Q&A/Webcasts give high-tech twist to civil weddings
Last Valentine’s Day, San Mateo County, Calif., began broadcasting local weddings on the Internet as a service to residents whose families could not attend ceremonies. The county promotes the free service by handing out flyers to people who visit the courthouse to get marriage licenses, and couples who take advantage of the service receive a CD with a copy of the broadcast. Theresa Rabe, deputy county clerk recorder, estimates that the county broadcasts one ceremony a week.
Q: How did the idea to start the Web casts come up?
A: My boss, Warren Slocum, has a father who lives somewhat far away, and he was helping his father hook up his computer at home. They were talking about trying to keep in touch even though they’re far away. (It was on Valentine’s Day that they were having this conversation.) It just popped into his head that it’s so sad that families can’t always be together [especially when couples get married].
Q: What audience are you trying to attract with the Web services?
A: We’re trying to attract all of our constituents. We would like everyone who gets married to be able to do this. That’s why, at present, we’re not charging. We’re still trying to promote [the Webcasts], and we probably only get one a week. A lot of people are married civilly for privacy reasons or timing reasons, and a lot of people don’t necessarily need or want the wedding on the Web.
Q: What equipment is involved?
A: We have a digital camera hooked up inside the chapel. The digital camera streams the video to the Internet server. Visitors go onto our [secure] Web site with a special password and log on. Each wedding [password] is different.
The couples that are getting married give us a list of e-mail addresses of those people they want to electronically invite. Then we send a very pretty, flowery, wedding-type electronic invitation to those e-mails. The invitation tells them the date, the time, the log on and password, and that they need a RealPlayer. Then we have a link to download [RealPlayer] for free.
Q: What do viewers see when they’re watching a wedding?
A: The camera is behind some flowers up a little bit high on the wall. [It] is looking down at the back of the marriage commissioner and the podium, so the couple’s faces are showing. Our chapel seats about 20 people, so the viewer can see the entire room, but they’re mostly looking at the faces of the wedding couple.
Q: Has anything unusual happened at any of the services that have been broadcast?
A: No, we haven’t had any issues or problems. We’ve got some sweet stories that people have told us. An 80-year-old woman in Florida actually was able to watch her son get married. A family in Mexico was able to watch their daughter get married. So we’ve received several sweet messages about how this was very important to them, and they appreciated it.
Q: Do you have any advice for other counties that might be interested in starting the service for their residents?
A: Our initial broadcast was a little choppy. You would see 20 seconds, and it would cut for 2 seconds. Then it would flow for 12 seconds and cut for 2 seconds, so the digital camera quality is important as well as the streaming on the Internet. Even though the number of weddings we’re [broadcasting] is small, people have truly appreciated what we’ve done. That, in itself, is worth the little bit of money and time that we’re putting into it.
