Scroll to the end of this transcript for the list of my favorite wedding website builders I promised, including some quick features of each!

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Clarissa Madlyn Gaines
7 years ago
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So, why have a wedding website? Well, the basic answer is that this is a really easy and fun way to communicate to family & friends all about your engagement, and the wedding itself.

1 So, why have a wedding website? Well, the basic answer is that this is a really easy and fun way to communicate to family & friends all about your engagement, and the wedding itself. Scroll to the end of this transcript for the list of my favorite wedding website builders I promised, including some quick features of each! Let s talk through the various things you might think of publishing on a wedding website. YOUR ENGAGEMENT Most websites will be very flexible in allowing you to post photos, and blog or journal style entries. For those of you in the early stages of planning, consider setting aside some time to document your engagement story in a written post that you can publish on your wedding website.

2 It s a really sweet way for you & your fiancé to tell your family & friends and all the wedding guests all about your engagement story. I KNOW you put it up on Facebook in a couple sentences, but I m talking a narrated, detailed story of exactly when, where, and how the question was popped, what you were wearing, what exactly was said, how it all went down. If you re not a writer, and this feels a little too time consuming or just not fun, that s fine - a wedding website is a perfect place to show off a gallery of photos, especially photos from your engagement photo shoot. You can also add pictures of other big events that take place during your engagement, like the engagement party, bridal shower, bachelorette party well maybe you don t want pictures of that, but all these important things that happen during your engagement - this is a little side note, but a very important one - take the time to document these moments during your engagement! Don t get too busy and distracted by the wedding itself, remember to have someone taking pictures of all the fun steps along the way. Not just to share on a wedding website, that too, but really to have as a fun memory of these very special months or years leading up to the actual wedding.

3 Take pictures as you visit the store to build your wedding registry, at your cake tastings, of your DIY projects with your girlfriends, take pictures while you re trying on dresses (you may not want to share those before the wedding day, but trust me, all of these moments will be treasured in years to come!). My point is just don t let the busy-ness of it all distract you from slowing down to enjoy it, and really take it in, and take pictures of it. All of it, everything! OK, so a wedding website is a wonderful place to document your engagement, either with a blog, a gallery of pictures, so like an photo blog, or both. Trust me, your family & friends will enjoy seeing a detailed recap of everything that goes a little deeper than a Facebook post can. OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS In addition to documenting your engagement with stories and photos, you can use a website to communicate lots of other wedding announcements. Some examples, you can introduce your wedding party with fun candid photos and a few sentences about each bridesmaid & groomsman. You can keep a calendar / timeline of events, this is particularly useful if you re having parties leading up to the wedding - maybe a welcome party for out of town guests,

4 rehearsal, day-after brunch. Specific to the wedding day, you can list out the time of the ceremony, cocktail hour, dinner seating, etc so that everyone has an idea of exactly when things are happening. A quick note on the calendar features, just be careful and have in mind that everyone will potentially see this so if not everyone is invited to certain events like the rehearsal dinner, the day-after brunch, etc. you re making that very clear on the page, or maybe keeping those things on a password protected page. You just don t want to give people the wrong impression that everyone is invited and then have dozens of random people showing up to things and catching you totally off guard. Other announcements you could add - you can link to a few hotels or accommodations for out of town guests, so they could click directly from your website to booking where they will stay. Someone who doesn t live in your area may or may not be familiar with the best hotel to choose for price and location. Air b and b is huge right now, maybe you could filter a search for places within a certain radius and post that link to your website. Some of this stuff is going to boil down to how tech savvy you and your guests are I don t want to give you the impression that building a website is HARD because it s definitely NOT, but for

5 those of you who are thinking this sounds really techy or way over your head, not to worry, I think it sounds much more intimidating than it really is when you get your hands on a website builder and see how easy they make it. A little more on this later in the show. Another example, maybe you want to have a themed rehearsal dinner, I m just giving this as an example, but let s say a luau theme, and want to encourage your guests to wear their favorite casual Hawaiian shirt. Stuff like that, that you re not necessarily going to spell out on the actual wedding invitation, is great to pop up on the wedding website on a page titled Important Announcements, or something like that. Another great announcement to make here is where you are registered for gifts. I know it can feel a little tacky about how to communicate this, but your wedding website is the PERFECT place, especially if there are multiple registries. You can list them, and include direct links for guests to click over and shop, all from your website. This makes it really easy for people, and eliminates a lot of the guesswork and chatter of them calling around and trying to figure it out. And of course, you can also list things that may or may not have been included on your paper invitation, like directions to your ceremony spot, directions to the reception venue, meal options.

6 If you re looking to keep your invitations really simple and affordable, and not include all the different enclosures like directions, meal cards, registry information, etc. then your website is a perfect spot to communicate these details. Lastly, I ll talk about more behind-the-scenes stuff - RSVP s, etc. So a lot of website builders will include features to manage your guest list and RSVP s, and this is a wonderful way to keep all of that information organized. Most websites will also include a feature to allow your guests to RSVP right there online, and then that would automatically be updated to your list of guests who will be attending. You can also keep track of meal selections, keep a running list of who has NOT RSVPd, and even include a little link for guests to use if they have any questions. THE TECHNICAL ASPECT Now that we ve talked about all the cool things a wedding website can do, let me give you a reassurance that if you re like whoa, this is all way over my head and I could never build a website If you re not tech savvy, don't worry - there are tons of wedding website builders out there that make it SO easy. You fill in the blanks, drag & drop it s seriously dummy proof. If you can book an airline flight online, or buy something on Amazon, I promise, you can make a wedding website.

7 Websites can range from totally free & basic, to paid custom features like choosing your own URL, auto scheduling updates, etc. I ll go into more of this on the Wedding Website Worksheet in our Member s Only area as soon as this episode airs. Now, is every guest at your wedding going to be receptive to / and or USE a wedding website for updates? No, they definitely are not. So before you rely totally on a website to communicate the important details, think about people who are going to need a more personal touch - people who don t necessarily use the internet in the same ways that you do. These guests will require either a phone call or maybe a note in the mail - you could make a calling tree and have your mom or aunts call elderly family members, or anyone who you know won t actually go on your website to get the information. QUESTIONS ALWAYS WELCOME! kara@karasvineyardwedding.com

8 MY FAVORITE WEDDING WEBSITE BUILDERS 1. Matching invitation suites available Filter by style, color & season to choose a design perfect for YOU Beautiful, on-trend backgrounds & page designs *** my pick for best designs available! *** Basic website designs are free, with Premium services for just $35 (Premium includes a custom URL & unlimited photos) 2. All websites are totally free Matching invitation suites available Built-in Guest Book feature for guests to leave comments Not tech savvy? VERY easy to build! free designs to choose from Unlimited photo uploads Really cute template designs 4. Hundreds of layouts & templates, filter by color and / or style Websites are mobile & tablet compatible Custom photo background available (so cute! Use an engagement photo as the website background)