Nowadays, we shop online, find love via apps and catch up via video messaging – so why wouldn't you create your own wedding website.
Wedding websites aren’t exactly a new concept, but they are something couples often haven't thought of before they got engaged. Modern and effortless, wedding websites offer an easy way to gather all of your big day details together in one place for you, and your guests. You'd use a hell of a lot of paper if you printed all the venue details, travel, and accommodations suggestions on your snail mail invites, after all. So, consider your wedding website a one-stop-shop for all of the above (plus, it can be a place for fun things, like the story of how you met and a place to share your engagement photos)!
Below are some big reasons why we think you should make a wedding website, and some of our favourite places to get one.
But first, What is a wedding website?
A wedding website is an online space created by an engaged couple. Its primary purpose is to act as a communal hub for your guests to access information about your upcoming big day or wedding weekend. Typically, a wedding website would include details on the date, location, travel plans, and even the dress code of your wedding. The technology is constantly evolving, and now modern updates to these wedding websites include tracking RSVPs, and backend tools that can aid in the planning process.
Photo by Anthony Shkraba
Reasons We Believe You Should Make a Wedding Website
It makes life easier
A wedding website is probably the easiest way to bring your guests together in one virtual place. Set it up, make it pretty, and then post as much information as you want. It’ll make planning your event much easier, especially if you can set up alerts to notify people of any changes to proceedings.
They're free!
With all the bells and whistles that a wedding website promises, you'd think they cost the earth. But in fact, most providers offer a free version of their service. And just because they’re free doesn’t mean they offer a substandard service, all the major wedding websites give great results and include everything you’ll need to communicate with your guests.
Photo by Duané Viljoen
They're personal
Many wedding websites let you personalise your page/s with your big day colour scheme, add photos and even add a forum for your guests to chat on, making the page a nice taster for your big day. Perfect for building excitement early in the planning process! Hitched for example, have some lovely pre-made templates that are perfect for dropping in pics of you both, and for tweaking to make it more, you.
Track RSVPs
Keeping track of RSVPs sent back by mail can be inconvenient. Luckily, with many of the free wedding websites (like WithJoy for example), you can collect and track them online. Set it up as you're building your site, and include a link to the RSVP on your invitation. Guests can simply navigate to the RSVP page and submit their replies.
You could also add the menu choices for your reception, which will speed up the process of getting the info to your catering team.
Easily add more info
You can constantly add things to your wedding website that will help your guests, like directions to your venue, nearby hotels and places of interest. And if you want to be extra helpful, add a wedding countdown clock and a weather forecast for the big day, so guests can plan their outfits accordingly…!
Zankyou is great for this kind of thing, and their 100% customisable designs make it easy to create a look that you both love.
Share photos and videos after the wedding.
You might not want to flood your social media profiles with every single image of your wedding day (or maybe you do, which is totally OK!). With a wedding website, you can upload photos from your big day to create a quick, familiar place for guests, or anyone who couldn’t attend. If you want to even more sophisticated, you could even create a page for your wedding hashtag and watch your loved ones’ own photos roll in.