Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Appy Together

Weddings? There's about a million apps for that.





And since I've been trying them, I thought I'd pass on what's worked...and hasn't worked...so far. Because I've probably downloaded about thirty so far.



This post I'm going to go over five of my favorite apps and one website. Keep in mind, since most of my planning is done, these are mostly management apps not planning apps!


 

Here's what the icons look like, if you end up looking for them. 


Zola

Technically, Zola is more useful as a website, but the app is a fun way to use it. It's a registry website, but it offers you the chance to register for AMAZING things like cooking classes, dance lessons, and even set up a honeymoon fund.  

While the stuff on the website is pretty freaking cool, the downside is that a lot of it is way too expensive and the "experiences" you can register for are, for the most part, only available in bigger cities at the moment. 

So far though, this is by far the most unique and fun registry we've used. I doubt we'll get anything from this list, but if we did I would be ecstatic because the items are so unique.




Another cool thing about it is you can follow your wedding hashtag through the app! 


The Knot

Next I want to talk about the two Knot apps I have been using. Everyone knows that the Knot is the go-to for wedding stuff. 

The website has pretty much every single thing you need, and makes it amazingly easy to build your wedding website, manage guest RSVPs, and do anything else you can think of. 

But I love that the app has a countdown for your wedding, your checklist, budget and your guest list all right there. 

I hate that the app splits in two so that the guest book and website management are in the "Guestbook" app, but it's still worth having the two apps. 

It's all really easy to use, clean, and has a lot of "inspiration" and vendor pages. Even though I have all mine, it's nice that they have it available. 

 Guest book app. 
 The Knot app. 


Target Registry

Ok, so you can get a registry app for pretty much every store you want to register at, but so far I think the Target one has been BY FAR the easiest to use. 

It's easy to log in, which I thought would be easy for all of them...but it wasn't. 

It is also super simple. 

The menu has only four options: Browse, My Items, Checklist, and Scan. 


Browse biggest pro is that it allows you to look through collections and categories like "Most Registered Items" or "Hadn't thought of these". It also has grouped items from designers.

The biggest downside is that you can't really browse outside of these collections or categories, so it's not like you're going through the whole website. You can, however, add things from the regular app or website onto your list. But it's kind of nice to have all the items you need and really want grouped together without having to think of them on your own. 



My Items is pretty obvious, but I will tell you that I don't like that you can see what people have purchased or not. It kind of ruins the surprise! So I've just been adding and not looking. 

The Checklist option gives you items by department to make sure you've got your essentials down, and it's actually been pretty helpful. It makes sure you cover all your bases, and you can click on each item you don't have filled in and it will take you to those items to add to your list. Sort of like a grocery store bingo. 



The Scan option is also self-explanatory. You can go into any Target, scan an item, and it will add it to your list. No registry gun necessary!


Wedding Party

Ok, this is definitely my FAVORITE app! It does several really cool things. 

The first is that all of your wedding guests can download the app and make a profile. You create a code so only your guests can get in, but once they do it compiles them all into profiles like this:
It's SUPER delightful, and it lets you communicate with all your guests through the app!



It also lets you add pictures and do amazing things like put your wedding events, registries, and area accommodations on there so all your guests can find them easily. 







^Seriously how I feel about it. 


 On top of all that, it also has a planning section where you can look at other weddings and read articles and look at pictures and I LOVE IT. 




Perhaps the best part though is that it has a camera feature, and at the wedding guests can use it to take pictures and Eric and I have instant access to them all so we don't have to go hunting for them afterwards!!

 



So those are my favorite apps so far, which brings me to the two apps that were the WORST. 

The first was Appy Couple. 

I don't even have screen shots because I deleted it out of fury. 

Basically, the reviews were great and it looked like something I wanted. 

The app was free so I downloaded it, but when you open the app it tells you to go to the website to register.

   

Fine, Appy Couple. I will do that. EVEN THOUGH I downloaded this app because CLEARLY I am not at a computer and I'm on my couch Netflix binging Unbreakable and do not want to get up right now. 

So I waited until the next time I was at a computer, naturally. 

But THEN. I get to the website, and it says it's the stylish wedding website and app, and that gets me excited because it does look very pretty. You have my attention now.  




So I click on Get Started only to find a price of $35.00 pops up. I immediately begin searching for the "free" option because I'm a millennial damn it! I'm not paying for SHIT! And I'm sure enough not paying for something that I paid hundreds of dollars to learn how to do in that stupid website design class and am just too lazy to do!


Come to find out, there is no free section and I literally went no further because NO.  

It might be a great app but I'll never know. 


The second worst app was Seat Puzzle. 

In theory it is suppose to help you plan your seating chart using a handy drag and drop feature that lets you create and move tables, then fill in your guests from Facebook or your address book. I'm interested... 
   

But in reality is a clumsy white space that's hard to use. You can't set the dimensions of the room, so it's like looking at a blank computer screen when you're trying to type up your final that is due in six hours and you just started.
   

So I start trying to figure it out, and for SOME reason, I can't figure out how to rotate the tables. This should be easy to do, but I can't. 

I start scouring the internet for answers, but I can't find anything on itunes or Google so I'm pretty sure at this point the answer doesn't exist. So I Facebook message their developers because apparently that is there chosen method of communication...

So I ask them how to rotate these DAMN TABLES to which I receive the following message:

"Hi Marvyl. Unfortunately you cannot rotate tables in Seat Puzzle. We may add this feature in a future version. Best regards, Seat Puzzle Support"



Well, I could go on forever with my GIFs of rage but I won't. 

BUT HOW DO YOU DESIGN A TABLE ARRANGING APP THAT DOESN'T DO THE ESSENTIAL FUNCTION OF ARRANGING?




Anyway, that brings me to my website replacement, which is Tablerrr.com

Why does it have three R's?

But so far it's been easy to use, and the freaking tables rotate. So. There's that. I've just started using it, and I'll update you on if it actually works or not in the end. 



So that's my app reviews so far. I hope this helps anyone out there meandering through the world of wedding apps since iTunes apparently can't make it a freaking category! 


I hope I've saved someone the trouble of Seat Puzzle, at least.  








No comments:

Post a Comment