Your Guide To Creating The Perfect Wedding Website

You're about to tie the knot and one of the first things on your "to do" list is designing and sending out the invitations. But, before you start arguing over card stock and fonts, you should seriously consider how much time, effort and money a wedding website could save you.

When it comes to planning a wedding, the invitations are usually the part that couples hate the most! You need to choose the perfect design, you need a long list of all of your guests' addresses, and you need to make sure that it has all of the information they need.

Once you send it, there is no turning back! If there is a mistake that you missed or something you'd like to change or add - you're stuck with what you have already sent. Of course, you can always call all of your guests one by one or send out new invitations but that's time-consuming, expensive, and not really realistic.

Here's where wedding websites come in. These days, it's so easy to build a website that anyone can do it. You don't need to be a designer or web programmer. All you need is a computer and internet connection and you can use one of many popular website builders to get your site up and running.

Benefits of Having a Wedding Website

More couples choose to create a wedding website every year due to the many benefits they offer:

• It’s easy. With all of the great website builders available today, anyone can create a website with minimum technical skills. If you know how to use a computer and you've got an internet connection you're good to go!
• It’s fast. Creating a website today can take anywhere from half-an-hour to a day, which is nothing compared to choosing the designs, printing, and sending out loads of invitations in the mail.
• It’s inexpensive. Sending out an invitation to your wedding when it's online is a simple email, which only takes a few seconds and your guests can RSVP on your site.
• It’s flexible. Need to update your invitation or give your guests more information? That's not a problem, you can update your site and send out an email letting everyone know that there's new information.
• It’s collaborative. Let your guests upload their own photos from the wedding to your website's gallery. You can also add a guest book where anyone can sign in and write their best wishes to congratulate you.

The list of benefits is long, but in short - it's faster, easier, cheaper, and much more convenient!

What Your Wedding Website Should Include

Here are a few things your website should have:

• Location: This is the most important part, so add it in the beginning, to make sure you don't forget. You want your guests to be able to arrive without any trouble, don't you? Don't just add an address and location name. You've got the internet and technology on your side now! Add a map, driving directions, and even a GPS link to make it easier for your guests.
• Hotels: If you expect some of your guests to be traveling far to come to your wedding, add a booking app to help them book a hotel, flights, and transportation.
• RSVP: Leave instructions on how and where to RSVP on your site, this should usually be the big main button on your page so it's clear to your guests. You should also leave contact information if someone has any questions or needs help.
• Instructions: Is there a dress code? Make sure to add it on your website and make it clear so your guests know what to expect.
• Romance: You're not limited to a little card anymore, you can write anything you want and add pictures to back it up! Add a page with your story, how you met, what you love about each other, and pictures or videos that you want to share.
• Weather: This is great for traveling guests! Add a weather app and a note that tells your guests what to expect in your area on your wedding day. For example: "It can get a little chilly at night here so bring a shawl!"
• Registry: If you've got a registry, this is a great place to let your guests know about it. It should be on an inner page, not on the homepage so that it's not stealing the thunder away from the most important part - your wedding!

When designing your site, you may find a bunch of other features that you like. For example, if you don't want just anyone to see the content and photos on your site, you can password protect it and send the password via email to all of your guests when you send them the invite.

How to Design Your Website to Make an Impression

One of the great things about using website builders is that you don't need to worry about the design. You can choose from loads of beautiful templates and just "fill in the blanks".

Here are a few things to consider:

• Go for a beautiful minimalistic homepage that has one or two lines (e.g. "We're Getting Married!" and a date), a big RSVP button, and a full-screen background image of you and your significant other. The rest of the information can be added to the inner pages of the website, like more information, how to get there, your story, etc.
• Make sure you choose a mobile-friendly template that is responsive so that your guests can view it from their phones. You'll be letting everyone know via social media and emails and most people check these things on their mobile phones, so you want them to be able to click the link and access all of the information.
• Choose a template that is in line with your personal design and coding skills. If you have zero experience, you'll want a template that requires minimal change, but if you know how to design or code, you can choose a template that is similar to what you want and make the changes yourself.

Enjoy the benefits that website builders offer and make the whole wedding planning process easy and fun. Congratulations!