What You Should Include On Your Wedding Website

I have a website set up for my wedding for so many reasons. They are a really good resource for both you as a couple and your guests. You can add as much information as you'd like and this can save you some money when it comes down to invitations by not including multiple info sheets. We have our website password protected with the password being only something we would both know, and we are including it on our info sheet. Your website has private information so this is important. Once our wedding has been and gone I'll upload our invitations in a blog post and explain how we made them. For now, here is my advice on what to include on your wedding website.

The info on the invitation

It seems obvious, but what if a guest has lost their invitation closer to the day but saved your wedding website on their phone? Well then, they need the main information. This should include the location, date, time to arrive and whether the ceremony and reception events are in different locations. A lot of other information can be covered in the FAQ.

Your story

It's nice to add a bit about yourselves, not only to bulk up the website and make it look pretty but to give guests some extra information about yourselves. We have added in how we met, the proposal story and our timeline of events. The timeline bit includes each year and what we've done, so in 2012 we met, in 2014 we got a flat together, in 2017 we got engaged for example. We will have been together 9.5 years so I guess there is more to fill in. Your story can include anything you wish. It's nice to add some pictures in where you can too.

Your colour scheme and dress code

I can't stress how important this is. If you don't want guests to wear certain colours, you'd like them to dress in black-tie attire or you want a bit of a theme to your wedding, you really should include a dress code. By including your colour scheme, you can ask guests to avoid dressing in your Bridal Party colours, you could ask everyone to match in say black or white (which looks amazing) or specify if there is a specific colour you do not want guests to wear. The specific colours which come to mind from tradition or superstition are white (bride's dress), black (mourning colour) and red (certain culture's bridal colours and also superstitious from what Google tells me). On our dress code section in the FAQ, we've laid out what formal attire and cocktail attire is (the guests can take their pick) so that those who aren't used to going to formal events can see clear as day what is expected. As a guest, I would find this really helpful, especially if someone wanted tuxes and floor-length gowns because I would see any kind of formal event as wearing a cocktail dress. We have also specified that you can wear any colour and have included the colour scheme in case anyone wants to match on purpose.

How to RSVP

Most wedding website providers allow you to add a page to RSVP on. On our website, we have a little bit of information first, such as what date to RSVP by, alternative ways you can reply (email, posting the RSVP card back etc) and how to RSVP. Ours is on Zola, so you add your guest list in, so when a guest opens the RSVP page it's a lot easier for them. They just have to start typing their first name in the box and a new page will appear. When you make the guest list you check off which events you are inviting people to, for example, the ceremony is an event, the reception is an event, or you could do an all-day event and then an evening event. This works for multiple cultures as you can make separate events for different ceremonies if you're having two, a wedding rehearsal, brunch the next day etc. I would make sure to add to your RSVP, even on a paper invitation too, that dietary restrictions can be catered for so leave space for guests to add in what theirs are. We are particularly understanding as a couple as we're both vegetarians with intolerances!

Travel information

One of the first things guests think of when they're figuring out whether they can attend your wedding will be about the travel. If your website allows it, add a Google Maps feature to pin your locations in. This page overall should include where the wedding is taking place, how to get there, local hotels (if you have a specific one booked out, specify this) and taxi numbers. We have also added some things to do in the area, such as cool places to visit, places to go for walks, and places you can grab a bite to eat at.

An FAQ section

This can include all the extra questions that guests may have on the day. You should include information about parking, whether the venue is accessible to disabled guests, whether plus ones or children are invited etc. You could add in some extra answers to questions like should I bring confetti, what food will be served, whether it's an open bar and so on. All those extra questions that may not be deserving of a whole separate page should be on the FAQ page.

A gift registry, or not

I think it's more common in American weddings to have a gift registry, whereas in the UK it's more common to put money or a gift card inside the card you give. We have added this bit into our FAQ as I didn't end up liking the look of a page being titled something like 'gifts'. We added a simple poem to explain if you did want to gift money, and that wasn't expected, that you could add some to contribute to our Honeymoon. We also added in an explanation too as this is the second wedding we've planned as the first one was completely cancelled. Some guests gave us money in advance too so we've taken note of that. 

Here are some other wedding posts you may be interested in

Our Engagement Story

What I've Learned from Wedding Groups

My Wedding Dress Story & Experience

So You Just Got Engaged, Now What?

