An increasingly popular trend is creating a wedding website for your wedding. I would wager to say today, (and especially for destination weddings) a wedding website is not optional. You must have an online space to (at least) communicate wedding details to your guests.  

Now if you’re not super familiar with creating websites, don’t freak out. Creating a wedding website isn’t as hard as it might sound. Also, take heart in knowing you can make your wedding website be as simple or complex as you would like.

Follow this process to make creating your wedding website a breeze. 🙂

Choose a Wedding Website Template

Do yourself a favor and don’t try to build anything from scratch. There are a bunch of fantastic wedding website companies that offer great templates to help you get started. 

Here is a list of a few wedding website companies that offer this service for free (or a small fee for some of their upgrades services – link RSVP tracking).

• The Knot
• Zola
• Bliss & Bone
• With Joy

What to Information to Include on Your Website

Great! Now that you’ve chosen your wedding website template, let’s start to build it out!

I suggest you make your wedding website be a main vehicle to communicate the details of your wedding to your wedding guests. Here’s a comprehensive list of details to include on your wedding website to make sure your guests are well informed and prepared for your wedding.

Basic Event Details: Date, Time & Location

I know this may seem obvious, but be sure to be clear about the date, time and location of your wedding ceremony and reception. It is also a good idea to include directions and even a map image of the area to be crystal clear with your guests regarding when and where the event is taking place.

Schedule of Events

Providing an overall timeline for your specific wedding day is a great way to keep everyone on the same page throughout the wedding weekend.

Here is a list of small events you might consider including on your wedding weekend timeline:

• Ceremony rehearsal
• Rehearsal dinner
• Ceremony
• Cocktail reception
• Dinner reception
• After party
• Brunch

Additional events to consider:

• Welcome events
• Golf outings
• Spa days
• Group hikes
• Pool time (Rented cabana)

RSVP Details

I strongly encourage you to collect your RSVPs online via your website. Consider creating a comprehensive online RSVP questionnaire for your guests which asks the basic questions like wedding attendance and entree selection, AS WELL AS, if they plan to attend the rehearsal, welcome reception, brunch, in what hotel they are staying (if they are traveling from out of town), etc. 

Many wedding website templates have fantastic reporting features which make organizing all your guest responses to your RSVP questionnaire a walk in the park. While you will still have to remind many of your guests to RSVP for your wedding, collecting your responses via your website will make your life so much easier overall.

Registry Information

Share where you’re registered for gifts. Direct links to your registries make it easy for guests to access them. Also consider choosing to do non-traditional registry options like honeymoon funds, experience vouchers or simple monetary donations. 

If you really don’t want gifts, consider suggesting charitable contributions to your favorite charity instead of traditional gifts.

Accommodation Information

If you have reserved a couple of hotel room blocks for the out-of-town guests for your wedding, your website is a perfect place to provide this information to your guests. Be sure to include room rates and reservation links and instructions (if you have them) to make reserving rooms within your room blocks simple and easy.

If you don’t have a formal room block for your wedding, it still is a good idea to list a few reputable hotels, at a variety of price points, near your ceremony and reception site. This will help your guests, who may not be familiar with the area, make good informed decisions when determining their hotel accommodations for the event.

Transportation

Often there may be certain instructions you need to share with your guests regarding transportation to your wedding. This is often an overlooked detail for your guests. However, it can cause a lot of confusion and lead to frustration for your guests on your wedding day.  The more information you can provide in this area, the less headaches you will have on your wedding day. Items to consider including in the transportation sections (if applicable) are:

• Parking guidelines & fees: Is there a specific location where guests can or cannot park? Is there a parking fee at the venue site?
• Shuttle: Will you be providing shuttle service for the guests? If so, when and where should guests meet to take part in this service?
• Valet: Is valet offered or required at your venue. If it is offered/required is there a fee associated with the service?
• Uber/Lyft: Do you recommend (or do NOT recommend) your guest consider ride share options to travel to your wedding? Also, if ride share is an option, consider offering a group discount code for guests to use at the end of the evening to help everyone get home safely (and deter drinking and driving). 

Dress Code

This section does not need to be lengthy. However, a general description of the level of casual versus formal attire you are anticipating for the wedding will be helpful to your guests. Describing the dress code ensures guests arrive appropriately dressed and feel comfortable.

Also, if you are planning on any portion of your wedding being outside, and you know the weather will most likely be hot or cold, you may consider communicating this to your guests as well so they can plan accordingly. 

Additionally any insider tips that may help your guests be more comfortable during your wedding should be included here. For example, if you’re getting married on grass, you might suggest flats or wedges for the ladies so their heels don’t get stuck in the muddy sod.

FAQ Section

This section can be gold for you if you have inquisitive guests! 😉 Take a minute to list all the questions your guests are already asking about your wedding and try to anticipate what future questions might be. Include it ALL on your FAQ page. Then when guests start asking questions, instead of having to answer each one individually, you can simply direct them to this page! 😉 

Here are a few common questions to include:

• Are children invited? 
• Where do you suggest I stay for your wedding? Is there a room block?
• Is parking available at the venues?
• What happens in the case of inclement weather?

Contact Information

Sometimes it is a good idea to provide a way for guests to contact you with additional questions. This could be an email address, phone number, or a contact form on the website. (This is of course optional)

Wedding Party Introduction

Your website is also a great place to honor your wedding party. You might want to share a small photo and a little bit about each member, explain your relationship and why they are so important to you.

Photo Gallery

If you are lucky enough to have a bunch of awesome photos from your courtship together, you might consider including your favorites in a gallery on your website. Guests love to see the “behind the scenes/personal” photos from your lives together. It helps everyone feel more connected to you as a couple and helps them get excited for the wedding!

Your Love Story

Finally, in the same vein as the photo gallery, for some of your guests and relatives who don’t live near you, they may be interested in knowing your love story. Consider sharing how you met your fiancé and some of the fun experiences you have shared together that have led you to decide to spend the rest of your lives together. This personal touch helps guests feel more connected to your celebration.

Let’s start designing your site!

I hope this gives you a good idea of what to include on your wedding website. Remember there are no rules! It is completely up to you! You can add all or only a few of these details to your wedding website.

Just remember, try to make your wedding website work for you in answering the many questions all your guests will ask leading up to your wedding. All the work you put into designing your website will pay off. Promise. You got this! 

All my best,

Casey

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Casey Green Weddings, LLC | 2501 S Village Drive, Cottonwood, AZ 86326