How To Create Your Wedding Website
Madonna might have said that we’re living in a material world, but if she were to write that song today, we’d all be carpool karaoke-ing to an ode to our digital world. Everyone from Marks & Spencer to the local off-licence has a website these days, and increasingly, engaged couples are no exception.
Creating a website for your wedding can be a fantastic way to share lots of information with your guests, and help them get as excited as you for your big day.
For the uninitiated, creating a wedding website can be a bit daunting. But, if you’ve got a few basic digital skills, it doesn’t have to be that tricky. Here’s our quick-start guide to creating the best wedding website for the best day of your life!
Budget for your sanity, not just your wallet
How much do you have to spend on your website? If you want loads of whizzy interactive features, you’re likely to need a few pounds or some solid digital skills. If you can keep it simple, however, it’s possible to set up your website quite easily, and for little or even no cost at all.
Don’t forget, though, to consider your own time and stress levels as part of your budget. For some couples it will be cheaper and easier to DIY, but if you’re very busy or really dislike digital or design activities, it might be an investment in your wellbeing to consider hiring a designer who can create a beautifully designed site and take one more task off your to-do list at the end of the workday.
What features does your wedding site need?
This is where you should do a careful analysis and think about what you really need, versus what you want for your wedding website (see ‘budget’). Do you want your friends and family to be able to RSVP on your site? What about submitting other information like dietary or transport requirements?
Or, do you just want to create a one-stop-shop where guests can remind themselves of all the details for your wedding?
The features you select will affect the cost of your website and the time it takes to build. If digital skills aren’t your strong-suit, also consider that the more complex features you incorporate, the greater the likelihood that something may break, so keeping it simple could be the way to go. The last thing you want is to lose track of all your online RSVPs!
Picking the platform to share your wedding online
Once you’ve decided on how you want your wedding website to function, you’ll be able to choose the best platform. There are lots of sites out there now that will allow you to create a simple website for free, such as Wordpress and Wix. You won’t get all the features of their paid versions or a fully customized domain name (e.g. RajAndKate.com) but you will get a nice looking website that’s fairly straightforward to make for beginners.
You can also look at dedicated wedding platforms, such as The Knot and WeddingWire, which are free and often include helpful planning tools, along with a wide variety of templates to choose from.
If you want to go for a fully custom wedding website, there are some reasonably low cost options with beautiful interfaces that you can take advantage of without needing to know how to code. Squarespace is the new-ish kid on this block and has hundreds of templates to choose from, with easy domain name registration as part of the sign-up process.
What should you include on your site?
This is a step that lots of websites stumble over. Many focus on a flashy look and feel, and forget to incorporate the information that users really need.
The best way to think about what to include is to put yourself into your guests’ shoes. When you’ve already been planning for months, you’ll be so familiar with the details of your wedding day that it’s easy to forget that other people don’t know what you know.
Things to consider might be:
● Where the venue is and the best way for guests to get there.
● If you’re providing transport, all the details guests will need - where and what time to meet the bus, and how they will get back home.
● Accommodation options for travelling guests
● Things to do in the local area
● Links to any gift registries
● Special ‘rules’ for your wedding day - for example, many sites no longer allow confetti, or perhaps you want everyone to wear a touch of blue.
Choosing a design
Ideally, your wedding website will match the theme of your day. It could even include a reference to the proposal. Think about fonts, colours and images that align with the look and feel of your wedding: are you having a sleek, city event? Perhaps you’ll choose a design with a simple sans serif font and lots of white space. Or is it a classic country wedding? Maybe you’ll go for a modern cursive font with beautiful images of your venue. With so many wedding website templates to choose from, it’s normally easy (and quite fun) to design a website that perfectly complements your wedding party.
Last but not least
Remember that you’ll likely have some guests who aren’t digital natives. If you want your nan to use your wedding website to RSVP, it’s important to make the navigation and interface as simple as possible to use. Try to avoid lots of different pages and keep the number of ‘clicks’ required to a minimum.
It’s a really good idea to have a friend who’s not involved in the planning test out your website before you send it out into the world. Ask them to look for any broken links or bugs and to tell you honestly if it’s simple and enjoyable to use.
After all, we are living in a digital world, and the best wedding websites should work just as beautifully as the one from that fancy corner shop in Camden.
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