The biggest question of your life has been asked—and you’ve said yes! Now, it’s time for the planning and the amazing, stressful, fun part of making your dream wedding come true. While you start researching dresses, meeting with reception sites, and carefully selecting your bridal party, have you considered keeping everyone in the loop with a wedding website?

Whether a traditional or more modern approach, wedding websites can help tell the tale of your love to your friends and family, keep guests updated on your wedding progress, and easily share important information on upcoming wedding-related events. Your wedding website is like your open-book love story that doubles as an organizer and calendar. It’s a wonderful tool and we are going to show you how to make the best of your wedding website! 

Showcase Your Wedding Theme on your Website

Your wedding theme and color palette is the glue that holds the entire day together and is at the core of your planning. When you are creating your wedding website, make sure to carry through your design on the webpage. After all, it will give you guests an up-close-and-personal look at your style as a couple.

Your website should make it very clear on the type of wedding you are having—whether it’s a black-tie formal event or a low-key, backyard BBQ.

Keep Your Wedding Website Password Protected

Most of the wedding website platforms offer you the option to password protect your website, and we highly recommend you opt into this. Why? Your wedding website contains very personal and private information. From your wedding venue and date to pictures of you, your groom, and the people that are a part of your wedding to your mailing address, these bits of information are crucial to guests but not intended for the eyes of just any stranger.

PRO TIP: You can use the access code provided to you by the platform or upgrade to a custom password that will be much easier for guests to remember. These will make sure only YOUR guests see the details of your big day.

Include All the Travel Details—Your Out of Town Guests Will Thank You!

Travel details are important, especially when it comes to weddings with a lot of out of town guests who may be unfamiliar with your local area or for couples opting to do a destination wedding. Take time to research and arrange easy travel directions and details that will make your guests’ stay a breeze.

Give your guests the 4-1-1 on travel and local accommodations. If you have room blocks at a local hotel or two, let them know right on the website and give them all the contact information you have. Additionally, if you have secured any form of discounts, airport shuttles, or rental cars, let your guests know what those are.

Give Your Guests the Low-Down on Local Attractions + Activities

Your big day is a BUSY day from the moment you wake up, however, many of your guests do not have such a hefty schedule. They only have to show up ready for the ceremony and reception. Your guests, especially out-of-towners, will have a few hours to kill before they head to the wedding.

Include local recommendations to some of your favorite locations and things to do. Share some fun facts about local spots you and your significant other love and give your guests ideas about where to spend their time before the ceremony. It gives them a glimpse into your story while also giving them something new and exciting to look forward to doing.

If you don’t have a ton of local spots that are special to you and your partner, recommend some local coffee shops or restaurants where your guests can go grab a latte or brunch.

Include Your Registry Information

Your wedding website is the perfect place to include all your registry information. While many people give money at weddings, your old-fashioned traditionalists may show up with a gift straight from your registry. Include links to your online registries so your guests can easily shop for you and your significant other.3

This is also a great place to ask for contributions towards your honeymoon, house fun, or even charitable donations. You can add a few lines about how you plan to use the funds, so your guests feel as though their money is going to something meaningful and important to your life together.

Include Your Timeline of Events

If you’ve planned events around your wedding day that all your guests are invited to, make sure to include them on your website. Give your guests the low-down on locations, times, and dress code for each event so they know what to expect and when to show up.

If transportation is pre-arranged for your guests for any of the events, make sure they know where they can get to their shuttle and how frequently the shuttles leave, etc. Keep everyone on the same page with the same information in a central location—your wedding website!

You May Want to Ditch These Topics on Your Wedding Website

While there are so many amazing ways to clue your friends and family in on important wedding details with your website, there are also things you should leave off.

