Wedding Website: Where to Start, What’s the Difference, & What’s Needed?

To be able to easily share wedding details, gift registries, or accept RSVPs all in one place is quite a perk for couples trying to communicate a ton of information to their guests. With the many changes, 2020 brought, couples looked to wedding websites to keep their guests updated on the fluid details of their day, and we think this tip can be taken into the future, giving you a platform to make announcements or updates along your wedding planning process. Wedding websites have become a common complement to save-the-dates or invitations which are designed to only display a limited amount of information, and of course, cannot be changed once sealed for delivery!

If you’re interested in all wedding websites to have to offer and want to know the difference between popular wedding website platforms like Wedding Wire, Zola, and The Knot, we have all the information here to help you get started!

Main 3 Wedding Website Providers: What’s the Difference

Zola

• Cost: Free (Custom domain is $14.95)
• Registry: Zola-hosted registry
• RSVP services included
• 140+ design templates
• Matching Wedding Stationery

The Knot

• Cost: Free (Custom domain is $20)
• Registry: Easily hosts registries from many places, along with cash and experience gifts
• RSVP services included
• 100+ design templates
• Matching Wedding Stationery

WeddingWire

• Cost: Free (Custom domain is $24 for 1 year)
• Registry: WeddingWire-hosted registry
• 120+ design templates
• RSVP services included

Making Your Wedding Website Unique

Here are two ideas to add to your website to further personalize it!

• How Your Met and/or Engagement Story – While your closest friends probably can share these stories themselves, or were most likely involved along the way, you still have old friends or relatives who haven’t heard the story in its entirety. Your website gives you the opportunity to set it straight on what your official first date was, who said, ‘I love you” first, how the question was popped!
• Couple’s Top Shops –  Share your favorite restaurants, pubs, and shops in the local area around your wedding! Perhaps you have a reason for why you’re getting married in that town or a local establishment you met at or had your first date at. Share the places that mean the most to you two, or suggest a spot to visit before or after the ceremony, after the wedding reception, or for breakfast the next morning.

Wedding Registries

Popular wedding website providers include registry integration to make it easy for your guests to shop for wedding gifts right from your site! Instead of sharing your long registry link on your physical invite, you can add your website url, saying that your registry and more wedding details are on your wedding website. This encourages guests to use the website as a resource for your big day!

Keep in mind, some wedding-specific websites, like Zola and Wedding Wire, make it much easier if you are using their own registry platforms. These registries let you include gifts from a variety of stores like Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, and Amazon, but instead of your guests shopping individually at each store, you would have one universal registry, bringing all your picks from various stores on one page for the buyer. If you do register for gifts at a few places separately, you can still simply add links to each of your registries on your wedding website.

Examples of Real Wedding Websites

Cassidy + Jacob – The Knot Website

Along with postponements and location changes, your website can also correct any misinformation, and in Cassidy and Jacob’s case, their address was printed incorrectly on the invites, so they were able to note the mistake and share their accurate address on the website.

Cassidy & Jacob’s website hosted on The Knot.com included all the essential information on the wedding including specific start and end times for the ceremony and reception making it helpful for attendees to know the reception is to follow the ceremony with a 15-minute timeframe in between. They also went above and beyond to include a short timeline of their story including dates of when they met and were engaged, their wedding party, photos throughout their relationship including engagement photos, and registry links.

Brittany + Calvin – WeddingWire Website

We love Brittany and Calvin really took the time to create an awesome photo section on their website! Their photos are organized in three sections: engagement shoot, euro trips, and through the years. Their wedding website also has all the must-haves, including hotel block information for three hotels (plus where each hotel is located compared to the wedding location), and a short timeline of the wedding day’s events and dress code details.

Lynn + Tony – Zola Website

Lynn and Tony’s website includes all the essentials and then some like their wedding hashtag! Versions from each perspective (his side and her side) on how they met which is a great addition for loved ones to read! Along with including their bridesmaids and groomsmen, they also have their parents, flower girl, and ring bearers listed, showing love to everyone involved! Other important information to find on their website is their wedding block discount code and start and end times for their wedding events!

Zola lets you hide certain wedding events, and will only display them if they are included on the guestlist you provide. So when they RSVP, the rehearsal or additional events you want them to see will be shown to those invited!

Complete Weddings + Events in Gillette

Creating a wedding website helps build up excitement for the big day, and can be a great resource for your guests! Contact Complete Weddings + Event in Gillette to help knock out your wedding vendor team to help make this big day a success!