It’s time: You and your partner are building your wedding website. These days, wedding websites can accompany save the dates and formal invitations. They serve as ways to offer guests information about the wedding, answer questions, provide links to wedding registries, help people RSVP and can be a great central location for any miscellaneous wedding stuff.
Since this may be your first time building a wedding site, here’s everything you need to make sure you include on yours for all your guests.
- All the basics: Who, what, when, where and why. Tell your guests where the wedding is, what time it starts and ends, any ceremony and reception venue information and what date they need to RSVP by.
- Anything and everything about the location. Where should guests stay if they’re not planning to go home after the wedding? Even if you’re having a fairly local wedding, this is important to note because some people may not drive home the same night, especially if they plan to drink alcohol. What should guests see and do in the area?
- Travel. Additionally, include any information you have about travel. This is particularly important if you’re hosting your wedding somewhere not a lot of your guests live, but it can even be useful for a local wedding: What if not all your guests drive or own a car? It’s good to include multiple means of travel to the wedding location and give people a rundown of what to expect.
- What guests should wear. Give them everything they need to know about any dress code and a brief explanation of what’s appropriate for your wedding.
- Logistics and schedule. You might not have all these details figured out months in advance of the wedding, but try to provide guests with as much as you can when you’re able to. Let them know what time the wedding starts, what order festivities will happen in and what time you expect to wrap up. If there will be any wedding-related events happening, like a rehearsal dinner or day after brunch, let guests know about those as well.
- Food and drink. It’s important for people to know what they might be served at your wedding, especially if they have any dietary restrictions. Give your guests an idea of what the meals might be like (and whether you’ll have gluten-free, vegan or vegetarian options) and who they should contact if they do have dietary needs. It’s also helpful to let guests know about alcohol that may or may not be served, particularly for sober guests who want this information upfront so they can be prepared.
- Accessibility. You might not think you need to include this, but it’s better to have it than not and realize one of your guests really needs it. Your guests may have disabilities, chronic illnesses or access needs you don’t know about and they’ll appreciate you including the section. Cover things like whether your event will be accessible for wheelchair users or people with mobility aids, whether you’ll have seating available, if there will be loud music and dancing, if the event will be fragrance-free and what people with access needs should do about contacting you.
- Your registry. If you’re having a wedding registry, link to that on your website. If you’re setting up donation funds—for yourselves or for a nonprofit—link to those. If you’re requesting that guests not give any gifts or money, it would be a good thing to note this on your wedding website so people are aware.
- Wedding party. You may or may not be having a wedding party but if you are, you can list them on your wedding website. It’s totally optional, but something you may want to include.
- Plus ones. It’s up to you and your partner how you address plus ones (will guests be allowed a plus one? only certain guests? invite-only?) but you could clear up the confusion on your wedding website.
- Are kids allowed? If you’re having a child-free wedding, your guests should know this so they don’t bring theirs along. If kids are allowed, it might be beneficial to talk about any areas of the wedding that are especially child-friendly (like a play area) or that kids should stay away from (like a fire breathing contest).
- Phones and social media. Are you planning an unplugged wedding or will any aspects of the day be phone-free? Do you have a wedding hashtag planned? Do you want guests to tag you in their photos and videos? This might also be a good place to mention if you’re hiring a photo booth.
- RSVPs. Let your guests know when and how to RSVP. You might be using your wedding website as a way to track RSVPs or you might be relying on paper cards, but either way, the information should be readily available.
- A countdown. These can be a fun way to remind people that hey, it’s just 150 days until the wedding! Plus you can use the countdown to hype yourself or freak yourself out as it gets closer.
- Your personal history. If you want, you and your partner can also use your wedding website to tell your story. How did you two meet and fall in love? How long have you been together? When and how did you get engaged? You can get creative here and include photos, videos and other artifacts of your life together.
- An FAQ section. If you and your partner run into any common questions that aren’t covered elsewhere, consider setting up a Frequently Asked Questions page for anything miscellaneous. This can be especially helpful if you’re having a unique wedding with a lot of moving parts.
Fin Leary Lavoie
Fin Leary Lavoie is an award-winning editor and journalist. He is currently the Communications Manager of the nonprofit We Need Diverse Books and on the faculty of Emerson College. Leary Lavoie was the senior editor for Equally Wed Magazine from August 2018 to March 2020. His work has been published in New York Times, Washington Post, Refinery29, Healthline, Teen Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Boston Globe Magazine, and more. In 2017, he was awarded a Bookbuilders of Boston scholarship for his dedication to amplifying marginalized voices and advocating for an equitable publishing and media industry. Fin lives in Boston with his wife and their two cats. You can find Fin on Instagram @finleary.
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very nice blog. Points are nicely described. I also have wedding website that is shaadidukaan.com and i would like to convey these points in to my website