Getting married is a joyous event, or it should be, but planning the actual wedding can be a challenging and stressful endeavor. So many details and so much to do, and often in a relatively short amount of time. You may have family and friends who can pitch in to help, but another source you can turn to is your friendly Amazon Echo.
Alexa offers a variety of skills that can help you manage your wedding plans. Open the Alexa app and tap More > Skills & Games, then tap the magnifying glass icon in the upper right. In the Search field, type “wedding” or “wedding planning,” and a host of skills pop up. Here are 10 skills you should try out.
Wedding Tips
Say “Alexa, open Mike Staff’s wedding tips.” Alexa responds with a single tip. You’ll hear such tips as “Consider capturing video at your wedding. 92% of married couples regret not having a video of their wedding day,” or “Choose a wedding DJ that fits your personality and style,” and “Consider a second wedding photographer to make sure every important moment is captured.”
Wedding Hacks
Say “Alexa, open Wedding Hacks.” You can also say “Alexa, ask Wedding Hacks to give me wedding tips,” or “ask Wedding Hacks to give me wedding advice.” In response, Alexa offers a tip designed to save money and time in your wedding planning.
Alexa dispenses such tips as “Brides, borrowing your mother’s bracelet or grandmother’s necklace is a sentimental touch and will save on the cost of wedding accessories” and “Leftover wedding desserts often go to waste. Ask your caterer to send any remaining treats back to your wedding suite for a late night snack.”
Wedding Engagement Facts
Say “Alexa, open Wedding Engagement Facts.” Alexa offers a few interesting facts about the engagement period, such as “Traditionally, the wedding ring is worn on the fourth finger of the left hand. This is because the vein in this finger was believed to lead directly to the wearer’s heart,” and “The average couple planning a wedding can spend anywhere from $30,000 and up on their wedding details.”
Wedding Planner
With the Wedding Planner skill, you can simply ask Alexa wedding-related questions without referencing the name of the skill. For example, say “Alexa, find a wedding photographer in Boston, Massachusetts,” “Alexa, find a wedding venue in San Francisco,” “Alexa, find a wedding cake bakery in Brooklyn,” or “Alexa, find a wedding planner in Honolulu.”
Before the Knot
Before planning a wedding, you may want to discuss how the two of you will handle certain issues and decisions as a married couple. Before the Knot lets you say “Alexa, ask wedding topics to suggest a topic” or “Alexa, ask wedding topics to ask us a question.” In response, Alexa poses key questions such as “How many children do we want to have?” and “How are finances going to be handled?”
Wedding Countdown
The Wedding Countdown skill helps you keep track of the amount of time before the big day. To start, say “Alexa, ask Wedding Countdown to set my wedding date at [date of wedding].” As you get closer to the event, you can say “Alexa, ask Wedding Countdown how many days until my wedding.”
Ask the Planner: Wedding Tips in a Flash
With the Ask the Planner: Wedding Tips in a Flash skill, you listen to a wedding tip as part of your daily Alexa flash briefing. Go to the screen for this skill and tap Enable to Use to add this skill to your flash briefing. You can manage your flash briefing by tapping Settings > Manage Flash Briefings. You can then access Ask the Planner’s tips, and any other skills in the briefing, by saying “Alexa, play my flash briefing.”
Daily Wedding Tips
Daily Wedding Tips works through your flash briefing to offer tips from a wedding photographer on such topics as how to plan a wedding budget and what to expect with a wedding photographer. Add this skill to your flash briefing by tapping the Enable to Use button. Manage your flash briefing by going to Settings > Manage Flash Briefings, then say “Alexa, play my flash briefing.”
Learning to Love
Learning to Love is accessible through your flash briefing, but it focuses more on advice for your romantic relationship. You can add this to your flash briefing by tapping Enable to Use, then go to Settings > Manage Flash Briefings to manage what skills are included. Say “Alexa, play my flash briefing” to hear advice from a relationship expert.
Bridal Bash
Bridal Bash is a game people can play with the bride at the shower, bachelorette party, or wedding reception. With anywhere from two to four teams playing, Alexa asks each team a question about the bride, and someone from each team must answer. The bride then tells Alexa whether the answer was correct. Alexa keeps score and eventually declares a winner.
