Your invitations, your way.
A how-to guide on building your wedding website, why you need one, and what details you should include.
Although a relatively recent addition to the wedding stationery, wedding websites have revolutionized how a lot of the wedding information is now dispersed and shared with your wedding guests.
Instead of solely relying on your one printed invitation or word of mouth because everybody knows how information sometimes meanders through the grapevine, we’ve been blessed with a more solid and reliable source: your very own wedding website.
So for things such as your wedding registry info that would otherwise be improper etiquette to divulge within the invitation or detailed directions (imperative for your destination wedding!) that are simply just too much info to include in what should be a brief letter, is now easily accessible through your website.
Your wedding website is also a place where your guests can get to know the two of you more personally. It's the perfect place to include those beautiful engagement shots you’ve been dying to share or a little more about how you met. This little excerpt helps extended family members get to know you both and your love story a little better before the big day.
Another great perk about having a wedding website? It can still match your wedding invitations and your overall wedding theme! Simply select a wedding website design from Minted and you can easily apply the same designs you used for the rest of your stationery to your website for a seamless wedding style!
As the big day draws near, your website is a great way to keep all of your guests in the loop. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, once you sit down to actually create your wedding website, you may find yourself unsure of which details you should include and which ones you can skip. But don't worry, we've got you covered.
The Important Information To Include
Your wedding location
The first thing wedding guests will want to know is where the ceremony and reception will be held: the address. Although typically this information is also included on the wedding invitations, repetition is always welcomed and in this case you can and should get more detailed with the directions.
Guests coming from out of town will be worried about parking and how long it will take them to drive from the ceremony to cocktail hour, so make sure the details are there and easy for non-locals to understand. Don't forget to include the wedding date.
Where to stay and what else to do in town
If you're booking a hotel block for your guests, put the relevant info (including important dates and deadlines) on your website. You should also mention the major airport nearest to the hotels, and transportation services (like Zipcar, Uber, or the Metro) you recommend. And guests always appreciate a list of the best restaurants, shopping, parks, and other things to do during their trip.
The schedule for the wedding weekend
Most guests just want to be told where they need to be and when, so be sure to include info about the ceremony and reception start times, as well as extra wedding events like the after-party and morning-after brunch. But only include the events where everyone is welcome to avoid any unexpected drop-ins! This is also a great place to mention the dress code.
Your preferred contact info
How would you like people to get in touch with you if they have questions or concerns? Making it clear on the website can help you stay organized. Creating a separate email address that is only used for interacting with your vendors, and sharing that email address with your guests too is another option. That way, you won't forget to respond to your cousin who Facebook messages you about whether or not she can bring her children to your wedding.
A few photos of you and your partner
If you had engagement photos taken, this is a great place to display them! But don't go overboard. One of guests' biggest gripes with wedding websites (and yes, some people dislike them) is the gallery of 500 photos. So pick the best ones from your engagement session or just a couple of your favorite snapshots of you and your fiance, and then move on.
Your love story
If you and your fiance have been dating since high school and everyone attending the wedding knows you both well, you can definitely skip this section. But if you're having a big wedding with a lot of extended family who don't know you or your partner very well, give some background info! Share what you do for a living, what your hobbies are, and how the two of you met.
With Minted's free wedding website designs, there's a special place to tell your unique story. Inform guests of how you met, and give some background on your relationship. Be as silly, sappy, or sweet as you want – it's your story.
A spot to RSVP
Want to avoid having formal RSVP cards? Or maybe just a second place to collect guest info? Have guests confirm their attendance through your Minted website.
The best part? Minted will keep the addresses on file with their free digital address collection cards so you can easily have them printed on your invitations or thank you envelopes for free, giving you more time to focus on the wedding events.
Your wedding party
Even if your guests know you well, it's possible they don't know anything about your wedding party, i.e., the maid of honor and best man. And because they are likely to interact with some of these people separately (like when they receive a wedding shower invite from your maid of honor), it's nice to provide your pals' names, photos, and a line or two about how you know each other on the website.
The wedding attire
While you should never dictate what your guests should wear, it's not uncommon to list the dress code (like "black tie optional" or "semi-formal") on your website. And include any useful wedding details and tips for dressing for the weather or venue. For example: "San Francisco is chilly this time of year, so pack a pashmina!" or "The ceremony is in a garden, so consider wearing wedges instead of heels!".