• Do not mention invite-only events. While everyone on your wedding guest list will be able to see and view your wedding website, not everyone on there will be invited to every activity you have planned from engagement to “I Do”. Exclusive events such as the rehearsal dinner, bachelorette party, or engagement parties should be left off the website.
• Do not use online RSVPs. For one thing, it is kind of tacky to ask for an online RSVP to your wedding. You might as well have sent an e-vite to a backyard BBQ or Susie’s 3^rd Although the ease and money-saving of an online RSVP may seem tempting, think of the number of people who fail to RSVP to your typical Facebook event. Additionally, older guests such as grandma may be unable to navigate your tech the way you hope. Avoid missing RSVPs or having your count completely off and stick to traditional mail-in RSVPs.
• Don’t write a novel for your guests. Your wedding website is meant to be a glimpse into your life as a couple and your big day ahead. It’s a spot to showcase your love story and your bridal party with a quick overview. Showcase each bridal party member with a short 2-3 sentences on how you met and a fun fact. Show your guests all the highlights without diving in deep—that’s unnecessary and a waste of your precious planning time.

Ready to Create Your Website? Try One of These Platforms!

Now that you know what to include on your website and what can be left off, here are some amazing platforms where you can build your super easy website to share with guests. According to theKnot.com, these are the top 9 wedding website builders you can use in 2020 to showcase your big day!

1. The Knot—this website builder is designed for anyone to use. It’s free, easy, and can be completely integrated with The Knot App and your planning tools. Choose from beautiful designs and layouts that speak to you and your partner.
2. Squarespace—this website builder is going to be a nominal fee of $12 per month for 12 months and an additional $20 if you want a custom domain. Squarespace allows you to customize all your elements and build a professional site. However, you will be paying for features you just don’t need on a wedding website and it does not have wedding-specific features, such as registries and RSVP integration.
3. Wix—this website builder is free, or for $10 a month you can get the premium version with a custom domain. Layouts on Wix are modern and chic and the entire drag-and-drop system is easy to use. However, Wix also does not include wedding-specific features or registry integration.
4. Riley & Grey—the wedding website builder you’ve been looking for, however, it is going to cost you! Riley & Grey costs $35 a month, however, everything is highly customizable, and the look and features are top-notch. Unfortunately, this website can take a lot of time to set up and not be worth the hassle to some who are on a time crunch.
5. WeddingWire—get everything you need (except the custom domain name) for free with WeddingWire. Hotels, digital planning tools, and password protection make this website builder an optimal choice for couples. However, if you are looking for pizzazz you may want to look elsewhere—WeddingWire gives your guests all the essentials with not much appeal to the eyes.
6. Appy Couple—Take your design further! If you are a tech-savvy couple, Appy Couple is the perfect platform for you. This creates your very own wedding app for either $49 or $149 depending on the options you select. This platform has all the bells and whistles, is extremely interactive, and is beautifully designed to boot. The downside, for your guests to fully view your beautiful app, they will have to download it themselves. Not to mention, it is a pricey option and may not be in your wedding planning budget.
7. Minted—Style meets quality on the Minted website. Couples can get the free limited version or upgrade for a one-time fee of $20 to the premium version. Minted offers unique designs, ease of use, and integrates your wedding style flawlessly. However, you need to manually link your registry and most of the key features are only available in the premium version—so you’ll most likely be forced to hand over the $20 upgrade fee.
8. Zola—Hey millennials, we have a trendy option you’ll not want to miss! Zola offers you so many wedding integrative tools, such as guest lists and private events. For the low price of free, Zola offers an easy website builder that is chic and classy. However, if you are not using the Zola registry, this app can appear limiting in both its capabilities and design options.
9. Joy—Another free website builder, Joy offers a personal wedding website app for your guests. Send announcements, allow guests to upload photos, and send digital invites to events. The downside to Joy is the lack of design availability and the lack of wedding tool integration.

Time to Go Build Your Wedding Website!

There are really so many options out there for your wedding website, and if you are tech-savvy, even more options are available, such as WordPress or Weebly. Find the tools and space that fit your comfort zone and build and quick and easy website that really showcases your big day!

Which wedding website builder did you and your significant other use? We would love to hear all about it!