than Restream and on par with what you’d receive from Melon.

• Support: More good news! Castr provides 24/7 support via live chat with their representatives. They don’t mention phone support but talking with a person in-general will give you peace of mind that you’re not on your own.

Conclusion

If you’re looking for a simple, cost-effective way to live stream your wedding to multiple destinations then we would recommend Melon. They are fast, easy-to-use, and won’t bog you down with all the bells and whistles that make the other platforms overly complex.

If you’re looking for a more robust solution, then you might explore something like Castr, Restream, or even some other options like Streamyard but we wouldn’t recommend this for most couples trying to plan a virtual wedding.

If you want to have an AMAZING live stream of your wedding, we would also recommend …

Our recommendation

Hiring professionals to do it for you!! 

If you feel overwhelmed by the prospect of live streaming your wedding, then give us a shout.

Our experienced team will take care of everything so you can simply relax on your wedding day knowing that you will have an HD live stream from multiple angles, complete with high quality audio.

We can also multi-stream your wedding for you so that all your friends and family can watch on their chosen platform and not miss a moment.

Click the link below and tell us how we can help make your wedding day amazing!

HOW TO HACK YOUR GUEST LIST WITH LIVE STREAMING

Making your guest list can be a time-consuming and headache-inducing part of the planning process. 

You’re trying to balance relational dynamics, financial constraints, venue size … the list goes on, and it seems like no matter what you do someone will be upset.

BUT DON’T WORRY!

With Live Streaming, you have a new tool in your arsenal and an ace up your sleeve.

Here are 5 ways live streaming can help you build a better guest list:

1. Save money

According to Business Insider, the average cost of a wedding is $33,391 and according to TheKnot the average wedding size is 136. 

Some quick math tells me that’s about $245 per guest. 

Obviously everyone’s wedding is different, but you get the point: weddings can be expensive

Here’s how live streaming can help

Step 1: Divide your list into “Definitely yes”, “Definitely no”, and “Not sure”

Step 2: Calculate the approximate cost of inviting the “Not sure” guests

Step 3: Determine if the cost of live streaming is less than that number

2. Include all your remote family and friends

Are there people on your guest list who desperately want to attend, but can’t due to factors outside their control? 

Here are some of the biggest reasons we’ve seen for non-attendance:

• Elderly guests can’t travel long distances easily

• Timing of the wedding doesn’t align with work or other responsibilities

• Financial constraints often limit traveling, especially for families

Here’s how live streaming can help

1. At Married Livestream we provide a high quality experience with multiple camera angles and quality audio

2. We also provide you with a full recording of the live stream immediately so guests who can’t watch the live stream directly can still watch it afterward

2. Eliminate venue constraints

There are two common stressors with your venue and guest list:

1. You want to invite more people than your venue can hold

2. You’re worried more people will attend than expected and you won’t have space

Here’s how live streaming can help

1. Provide a high quality live stream for guests who you’re on the fence about inviting

2. Prepare an overflow room where guests can watch the ceremony live stream if there isn’t space in the actual ceremony location

3. Avoid awkward situations

No family is perfect and there is almost always a challenging family dynamic to accommodate.

Sometimes it is impossible to NOT include someone and you need a creative solution.

Here’s how live streaming can help

Provide a compromise by personally inviting the guest to the live viewing instead of having them attend in person. Many times, they are also looking for an alternative way to show you support without making things uncomfortable and will be glad for the option.

5. Give your family a voice

Many times your close relatives (usually parents) have family or friends they want to include in the wedding

Regardless of the situation or relationship, saying “no” to can be hard, but live streaming provides a creative solution.

Here’s how live streaming can help:

Instead of saying “sorry, that person can’t come” you can say “we’d love to include them and invite them to the professional live stream we’re providing”. Having a live stream shows you care about the people who can’t be there in-person while also giving your family a way to include their friends.

In summary

Planning out your guest list can be stressful but we believe live streaming can help.

If you’re interested in live streaming your wedding, reach out to us at connect@marriedlivestream.com

We would love to hear more about how we can help with your special day!

Best,

Dale and Lydia Wilson