Don’t include these and you may as well not even have a personal wedding website…
There’s no question that every engaged couple today needs to have a wedding website. Personal wedding websites are to give your guests the information and tools they need, just as much as it is for you to share your news, photos and updates.
Your guests NEED certain information from you, and you need to collect pertinent information from them. Make sure you follow these basics to assure your wedding webpage is useful for everyone and is a successful tool in your wedding planning arsenal!
Already have a website? Compare it with our list…
1 The Nitty Gritty (That most forget!)
Yes, this seems like a super obvious one, but are you REALLY answering these basic details properly? These details are especially important for guests that live out of town.
- Is there special parking or transportation?
- Do people need to car pool or find a shuttle?
- Is there a dress code for this event?
- Does anyone need to bring anything?
- Can they bring a guest or children?
- Should you provide city transit details?
Be sure to include all the details for each event, your guests aren’t privy to the research you have done for each location.
Are you embedding a map for each event? We allow you to embed a map for every single event and location (without HTML, just type the address), or, you can even embed a full width Google map with our HTML section. We have you covered. 🙂
2 ‘Total RSVP’ (Get EVERYTHING you need)
Many couples offer online RSVP’ing for ease of use and the savings. Maybe most importantly though, it makes your planning much easier, all your RSVP responses in one centralized location.
Collecting RSVP information online means you can collect more data than with regular RSVP cards. You can collect the obvious details like guest attendance, who they’re bringing, meal choices, etc. But with eWedding, you have two choices for collecting RSVPs. We have an Open RSVP and a Closed RSVP system.
- Open RSVP: Anyone can see your RSVPs and can RSVP by entering their name and guests names. Simple and quick to setup.
- Closed RSVP: Based 100% off your guest list. You add your guests and select which RSVP’s they see. Your guests then search by their name on your website and can only see and RSVP for the events you set for them. They aren’t allowed to RSVP for anyone other than a plus or other guests you connected to them. You have complete control with Closed RSVP and there will never be the need to do the awful un-invite.
You can also use our custom question feature to collect meal choices, allergy information, song requests or any other data you need while guests are RSVP’ing.
Use your online RSVP manager to see at a color coded glance who’s coming and who isn’t. Don’t leave any stragglers until the week before, hit them up again as soon as possible. Ah yes, last but not least, eWedding offers you real-time text notifications to your phone when your guests RSVP on your site!
3 Request Guest Information
It seems like wedding planning is about half what you want and the other half is what your guests want or need. Not collecting feedback and answers from guests can be devastating to the success of the most important event in your life. You NEED to collect data from everyone, make sure you collect it far ahead of time on your wedding webpage.
- Collect song requests
- Collect food allergy information
- Collect addresses
- Collect travel and transportation requirements
- Collect babysitting requirements for events
- Collect stories from your childhood to share on your site
- Request photos from when you were kids
There’s so much information you need from your guests, be sure to ask these questions on your wedding website (‘Requests’ section) to allow you to plan far ahead and not be left guessing.
4 People LOVE Timelines
Yes, many of your close friends and family members know your story, but does everyone? Your extended family and the rest of your friends are dying to know it intimately. They maybe know when you got engaged, but do they know when you met, when your first date was, first kiss?
Laying out these relationship milestones on an actual timeline, with date, photo and description makes your story so amazing, and real, to your guests. It answers those questions they have been wondering and allows you to share them intimately.
Don’t skimp with just a story, add a detailed timeline where your family and friends can really appreciate and understand the history of you and your fiancé.
5 “Who the heck is that?!”
Yup, those 5 words are uttered at every single wedding and event. Nip that in the bud quickly and easily by doing all the introductions on your wedding website first.
Adding your wedding party is a given, but did you add some real history with each of your attendants? Let your family and friends know the personal story, not just a name with the mug shot. eWedding allows you to share as much history as you want with each wedding party member, let your guests really understand your relationship with your closest friends.
- “Is that her dad?”
- “Is that a twin sister?!”
- “Does she have a brother?”
- “Is that family or a school friend?”
The list goes on past your wedding party, you should introduce your families online as well! Why not add another wedding party section and rename it to ‘Family’ and let your guests get to know your family so that they can put a face to all the names in your program. You can also add photo albums to introduce family and other important groups that you want to introduce ahead of time.
Your guests will thank you, figuring out who is who is ALWAYS something each guest spends time trying to figure out at your wedding events.
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6 Cake, Cupcakes or Candy Bar?
Make your family and friends feel like part of the wedding by sharing your planning journey on your blog. Not only is it fun for you to journal your planning process, it’s fun for your family to be able to follow along.
