Happy Wednesday ladies and gents! Wednesdays are for wedding talk, so today’s wedding scoop is going to highlight a slightly less traditional wedding “to do”- wedding websites. These are a fun and creative way for you to keep your guests updated in real time with what is going on and what to expect. It’s a good introduction where you can add a little bit of background story, let your guests know what to wear, and even give them directions and links to your wedding registries. So without further adieu, here are some basic “Dos and Don’ts” when it comes to creating your very own personalized wedding website.
Do find the right website for you.
This one is key. I ordered my invites from minted.com, but I have my wedding website created on Basic Invite. Basic Invite had a really great, easy to use, and simple website page. Do you want to know the best part? It. was. free. Yes, you read that correct, completely free. Overall what they offered for their wedding website just worked well for what I wanted.
Don’t use it strictly for RSVP’s.
Our wedding website (and most wedding websites) give you the RSVP option right there from the page. I have that feature turned on for my website, however, I am still sending out paper invites with paper RSVP’s. Let’s be honest, the elderly you are inviting to your wedding are not going to RSVP via website or anything electronic for that matter. It’s just not going to happen. As if getting your RSVP’s back before the deadline isn’t hard enough, let’s not add further stress.
Do specify dress code.
This might not be a huge deal to some, but I felt like I needed to specify that my guests cannot wear jeans to my wedding. I put something along the lines of “formal, but tuxedo’s, suits and ties are not necessary. Don’t be afraid to wear some khakis but please no jeans!”
I’m from a small town in Northern Michigan, yes. People wear jeans with skoal rings to weddings occasionally.
Don’t include information that is exclusive.
If you are having a rehearsal dinner, bridal shower, couples shower, bachelor party, bachelorette party -that information does not need to be privy to everyone that visits your page. You can let the people who should attend these events separately on the where and when for that. This will avoid mega confusion.
Do include addresses, and detailed directions.
Since most of my guests are from out of town or out of state, they are going to need all of the help they can get as far as directions go. Thankfully my venue is really in the middle of nowhere so the traffic shouldn’t be too bad and the roads being so few and far between should be pretty hard to miss. I would highly recommend putting addresses, landmarks, and road names for your guests to get to where they need to be. In many cases if you are having your wedding in a place where there are multiple buildings that need to be utilized you should mention that as well. This will help avoid any frustrations during your wedding day, and lessen the amount of people calling your parents and in-laws for directions. It’s a win-win for everyone!
Don’t forget to have fun with it! I wrote up a little blurb about the day that Brian proposed to me and included a handful of pictures just to make it fun! I wanted it to be personal and something that was fun for our guests to peak at. Again, this is kind of a sneak peak into what to expect, just like the wedding invites.
I’ll share my wedding website, in case anyone wanted to see!
Emma & Brian’s Wedding Website
Until next time!
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Em
Picking up the Pendricks 