ur production assistant, Patrice, is recently engaged and taking you along on her wedding planning journey. Check back every other Monday for more real-life wedding planning insights – or follow along here!
Wedding websites are a trend that has gained a lot of popularity over recent years. Almost every wedding invitation you receive has a website listed on it! Now that you’re engaged you might be wondering, “do I have to make one of those?” Not to worry, today we’re breaking down the pros and cons so that you can make the best decision!
Pro: It’s an easy way to disperse information
You can house all the information about location, travel, accommodations, registries, and more in one easy-to-access spot. (This was the biggest selling point for me!) I also loved that I could add extra things like local activity hot spots and our favorite restaurants.
Pro: It’s fairly easy (even if you don’t have a lot of web skills)
There are a ton of different options for creating your website. Some couples opt to go high-tech with a personalized domain hosted on Squarespace or WordPress. Others use pre-made templates from The Knot or WeddingWire. (These make it super easy with pre-designed themes, ready-to-go pages, and easy ways to link to outside resources like your registry.) You can really be as creative or bare-bones as you want.
Pro: You can build one for free!
Y’all, sending invitations is expensive. We were able to cut paper costs by including a limited amount of information in the actual invitation and directing people to our website instead. There are so many different options for creating a free website (like The Knot!)
Con: If you do have a lot of web skills or are a perfectionist, this can be a tedious task
Maybe it’s just me, but I spent WAY too much time on my wedding website. Not everyone has the perfectionist tendancies that I have, but be aware that this can be a major time suck! There are so many different options and fun things to play with, it could be a distraction from the (actual) wedding planning.
Con: It’s not so great for your non-technical guests
People who aren’t so great with computers will probably be annoyed that they have to go to your website, vs. getting all of the information they need in the invitation. (One way to avoid this is to try and predict who those guests might be and give them a personal phone call with the necessary details!) It can also cause some confusion if you offer RSVP’s through your website. For your non-tech savvy guests this is very frustrating and if you offer both online RSVPs and paper, it can be very confusing and overwhelming as people try to figure out what they should do.
Con: It basically has to be completely done before you give out the link
Your guests won’t be updated if you make changes to your website, so you’ll want to have the majority of the information filled out by the time you send out your Save the Dates or Invitations. I wanted to include the link on our Save the Dates, so I found myself rushing to book blocks of rooms, nail down a schedule, etc. to get it all up on the site in time!
All in all, I am a big fan of the wedding website, but it’s not for the faint of heart! Make sure that it fits with your style, guests, and personalities before going all in.