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What I’ve Learned From Being In Wedding Groups

Ever since we got engaged I joined wedding groups on Facebook to get advice, DIY ideas, helpful tips and a lot more. In order for me to find out what would be useful to have at the wedding, what is a waste of money what people didn't even notice on the day etc. I have combed through the groups for people who have already had their wedding day to see what they had to say and here is what I've found so far.
Favours get left behindThis is probably one of the most common things I found when looking in the groups. People will spend a ton of money on favours for a huge percentage of them getting left behind. Sometimes people don't want to take home a personalised pen, some flower seeds or a mini bottle of vodka. Even though these things might be what you like, you have to weigh up whether you'll be left with 60 favours at the end of the evening to take home. I really wanted to make small cookies or something but with dietary requirements (including my own) I just couldn't justify the cost. Every favour I could come up with cost way too much and if I had a lot left over, what would I do with them? Overconsumption is one thing that is contributing towards climate change and for someone who is passionate about trying to save the planet, there is no way I could confidently say I was happy to risk it. If people don't have bags or pockets big enough too, that may be one reason why favours are getting left behind. Think about it in advance before getting settled on an idea.
Sweet carts often go untouched unless you invite childrenWhen you first go to Pinterest when you get engaged you see all these pictures from American weddings and think, wow, all this would be so good at our wedding. I am a fiend for some vegetarian sweets but so many people on wedding groups said that their sweet carts barely got touched. I couldn't believe just how many people said this, with the same going for other food areas that wasn't part of the wedding breakfast or evening food. Well that idea got swiftly thrown out of the window. I couldn't bare the thought of making custom labels for each jar and buying bags and little tongs and things for all the sweets for them to barely get touched. Now with the pandemic too, I don't think I would want people hovering over food or touching sweets. I feel the same way about buffets too and haven't been to one since. You really need to look at who you're inviting to the wedding and look at it from there. We have one child coming who is my sister. I love her but I'm not making an area dedicated to sweets just for her. 
Breaking traditions to have your perfect dayA lot of people were wondering on the groups whether they should stick to old wedding traditions or switch things up to how they'd like things to happen. This could be eloping, having a different coloured dress or wear a jumpsuit, having their hair dyed a bright colour, having different food at the venue and so on. There are certain things you have to compromise on like having a seating plan if you're having a sit-down meal to make it easier for the caterers, and if you're getting legally married in England at least you need to have a Registrar or get married in a Church. There are so many traditions you can break but it really comes down to what you'd like on your own day. This depends also on culture and religion too.
Look outside of major chains for thingsWe bought our rings from Etsy from two different stores, and we are so glad we did. Not only have we heard horror stories from these wedding groups (think the major UK jewellery chains) with rings breaking, stones falling out, not getting what they were promised etc, we decided to shop small. I feel like even if a store gives you a guarantee it doesn't mean that they won't fight you first before you're able to get what is in the guarantee. Nothing is certain, so we looked at small businesses on Etsy because as a fall back you have Etsy customer service to rely on if something went wrong. You could say the same for outfits as you could use a local business to handmake items instead of buying from big businesses. You could do this for your invitations, your flowers, and little bits and bobs for decoration. You will find that you can find more unique items on places such as Etsy because things have been made by one person, not on a factory line. 
Be present in the momentCherish every second and really be present in the moment. People said that the day goes so fast so you should relax and soak up every minute of the day. Another comment of a similar vein is how you set up your tables. We're doing a sweetheart table for me and my partner as divorced families make a top table difficult but it also means we can sit and (attempt) to have our wedding breakfast just by ourselves. We know we will have to mingle and say hi to people or people may come up to us but if we can, we will just be chatting to ourselves and enjoying a bit of down time.
Don't let others opinions get the better of youAs a people pleaser it is so easy to give up and let other people put their opinions across and just plan the wedding for you, how they'd want it. It's yours and your partner's wedding. So many people have been posting dilemmas about how to do things their way, how to tell someone no, whether they should just elope to save the hassle and so on. Luckily we personally haven't had too many opinions thrown our way, but since we re-planned our whole wedding after we cancelled the first one, we've kept a lot of ideas and things we've bought to ourselves. I personally have spent the last few years setting boundaries and have been better at enforcing them so if you practice being firm with what you'd like at the wedding, hopefully it will really help to stop you trying to always please other people there. You can't please everyone, so you need to think about what you as a couple want to do.
Be careful how much you DIYDoing something yourself or making something yourself does not always guarantee things will be cheaper. Having a read of some Pinterest posts early on really opened my eyes. We bought a Cricut and a Minc foil applicator machine ahead of the wedding as we wanted to make our own invitations and use the machines later on. So many people don't have those machines so you can't just look at a 'laser cut wedding sleeve design' and think yep that is affordable. It costs hundreds of pounds and you could pay someone on Etsy to cut them out for you. Unless you have the items ahead of time, it can cost you so much money paying for all the bits and bobs before you've even made it. You also need to figure out how much you need to DIY; whether you are doing all the decor, just some of it or just the odd bit. You absolutely can put too much on your plate and give yourself a huge workload when you could maybe rent items out. There is a fine line so the wedding groups helped me look at what my ideas were and see where I could rent things and where I could make things myself.
Spend money on things that matter to youWe really value photography, with my partner loving taking portrait photos and his Dad and Uncle being able to take amazing landscape scenery and wildlife photos. We knew that having amazing photos was one of the most important things to us, and that's why we chose Two For Joy Photography. You only do the day once and actually, photography was the very first thing we booked. We got dates from them and booked our venue around when they were available. If you have a budget, prioritise the things that matter to you first. You want an amazing suit, you would like lovely flowers, you want custom made engraved rings, you prioritise them all.
Having a change of outfitI was surprised to see how many people had a second dress, their Groom changed outfits, they changed their shoes, or just did something different later on. I used to see on Say Yes To The Dress people with a lot of money would get 2 or even 3 wedding dresses and I just thought how ridiculous it was. It wasn't until myself and my partner were looking on the groups more regularly that we saw people were having outfit changes later on, for the first dance or for the 'party' part of the day. Some people changed for the first dance because it was easier to dance in a different outfit or their dress was just too heavy. Some people just changed their shoes for this or took off their outer skirt. Some had completely different outfits for the party side of things as they were too hot or uncomfortable wearing the same thing for hours on end. At first I couldn't see how I'd want to take off my dress but I was quickly reminded that because of my illnesses I have poor temperature regulation and I am likely to get really warm from dancing. My partner has now bought me a lovely dress for the party part and he is looking to get a new shirt and new shoes for himself for the same time. On this one day, we want to look good but be comfortable too, and that's the same thing other people said too.

