What to Include on Your Wedding Website
A wedding website is definitely something that I want to have when my wedding comes around. Here are a few things I thought of that would be important to include.
There are a lot of places where you can sign up for a free wedding website. All of these places have a variety of templates that you can choose from to match your wedding style and colors.
Maybe you want to set up your own website and domain name. After the wedding, you could easily transform it into a blog where you can record your adventures! I always recommend Bluehost* (costs about $3.95 a month and it’s super easy to set up) for hosting and GoDaddy* for domain names (get your first domain name for $0.99 for the first year).
*these links are affiliate links that help support this site.
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First and Foremost
Decide if you want the details of your wedding to be public. If you’re worried about wedding crashers or addition people showing up that weren’t invited, there are a few different things you can do to make your website private.
If you’re using a free wedding website builder, many of them offer a password protected feature. With this option, you would choose a simple password that guests can use to view the details of your wedding. Simply include this password with your invitations so that only the people you’ve invited will have the password.
Also, most wedding websites are defaulted NOT to show up in search engines. Leave this setting as default so you don’t have to worry about anyone searching your name and finding your site. However, if your site is password protected, you don’t need to worry because they wouldn’t be able to access your page anyway.
This is what the settings look like on a The Knot wedding website
If you’re using your own hosting with WordPress, I would recommend creating one-page with all your wedding day specific details and then password protecting that page. You can find the publishing settings on the right sidebar of the page you’re editing under “Visibility”.
You can only do this one page at a time, that’s why I suggest putting everything that’s sensitive on one page. Your other pages with photos, registry information, your story, etc can be public.
The Obvious Details
This is the basic information that would be found on any traditional wedding invitation. This information should be the first things your visitor sees!
Bride and Groom’s names
Wedding Date & Time
Ceremony location
Reception Location
BONUS: Add a wedding countdown that displays how many days until your wedding.
Location Information
Be sure to show separate information for the ceremony and the reception is they are being held at separate locations. Location specific information can include:
a map for people to get directions
handicap accessibility
parking information
Make sure that you include the full address, including city and state, for out-of-town guests who need to make travel arrangements and get directions.
Online RSVP
One of the most convenient features of a wedding website is online RSVPs. Instead of waiting for your guests to mail back their RSVP cards, simply put the link to your wedding website on the invitation (with the password, if required) and ask them to RSVP online.
Some older people may not be accustom for feel comfortable with RSVPing online, so you could still provide an alternative option for them to mail, call, email, etc.
Many of the free wedding websites include their own RSVP system. If you’re using The Knot you can upload your guests first and they will only allow those people to RSVP, or you can allow anyone to RSVP. They give you the option when setting up your website.
If you’re using a WordPress website, you can create a free form for guests to fill out (I like to use JotForm). Again, you’ll probably want to put this on your password protected page so that only your invites can RSVP.
Hotel Room Block Info
Many wedding venue’s offer a block of hotel rooms as part of your venue cost. Make sure to include the details for the available hotel rooms on your wedding website.
Make sure to list all nearby hotels with the nightly rates and contact information for each. You can also have an area for Airbnb options, showing what neighborhoods or areas to find a place close to the venue.
Lastly, if your venue has onsite accommodations, let your guests know there are spots available for them to stay on site.
Area Amenities for Out-of-Towners
Your out-of-town guests will probably come at least a day before and stay a day later. Include details for nearby restaurants, entertainment, etc. Showing area attractions will help your out-of-town guests fill up their free time and turn their trip into a vacation.
Wedding Timeline
From the pre-wedding events to the official send-off, let your guests know what events are scheduled. You’ll want to include the start and end times, who is invited (family-only, all guests, etc.), details about the activities, the addresses to each location, and the appropriate dress code for each event.
Rehearsal time and place (immediate family & wedding party only)
Rehearsal dinner time and place (immediate family & wedding party only)
Wedding ceremony time and place (all guests)
Reception time and place (all guests)
Send-off time (all guests)
The more information you can provide about each event, the better. This will help reduce the number of questions you’ll receive and it will help ensure that everyone arrives at the right place at the right time.
Gift Registry Information
Many people like to get a wedding gift for the new couple and will want to know where they are registered. Post links to all the places where you’re registered. Guests can then find your list and even make their wedding gift purchases online.
Also, make sure that you include an address for where you would like the packages to be sent in case your guests decide to have gifts shipped directly to you.
Some great places to register are:
You could also add a honeymoon fund where people can donate online to help raise money! Wedding websites often include a honeymoon fund option. If you’re setting up a WordPress website, you could embed a PayPal donate button or link to a GoFundMe page.
Setup honeymoon fund on The Knot wedding website
Your Wedding Hashtag
Wedding hashtags are a new trend in weddings these days. It’s a great way for your guests to share pictures of your wedding.
If you want your wedding hashtag to be used, make sure it’s visible all over your website, on your invitations, and on everything you share on social media. Make sure that everyone knows your hashtag so they know to use it.
Contact Information
There will inevitably be questions and people will want to contact you. Make sure to provide your preferred contact method; email, phone number (call or text), etc.
Also, include an address where guests can send gifts and cards.
Pictures, Pictures, Pictures!
Now is the time to show all those fun old pictures of the two of you. Whether it’s the embarrassing baby pictures or the cute pictures of you two as a couple, your wedding website is a great place to display them.
