How to Make a Wedding Website

As technology develops and trends change, the wedding industry grows along with it. From the constantly evolving world of wedding dress trends to all of those kitschy things that people seem to love, there’s definitely a level of fleeting trend that impacts many of the ideas you’ll encounter while planning your wedding.

That being said, the idea of a wedding website is far from a fleeting trend. A wedding website can be an indispensable resource for you and your guests in planning everything about your wedding.

However, you may be reading this, thinking that you have no idea about website development or coding. Thankfully, you don’t need to! This is our guide on how to make a wedding website.

What is a Wedding Website? 

A wedding website is a resource made through a software platform that can hold all of the information about your wedding, both for your own reference and for the reference of your guests. It is a central place where they can check up on travel plans, dates, and your gift registry.

It’s also something that you can make totally your own. Despite the limitations of using a pre-made software, your wedding website can totally reflect whatever you want to share with your guests and can thematically echo the vibe of your wedding.

The best time to make your wedding website is before you send out save-the-dates, which should be six months before the wedding based on our timeline. It is best to include the link to the wedding website on the save-the-dates, so they can immediately check out your hard work!

 

Why Do I Need a Wedding Website?

As stated above, the wedding website is not a fleeting trend. They are here to stay!

A wedding website is a good thing to have because it’s an easy and accessible way to communicate with your guests about the big day. At this point, guests are used to them and will look to it for a reference point for everything about your day.

Obviously, if you are a bit of a technophobe and are opposed to making a wedding website for some reason, you can make do without it– they were able to do it in the pre-Internet days– but if you’re on the fence, it’s a good thing to do and really not that hard. Keep reading for all you need on how to make a wedding website.

 

How to Make a Wedding Website

The first place to start is to choose a platform to host your wedding website. This is something that comes with a ton of options, and it all depends on how easy you want it to be.

You can read a full write-up on the 10 best wedding websites for brides here, but the important thing to keep in mind is that different platforms have different benefits.

Once you’ve chosen your platform, the rest of the process is pretty easy, it’s all about filling in the necessary information! The rest of this article will cover what you should add to your wedding website, as well as some do’s and don’ts. 

 

Decorating Your Wedding Website

One of the things you may be most intimidated by in making a wedding website is the design aspect. Thankfully, most wedding website platforms will have a good amount of options of formats and designs so you can have some creative freedom over your website.

When designing your wedding website, you want the color palette and overall vibe to fit that of your wedding’s general decor style.

For example, if your wedding is super outdoorsy and boho, you may choose a website with trees or flowers on it. If your wedding is chic and modern, a simple black-and-white design may do. This will give guests a feeling for the sort of theme you’re going for.

 

The Basics

Obviously, your wedding website should contain all of the basic info about your wedding, including where it is, what day it’s on, and what time the ceremony and reception start. While this may seem obvious, it’ll probably be important to your guests to double-check these items as they start to plan for the big day.

You also may want to include other things, like the dress code (Black tie optional? Cocktail attire?), or the plus one rules. You may also want to have the dinner options menu, so they can double-check if they want the fish or the chicken.

 

Travel and Lodging Information

Obviously, another important facet of the wedding website is that it contains travel information for guests. This is a great place to mention if you’ve taken out a wedding guest block at a hotel or where you recommend for people to stay if they are coming from out of town.

This is extra important if you’re hosting a destination wedding. It’s one thing for folks to need to book a hotel after a few hours’ drive, but it’s another if your wedding is out of the country or in an exotic destination. This is a great place to let them know about flights and booking, as well as what you’ll be doing leading up to the wedding.

 

Local Activities and Events

Another thing you may want to mention on the wedding website are other activities guests may want to engage in during the days leading up to the wedding. This can be everything from great restaurants in the area to interesting museums or nature areas. People will want to have fun when they travel for your wedding, so let them know what they can do!

You also may host things, like a pre-wedding party or an after-wedding brunch. The wedding website is a good place to let guests know about things like that, and to invite them to such festivities.

 

Your Wedding Registry

The best part about a wedding website is that you can link it to your registry, with the option of some platforms working directly with the registry to display on the page. This can let guests know what you want, what’s already been bought, and where to buy through.

You can also set up funds for charitable donations on a wedding website through a registry, if you’d prefer that over gifts. You also may be able to see how much has been donated as you keep checking up on the website prior to the big day. For more on what to put on your wedding registry, you can read 100+ ideas here.

 

The Finishing Touches

Obviously, there are also some great personal elements to add to your wedding website. A lot of couples will decorate it with engagement photos or photos that track their relationship, from the early stages of dating up through your ongoing engagement.

You may also want to write-up a cute little story about your relationship or about the engagement itself. This is an opportunity for guests– especially those who may be distant, like extended family or long-time family friends– to get to know you as a couple and as individuals, too.

 

Wedding Website Do’s and Don’ts

While the wedding website may be a new invention for the purpose of making your life easier, it’s also a social transaction, and therefore has some etiquette behind it. Most importantly, though, your wedding website is a place for sharing information, not for getting feedback or interacting directly with your guests.

DO Password Protect Your Website

One thing that some platforms have the option for is to password protect your website. This is definitely a good thing to do if you can. By password protecting your website, you’re protecting your privacy and avoiding internet spam and other schemes.

It also prevents wedding crashers or even worse things, like creeps and stalkers, who will know where you are on an exact day. Even though these are definitely extreme scenarios, it’s important to be mindful of your safety!

 

DON’T Include Invite-Only Events

A definite don’t? Mentioning exclusive wedding events on the website, like the rehearsal dinner or a friends-only afterparty. There’s absolutely nothing tackier than making your guests feel excluded from events because they’re not close enough to you.

Having these events is okay, especially something like a wedding party-only rehearsal dinner, but definitely keep it to a private text chat than broadcast it on the website.

 

Online RSVP – Maybe Do, Maybe Don’t

You may also think that it will just be easier to allow guests to RSVP over the wedding website. While you may want to experiment with this, it’s still not all that commonplace, and some people feel very strongly that it’s tacky or only appropriate for a very casual wedding.

There’s also still a good amount of the older generation that struggle with the internet, so you’d have to make sure they can catch on!

However, if you want to try it and feel like it’ll be easier, it’s probably the next logical stuff in digitalizing the wedding industry, and many website platforms allow it as an option. Let’s call this one a “Maybe Do, Maybe Don’t”.

 

More about Wedding Planning

Here at Yeah Weddings, we’re here to help with all of your wedding planning needs. From wedding transportation on the big day to making a DIY planning binder, keep reading for advice and assistance for every step of your planning journey.