Creating a wedding website has become a MUST for engaged couples! Wedding websites are essentially the hub for all things involving your big day. From your love story to your registry, your guests have everything they need to stay in the loop and get excited about attending. But how does one go about building a wedding website? Well, here’s a guide to help you get started!
Choose How You Want to Build
There are three options when it comes to building your wedding website. The easiest option would be using a site with free customizable webpage templates, like Zola and The Knot. They are simple and straight forward but have limited design choices. Option two would be hosting platform with all-in-one services, such as Wix and WordPress. This allows for more freedom in personalization but often comes with a small fee. The most advanced option would be to self-host your site. This means you create your own site with your own coding and pay a hosting company for space and availability to the public. Like I said, this is definitely advanced, but it will give you complete control over your site! Fabulous wedding websites can come from all three options, it just depends on the level of customization you prefer.
Customize the URL
Make your website easily searchable by purchasing a custom URL. They are relatively inexpensive and save your guests from having to remembering a long URL or filtering through all the search results to find it. Plus, it looks classy!
Create a Password
Your wedding website will be providing locations, addresses, times and personal information about you, your fiancé and maybe even your bridal party. If you are not entirely comfortable with sharing all those details with the entire world, create a password for your site! Doing this will only allow your wedding guests to access your wedding website, which is who it’s for anyway!
Simplicity is Key
From the design of the website to the structure, remember simplicity is key. When it comes to the design, this doesn’t mean boring! Choose whatever template, color scheme, fonts and extra features you’d like. Just stick to your theme, and don’t go overboard. Adding too much froufrou can be distracting and make it difficult for your guests to find what they’re looking for. This brings us to the structure of the site. Keep in mind that your guests are both young and old. Your site should be easy to navigate and easy to read (consider the font size). The more simple and straight-forward your site is, the better!
Include the Essentials
Your website can have whatever you think is necessary, but don’t feel like you have to have it all on there at the beginning! It’s okay to start with the essentials and add to it later. So, what are the essentials? Below are the basic page tabs you’ll find on any wedding website:
- Welcome Page: There’s a variety of ways your welcome page can look, but most include a photo of the happy couple and key information, such as date, time and location. Maybe you write a little “we’re happy you’re here!” note or a countdown till the big day! Whatever you want it to look like, remember that it will be the first page people see!
- Our Story: Writing about you and your fiancé’s love story is always a crowd favorite. It helps your guests connect with you, especially in the case of big weddings where you might not know everyone. It also gets people excited to celebrate the two of you! Maybe even include photos of moments mentioned in your story or monumental events you’ve shared together.
- Registry: Having your registry on your website makes the lives of your guests so much easier. Provide them with links to sites where you’re registered, and all they can do all the shopping from their home! If you are having a honeymoon or house fund, this is a good place to include information about that as well.
- Events: This could be a list or calendar of all the events that will take place leading up to the wedding and, of course, the wedding itself. Just remember not to put down any exclusive events, like lunches or the rehearsal dinner.
- FAQ: You can only fit so much on an invitation. Use this page to answer all the potential questions your guests might have, like what to wear, if children are allowed, what the parking/transportation situation is like, etc.
Other pages to consider:
- Travel suggestions info. for out-of-town guests
- “Meet the Wedding Party” with a picture and short bio of each wedding party member
- A place for guests to RSVP (while this sounds much easier than mail, consider how many Facebook events you say you’ll attend and never do… Do with that what you will)
Wedding Hashtag
Everyone loves a good wedding hashtag. It gathers all posts about your wedding in one spot, and is a fun way for your guests to interact. If you are planning on using a hashtag, let your guests know by incorporating it somewhere on your site! This could be in the header, footer, or even on your welcome page.
Keep it Updated
Keep your site updated! As decisions are made and the wedding comes together, make edits and/or additions as necessary. If any changes occur, make sure you update your site and notify your guests. The more updated you keep your site, the more helpful it will be to your guests!
Ready to kickstart the wedding plan? We’ve got your guide for all the wedding planning lingo you need to know here!
like this? check out these related posts:
Popular
Watch
