And what the heck should be on it?

Our clients frequently ask us if we think they should have a wedding website. The answer is 100% YES. Will people actually look at it? Yes. Even though it takes time to set up, will it save you time in the long run? You better believe it.

Your wedding website is a great place to direct your friends and family for details about the wedding. “Where should we stay in town?” See the wedding website. “What should we get you?” See the registry section of the website. Instead of including multiple details cards in your invitation suite for these items, a small, simple card directing guests to the wedding website will do the trick. We also recommend adding it to your Save the Date!

These questions get even more frequent as the big day draws closer. “Where’s the best place for brunch?” “Your favorite bar?” “What type of attire is the wedding? “Are heels appropriate or will we be in a field?” “I forgot the invitation on my fridge. What’s the venue address again?”

Your guests don’t mean to pester — it’s all out of love and excitement for the celebration to come. But in those final weeks leading up to the wedding, your brain will be swimming with so many details, you will welcome the ability to just keep copy/pasting that website link in response to everyone’s questions. Trust us.

Our Favorite Website Builders:

• Zola: Free option that can can do the website, your wedding registry and can track online RSVPs. The Zola Registry tool is a great aggregator that integrates right into the website. The RSVP tool can be customized to collect different information.
• Appy Couple: Website that also has a personalized app. It has a great RSVP manager that is customizable to even ask specific questions of your guests such as meal choices, song requests and more. Pricing ranges from $49-$149. Can connect to a Registry and can also send custom announcements and/or updates to guests.
• Minted also has free and premium ($15) options that can potentially coordinate with your invitation if purchased from them. These are functionally a bit more simple but do have an RSVP option.
• Joy – This one is new and looks cool! Free for now with a premium version in the works. You can do not only online RSVPs, but they can facilitate fully digital invites as well if paper free is more your jam. They also have a mobile app.

This is by no means an exhaustive list. There are a ton out there with various capacities, some free, some for a small fee.

Ok, I have the website. What should I put on it?

Check out our handy dandy little infographic on this:

What exactly should you include about each of these things? Let’s break it down, baby.

Wedding Day Specifics

Obvs! Include the date, time and location including address of each venue (if ceremony and reception venue are different). If it’s in a tough place to find for GPS, you can also include specific directions and even a map. If you are providing transportation for guests, this page is a good place for those details.

If there are additional weekend events in which all of the guests are invited, for instance a Friday night welcome party or a day-after brunch, you can add those to the site as well.

Your Love Story

Your guests will love to hear about how you met, got engaged and all the general cuteness that makes you guys the coolest couple. It makes them feel closer to you and anticipate the celebration that much more. Include photos of the two of you as well. This is a great place to display those engagement photos!

Your Party People

This is optional, but could be as simple as a list or as detailed as photos and a brief history of your relationship to your wedding party members.

Accommodations

This is a great way to share information on hotel blocks that you’ve secured for guests. Include the hotel name and address as well as your personalized booking link so they can click right through to book with your special rates.

Registry

If you were to ask Emily Post, who LITERALLY wrote the book on etiquette, (rest her Type A, detail-loving soul) she would tell you to never include registry information in an invitation suite. But then how do you communicate to guests that what you really want is money towards your house fund, or this specific set of champagne flutes and not that one? The website is the perfect solution for this. Some of the ones we mentioned integrate the registry right in and for others, you can just include links to various registries. We recommend using a registry that aggregates from multiple sources rather than 10 registries at different stores, but alas, that’s a blog post for another day!

RSVPS

Some wedding websites allow for online RSVPs — where you direct guests to do all their RSVPing on the website. Others have a platform for you to manually track your RSVPs. Note: if you are considering opting for online only — we’ve found that some of the more seasoned guests don’t love this option if they aren’t super technologically savvy. It might be a good idea to send a traditional RSVP to a select group of guests and let the rest input their RSVPs online.

Local Favorites

This is where you can share all those cool, off the beaten path type places with your traveling guests. Tell them the best place in town for brunch, for a fancy cocktail, for stellar rooftop views. Yes, you can share the touristy stuff — they may love the idea of braving the honky tonk crowds on Broadway — eh Nashville peeps? — but you can also wow them with your insider knowledge of the fun things they might not find otherwise.

Whew! Anything else?

Get creative with it; make it your own. Add your own little quirks and touches to it so it will be a place your guests enjoy perusing. You can add details about attire suggestions (black tie, cocktail , funky fresh etc). You can add updates and changes and any other details you wish. Your wedding is one of the few times in your life where it’s truly all about you two, so have fun with it!

Cheers + Happy Planning!

xoxo

Jessie + Becca