Have you ever wondered if there was an easier way to give your guests all of the information they need pertaining to your wedding? Do you want to be able to give updates to your guests without having to individually call every single one of them? The future is here and it is called a wedding website. This will come especially in handy during the 2020/2021 wedding planning season as things are constantly changing.
What is a wedding website?
A wedding website is an online platform that engaged couples use to aid in the planning and communication for their wedding. The websites are used to communicate with guests of their wedding and inform them of location, date, time, and gift registry. This should not be in the place of an invitation but will make it so that you don’t have to send so many extras with your invites and can update your guests a lot easier. There are some extras that can be thrown in there too such as providing local activities or hotels where they can lodge.
What is my favorite wedding website platform?
I always recommend theknot.com when creating a wedding website! It is FREE, simple, and is a large and established company with a great reputation. I have actually gone through all the steps of setting up a wedding website on theknot.com and have included them with some descriptions below! It is an extremely easy process so don’t stress about it too much.
When you arrive at theknot.com, this is the home page. You want to click on the navy blue box saying “Wedding Website: Start Your Website”.
To begin creating your website, you need to choose a theme. Theknot.com has every theme you could think of to choose from and you are sure to find one that you will love!
After picking a theme, you will have to begin filling all information out. The basic info begins with the names of the couple who are getting married.
It will then ask that you create an account using your email address and a password. Be sure to remember the password!
Once you’ve created an account, a URL will be created for you. You can either choose to stick with their option (brefoundjohn) or you can try to switch it and see if that URL is available (breheartsjohn). Then you want to set your URL and lock it in.
Next, it will ask your wedding date and location. If you aren’t sure when or where you will be getting married yet, that can be filled in later.
Yay! You’ve finally made it to your wedding website dashboard! This is where you will be able to really personalize your website.
You will want to begin by choosing and cropping a photo which will be the main eye catcher of your website when people find you.
After you’ve chosen a photo, you are going to want to choose the theme for your website as well. In the top right corner, you can choose colors in the theme already selected or you can browse themes and choose one that matches your color scheme. *Note that they also offer free samples of wedding invitations in the same theme*
Once a theme is chosen, you will want to personalize your events page. Your wedding day will be included but you can open that event and narrow it down even further and provide more information, especially if the ceremony and reception are at separate locations.
When you go into your event page, you can give timing, provide the venue address, state what attire to wear, and even give a description or little blip.
You will also want to narrow it down further as I mentioned and provide the information regarding the ceremony and reception separately. You can put the beginning and ending time of both the ceremony and reception as well as mention locations, and you really want to mention location if it will be different for ceremony and reception.
You can also add other events including bridal shower, rehearsal dinner, engagement party, etc. and provide more information.
Next you will want to add in your love story! Not all of your guests will know the detailed story of how you ended up together and this can be a fun way to fill everyone in! Get creative with it and don’t be afraid to add some photos!
You can also add in travel information for guests coming from out of town! You can include local hotels that you recommend and I would ask your venue if they have any discount rates with any of the local hotels that you can include.
A few of the other categories include things to do in the area, the wedding party, some additional photos and the registry. Fill in this information to inform your guests of what is going on.
Theknot.com has its own registry or you can add your registries from other stores as well. Including this will tell your guests what you want or need as a wedding gift instead of them choosing something for you.
This is what the home page of the finished product will look like! It will obviously differ from theme to theme but it should look similar. Now your guests will be able to easily access all information needed and you can message your guests (as seen at the top under message guests). Be sure to use correct information and clear photos on your website.
Wedding websites are so simple to set up and don’t take much time at all. Sites like theknot.com also offer many other wedding options including creating a guest list, making invitations, finding local vendors, and they even have a budgeting tool. When you create a guest list under wedding planning tools, your website will then also allow you to message all of your guests in one shot too. Check out a wedding website platform, play with it a little bit, and….
Make yourself a wedding website! I promise that you won’t regret it!
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