It Is Easier Than You Think!
If you’re like us, you’ve probably spent HOURS on Pinterest swooning over the most stunning invitations – and imagining you and your fiancé’s names beautifully letter pressed into that oatmeal linen card stock. We could sit here and talk about colour combos, fonts, and paper types ALL. DAY.
We think invitations are an incredible way to offer your guests a little sneak peak into the vibe of your wedding day. You’ll want to fill that glorious deckle edge paper with every single detail of your nuptials.
Unfortunately, beauty such as this can come at a cost. Once you have your main invitation, an info page, and an RSVP card, your prices can really start to skyrocket and you start to wonder if sacrificing wedding cars is worth some paper that may just end up coffee stained on a kitchen bench.
Enter here – the prodigy of weddings in the age of technology. The wedding website.
These days, beautifully pressed underneath ‘dinner and dancing to follow’ on an invitation, you’ll most likely find a URL.
No need to cramp your beautifully designed invite with a bunch of information that most people are aware of already, save that beautiful window into your wedding for the important deets. Save space! Save style! Save paper! Put it all on the great wide world of the inter webs.
In a world that is very fond of overproducing, a website is a great sustainable element. You and your guests both save paper and postage with RSVP’s, and we’re also huge fans of using the website after your wedding date has come and gone, with links to your wedding photos for all your guests to see!
“I Need One Of These Things For My Wedding!” We Hear You Say. You Definitely Do!
There are so many ways to construct your wedding website to make it as simple or as extravagant as you like. You have wedding-centred websites like ‘the knot’ and ‘minted’ who offer templates with a lot of the website pre-done, so all you need is to pick a theme, add some photos and your information and you’re good to go. There’s also places that let you create a website of any sort, like Squarespace and Wix. You might find a little more flexibility here, if you’re after a format that is a little different or you want to customise your layout. Most of these websites offer a limited ‘free’ website creation, but if you want to expand on that, there is normally a fee involved. Have a look around and see what suits you best.
Maybe you’re even more savvy and you can completely create a website from the ground up. Don’t let us stop you, go for it!
If you’re finding that your partner maybe isn’t too enthralled by linen table runner samples and floral options and is feeling a little left out of the wedding planning, this can be a great job for them to take on. It’s creative, it requires a bit of upkeep, and they can make it as simple or as involved as you both want.
Convinced? We thought so. Now that you’re on board, here are half a dozen helpful topics to cover on your website:
THE BASICS – DATE, TIME, LOCATION
You know this one already! We recommend having a separate tab at the top of your website with all this information in one place. Specifying both your ceremony and reception commencement time and address does two amazing things to make your life easier:
It prevents the dreaded ‘latecomer’. You know, the guests who rush down the aisle when the processional music has started? Just before the bride makes her grand entrance? Are you pulling a cringe face right now? Yeah. We thought so.
It satisfies the ‘question-asker’. They’re the type of guests for which it just won’t do to hear the reception location deets from a bridesmaid or trusted family member – it must come from the mouth of the bride and groom.
This is also a great place to put a map of both your ceremony and reception locations if they’re separate. That way your guests know ahead of time the easiest way to get from A to B. It will also help to disperse your crowd post-ceremony!
RSVP + DIETARY REQUIREMENTS
Arguably the most important thing to include, the RSVP function of wedding websites makes creating your attending guest list an easy task. You can even add a section to ask for any dietary requirements for when your friends and family respond! Did this whole guest list thing just get a whole load easier or what? You won’t need to track down any lost snail mail with this beauty, because this handy function will give you the breakdown of who is attending and who can’t make it! We recommend compiling the emails of all your guests, it makes it so easy to upload via a spreadsheet and for the RSVP function to notify you!
THE REGISTRY
Hands up if you feel SUPER awkward about the prospect of your guests asking you if you want money as a gift? You’re not alone! The gift discussion instills fear into even the most confident of couples!
Whether you don’t want gifts, are planning on having a registry, or opting for the ever-popular Wishing Well. Whatever your jam is, a website is a great place to publish your preferences. Find a cute poem if you want a less-harsh way to specify your request or even link your registry! This makes it so much less formal and awkward than popping it on your invitation in teeny tiny font if you’re embarrassed.
THE ACCOMMODATION + TRANSPORT
If you have any guests who a) live more than an hour away or b) really really like to party, chances are you’re going to have people searching for a place to crash close to your venue. Whether it’s a hotel, a caravan park or even a couple of cute Airbnb’s, your website is the best place to link everyone to the closest and easiest options. If you’re even more organised, you can use this function to see where all your guests will be staying, and if you want to organise transport for them, it makes it easier to see their options and pick up/drop off points.
WET WEATHER DETAILS
Ahh, yes. The thing that no couple wants to worry about. If you’re having your ceremony outdoors, a wet weather option is essential. Put the details of your backup venue under this tab so your guests know what to do if the weather proves unfavourable. Rain makes wedding guests panicky, and it’s so easy for someone to be missed by relying on word-of-mouth for a venue change. Information here is easily placed and edited as your wedding day approaches, so your guests can check in if the forecast is looking a little iffy. It also saves you from your forgetful friend calling you at 10am on the morning of your nuptials needing all the details.
PERSONAL SPECIFICATIONS
Your wedding is YOUR DAY. You make the rules. Want an unplugged ceremony? Go for it. Child-free reception and free-flowing bar? It’s all yours! But, you may want to let your guests know of these things prior to the day, so they can make note to put their camera down when you’re venturing down the aisle, and find a babysitter for their kids.
Also use this section of your website to specify dress codes, details on parking, and to specify time and location for the increasingly popular Morning-After brunch – because there’s nothing like a bacon and egg roll and a strong flat white to accompany all the reminiscing from your best day ever!
There you have it! Get creating, lovebirds!
URLS Are The New ‘Repondez, S’il Vous Plait!’
CREDIT: All sample website images from Minted