Blogging about your planning can also lead to another great perk, advice! You can detail the options for different decisions you have to make and collect feedback. Share your headache of trying to decide between a wedding cake, cool cupcakes or the trendy candy bar options for dessert. Ask people to share their thoughts in a wall post or you could even setup a custom poll and collect real numbers!
Things you can blog about on your website:
- What you’re wearing (but no pics!)
- Color and theme options
- Menu options
- Show closeup of rings
- Your venues
- Travel / accommodation information
- Upcoming wedding parties and events
- Stress levels 🙂
- Thanking those who are helping you
- Vendor reviews
- Requesting help
- Intimate stories (When you met, first kiss, engagement, etc.)
Collecting feedback or help in decision making isn’t required, but sharing the process and your personal journey would be amazing. After all, you’re planning the biggest day of your life, this is definitely something your family and friends will appreciate being included in on your wedding website.
7 The Forgotten Sections
There’s no such thing as a ‘little’ thing when it comes to wedding planning, but all the details need to be ironed out. The most important ‘little things’ are the ones that need shared with your guests, the things that impact them as they come together to celebrate you.
What are some of those little things that you need to share with your guests on your wedding webpage?
- FAQ’s
We love it when we see couples add an ‘FAQ’ section on eWedding. Being proactive makes sure your guests are happy and not left scratching their heads or worrying about little things they think you may still need to share with them. - Attire
Yes, lots of couples have different dress codes for different events. Make it easy on your guests by creating an ‘Attire’ section if there’s any events that should be clarified. - Children
Are kids invited to the ceremony? What about the reception? Do you have kids meals available? Are you offering babysitting or any other special events for kids. Be sure to clarify your wishes and options for children at your events. - Travel/Accommodation
If you have ‘out of towners’ coming you need to make sure they feel 100% comfortable in the plans and arrangements that have been made for them. From picking up at the airport, to hotel or home stay options, car rentals, things to see and do and more. Take care of your travelers!
These are just a few examples of the ‘little things’ that you can take care of on your personal wedding website. Or, you can just have everyone call you all day every day. 😉
8 Community
You family and friends ARE your community. They are your co-workers, your aunts, uncles, college friends, well, everyone you care about! They are all coming together, for at least one day of their lives, to celebrate YOU.
Your website is the ‘hub’, if you will, for this celebration. Why? because from the day you share your website URL to long after the wedding itself, this is where your community comes to celebrate YOU!
Your wedding website is an extension of your wedding day itself. This is where all your family and friends read your complete history, where they can understand who and why each person is in your wedding party, who everyone in your family is, see all your pics and write to you, and others on your Wall. Your website isn’t just for YOU, it’s for your COMMUNITY!
We allow you to add unlimited new sections, so you could add a new ‘Wall’ section, rename it ‘Rides’ and allow your community to write to each other about car pooling, or other travel issues that may pop up.
Use your unlimited polls and quizzes to see how many guests are interested in going to the local aquarium one day. Or, collect feedback in your ‘Requests’ section, on which restaurants people would like to get together at.
There’s so many things you can do, offer and collect from your guests to make the days surrounding your events so amazing for your family and friends. Don’t leave your ‘community’ twiddling their thumbs or wondering if there’s anything to do.
9 Crazy Big Pics!
Your website visitors EXPECT a lot of great photos. Not just great photos, but large, clear, amazing photos!
We offer you a very large slideshow right near the top of your wedding website. We even crop the photos you upload to fit perfectly. You can even add more slideshows and add more photos to each slideshow if you wish, there are no limits!
Slideshows AND photo albums? Heck yeah! Add unlimited giant pics to your photo albums as well! Add an album of childhood pics, your engagement pics, travel pics, add as many albums as you like.
We also lets your guests ‘love’ your pics and comment on your pics. How will you know if that happens? We will email and text you, of course!
Get uploading!
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These are just nine of the many reasons your wedding website is built for your guests. Whether your family and friends are coming from next-door, or from around the world, you need to make sure you answer all their questions and provide all the details they really need.
Your wedding website is tool to help plan and organize your wedding events. It’s also the ‘fun hub’ for all the interactions between your wedding guests for the months leading up to your big day, make sure you use it to its fullest extent.
Posted by Amy Kelly
Amy is a Co-Founder of eWedding.com and the mother of 5 crazy little ones. Along with her husband Matt, they have developed the Net’s most advanced wedding website builder.
Best of both worlds
I started to create my wedding website using multiple different “builders.” Ewedding was definitely the best one and the one I decided on keeping. It has the best of both worlds, built in features as well as options to customize. The service is impressive as well. I had a question I submitted online and within hours the owner had reached out to me to answer my question. I wish all websites were like that!!!
Brandy & Chris TX, USA