Your registry details
According to most wedding etiquette experts, the website is the only place where it's appropriate to share your registry. (So leave it off your invitations!) All you need to include is the names or logos of the stores where you registered; your guests can figure it out from there. Oh, and don’t forget the link to the registry!
Honeymoon info
Your guests may be wondering if you're taking a honeymoon, so it doesn't hurt to include a little info. We recommend sharing a beautiful picture of your destination and a couple of details: "We're so excited to head to Cancun from May 10th to May 18th! Casey can't wait to go zip-lining, while Alex plans to lay on the beach for most of the trip."
URL Customization
The best part about paying for your wedding website is the URL customization. We live in a time where a good URL is remembered more easily than a phone number, so you want to make sure that your guests can find your website anytime, anywhere. Otherwise, you might spend as much time as you would answering wedding questions sending out the non-personalized, free wedding website URL over and over again to your guest list.
Plus, when you choose one of Minted Free website templates you’ll be able to create a custom URL, just note the offering has “.minted.us”. But if you’re interested in the $15 Custom URL upgrade, you’ll be able to use “.com” or “.net” or “.wedding” based on your personal preference.
If you want someone to help you set up your website, Minted offers a Website Set Up Service for $49 that includes a customized URL ($15 value). Or if you prefer to have an expert help you design your website from scratch, you can work with the Minted Bespoke Website Design to customize every detail for $270.
What’s more, you might also have the opportunity to password-protect your wedding website. Privacy is important to you and your guest list, and it can be a little unnerving to put so much personal information about you, your partner, and a private event online. Password-protecting your site means that you will be able to control who can access all of that information and give a little more peace of mind about all of those wedding details being out there for the world to see.
Personalizing your wedding website
Besides all of the administrative perks of paying for a wedding website like URL customization and password protection, a huge area of flexibility and opportunity comes with the options to personalize your website and view a free sample. You want to make sure that your final finished product is easy to navigate and also shows a little bit of you, whether it’s by adding some of your favorite photographs or even by taking advantage of custom artwork or monogram offerings.
You can choose to get personal with the actual content of your website by adding touches like a section on your love story, the bridal party, or an “In Remembrance” page for those special people who won’t be at the actual ceremony. Or you can choose to personalize by thinking about unique designs that will give your guests a sense of who you are and what to expect from this wedding day.
A cohesive wedding style
If you go through the same site for your invitations and your website, you might be able to accomplish this by using the same themes and styles for both, to create a cohesive wedding information package. You also can work with a dedicated designer for a one-of-a-kind design that will showcase anything from a special family heirloom or a sentimental family crest.
At the end of the day, when you are walking down the aisle, it won’t matter whether you had a wedding website or not—or how much you paid for it. But for all of the time that you spend planning with your wedding planner, a wedding website will minimize how much time you have to repeat the same seven details on every phone call, Facetime session, or text thread.
Include a website into your budget
By budgeting for a free wedding website with preferred add-ons, you will have endless options to find something that is right for you and your wedding day. In other words, you’ll have the chance to truly make it your own.
Wedding websites are by no means outdated though. For proof, just look at the breadth of options there are for designs. Websites may indeed be the most accessible and easiest to update digital platform there is to keep guests informed and eliminate your need to constantly be finding ways to communicate wedding updates.
Having a website could be the perfect way to ensure that every person on your guest list has an equal opportunity to educate themselves and find out what you’re doing. It will certainly save you hours on the phone explaining to each and every person why you’ve decided to do what you’re doing.
When you build your wedding website with Minted, you’re able to either match your stationery with the exact same designs or use hundreds of other unique designs with multiple layout options for each.
Minted’s website builders also makes it easy to collect addresses, make a universal guest list, RSVP for multiple events, is Smartphone friendly, and includes an option for password protection making it safe and easy to use.
With hundreds of different wedding website designs to choose from, Minted has got you covered!
Ultimately, remember that your wedding website is there as a way to make life easier for your guests. Focus on their needs; choose a template that is easy to navigate — bonus points if it's easy to read on mobile, too! And don't put fashion over function; if it looks gorgeous but is confusing or the most important information is hidden, no one will ever use it.
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About The Author
Corey is a writer of poetry and prose whose interests gravitate between lifestyle, travel and entertainment. He lives in New York City and currently works at Loverly as a writer. His latest book of poetry, “That Cold Wind Called Life” depicts the strangeness of life and the journey of finding inner peace. Corey graduated from Queens College City University of New York with a Bachelor of Arts in Literature.