Share all of your engagement pictures for guests to look at as well!
It’s also a good place to share pictures of your wedding venue so that you’re guests have an idea of what to expect.
Display Your Parents & Wedding Party
Think of your wedding website as a glorified wedding invitation. Many traditional invitations give the names of the parents of the bride and groom. Your wedding website is the same, but why not show pictures too? This makes it extra fun for your family and memorable.
Your wedding party helped you plan the wedding, it’s only right that they get their place on the wedding website too. Your wedding program will likely list of their names, but your wedding website will allow you to share pictures. It might also be fun to share some stories and interesting facts about each person and how you know them. Have fun with it!
Wedding Attire
Depending on the theme of your wedding, you might want to tell people what to wear. It might be kind of awkward for a guest to show up in a three-piece suit when you’re having a casual jeans and cowboy boots wedding. 🙂
Casual – A casual wedding is one where guests can basically wear whatever they’d like. Ladies can wear a summer dress and men can wear a button-down or polo shirt with dress pants.
Beach Formal – Beach formal indicates casual, but not bikinis and swim trunks casual… it’s mean to still be a formal affair. This might mean a summer dress and sandals for women and a linen shirt, dress shorts, and sandals for men.
Semi-Formal – This is a halfway point between casual and formal. We’re not talking tuxedos, but we’re also not talking dress pants and a button-down. Women should wear a nice cocktail dress and men suite wear a suit or sport coat with a tie.
Formal Attire or Black Tie (Optional) – This indicates that the wedding party will be dressed in formal attire and it’s optional for guests to do the same. This is very common for most weddings. Women should wear a long evening gown or pantsuit and men should wear a dark suit or tux.
Black Tie – This indicates a formal even where men should wear tuxedos and women should wear a formal gown.
White Tie – As the most formal of all wedding attire, this is the dress code you could see at a White House kind of event. Men would wear a long-tail tuxedo and the women wear a full-length ball gown.
Honeymoon Details (because you know they’re gonna ask!)
If you want to eliminate a barrage of questions, answer the obvious one. Where are you going on your honeymoon? It’s probably one of the most commonly asked questions!
It’s understandable that maybe you want this to be private information, but you could at least say something like “Our honeymoon plans are Top Secret! Stay tuned!” so that you can eliminate a lot of people asking.
If you don’t mind sharing, you could post a few pictures of your destination, share some of the fun sights your plan to see, etc. This would also be a good place to link to your honeymoon fund if you want to take donations for your trip.
Have fun with it! Maybe you could make a Honeymoon Hashtag and let people know that you’ll be using that hashtag on your honeymoon pictures so they can see all of them in one place.
Comments Section
Make your website interactive by allowing people to leave comments. Some well wishers will want to send their congrats right away.
You could also encourage people to share fun stories and memories of the bride and groom. (You can often moderate comments before they go out or delete them if they were posted automatically… some stories are just too embarrassing 🙂 )
Tell People Who They Can Bring
You know what your budget is and how many people you’re planning on. Things can get a little tricky when it comes to “plus ones” and children.
Some people choose to have an adult only wedding and/or reception. It’s a good idea to indicates somewhere on your wedding website if children are or are not invited. If children are invited to the ceremony but not the reception, be sure to indicate that. This will help eliminate the number of questions, emails, phone calls, etc that people will send you to ask.
Also, what are you doing about “plus ones”? Is everyone allowed a plus one? If you don’t want everyone bringing a plus one, you may want to say nothing on the website and indicate on your wedding invitation to those people who can bring a plus one.
What’s for Dinner?
A lot of people these days have food allergies that might cause a conflict with your meal choice. Let people know a head of time what’s on the menu so that they can plan accordingly.
This is also a great place to indicate if you are having a full meal with multiple plate options and your guests need to decide what dish they would like. You can have a form on this page where they can choose what meal they want.
Dancing and Entertainment
Tell people about all the great plans you have for the reception. List out everything you plan to do for the evening and hopefully this will help more people stick around for most of your activities. List things like
5 course meal
Cutting of the cake
Wedding Party speeches
Father-Daughter dance
First dance
Anniversary dance
Bouquet toss
Open dance floor
Guys dance competition
Girls dance competition
Dollar dance
and more!
Guest Information
It’s not a bad idea to let your guests help out with some of the wedding planning process. The information you collect can help you determine a few things that you need a little help with. Here are some great ideas of things you can collect from your guests:
Collect song requests. Instead of spending hours building your wedding reception playlist, take ideas from your guests. You might be surprised at the great ideas they have to share!
Collect food allergy information. If you find that 25% of your guests eat gluten-free, you may want to add some gluten-free options to your menu.
Collect addresses. Make it easier on your self when it comes time to send out thank you notes and ask people to provide their current address.
Collect stories from your childhood to share. This can be a lot of fun! Allowing people to share some of their favorite childhood stories of both the bride and groom and make for some hilarious reading! 🙂
Collect photos. Many brides and grooms like to share photos and memories at their wedding and reception to their guests. There may be a few pictures out that you never even knew existed!
Blog
If you love to write and share the journey, starting a blog on your wedding website is a great idea.
Make posts sharing the stories of how you met your fiance, your engagement story, share things from along your wedding planning journey. Plus, if you set up your website using WordPress, you can continue using your blog to share your journey after marriage. The website doesn’t have to stop just because the wedding is over.