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So You Just Got Engaged, Now What?

I got engaged over 4 years ago now and I have learned a lot during this period. Not only have I now planned 2 weddings, as the first one we fully cancelled in March 2020, but we've changed as people during this time and so has our interests. The two different weddings we planned had two different themes, decor choices, venues and much more. I've also been reading several blogs, magazines and planners to see what exactly you should consider when you begin wedding planning, so here is what we've learned.

Go online and watch some wedding videos

We went on YouTube and searched for our venue to see people's wedding videos there, then searched more broadly like 'Cheshire Wedding Videos' and so on. You may find inspiration for themes or colours, what type of venue you want (like a barn, a hotel, a teepee in a field etc). You can listen to people's vows and speeches, look at the timeline and so much more. Often people write in the description which suppliers they used too so this can be so helpful in the beginning. Look up whether the venues you're considering or have booked have tour videos online too. More venues have started doing this over the last 2 years and it really helps to save these videos and keep watching them as you plan out your day.

Set up accounts on Hitched, Bridebook etc

Here you can search for suppliers and shortlist them, message them, request brochures and read reviews. You can use their checklists to see a timeline and keep track of what you need to do, and when. Bridebook have even introduced a feature where both partners can use the app on their own phone and use it equally. A lot of the time the planning is focused on 'the bride' but you may have two brides or none. It's 2022, these wedding companies really need to modernise themselves.

Consider everything when looking at a venue

I've spoken about this before but before paying a deposit you need to consider everything. Accessibility is so important and this impacts everyone. It impacts the elderly, the pregnant person, the disabled person, the person with a chronic illness, the person who gets migraines, babies and toddlers, the person who broke their leg. It affects the families and friends of all these people too. There should be a disabled toilet, if there are steps you need a ramp, adequate comfortable seating, no flashing lights, highchairs, etc. At our wedding there will be several elderly people who have access needs, myself and at least one other disabled person who will need to use the disabled loo, neurodivergent people and multiple people including myself that are prone to migraines. I know sometimes it feels like access can have a long list but trust me, it's so worth it. If you put in the effort to provide access, the people who need it will be forever grateful.

Have a look at getting wedding insurance

This seems impossible right now, but have a look and see if getting wedding insurance is possible. We went with John Lewis who provided us two lots of compensation (if that is the right word) for our cancelled and postponed weddings. We now have no insurance because we have claimed twice so we need to look again to see if we can get it. Wedding insurance provides you money where vendors haven't shown up, vendors have cancelled, you've had to postpone your wedding and if vendors haven't provided what you agreed upon. It's so useful if you can get it.

Sign the contracts

This is so important! Your suppliers (within reason) should supply you with contracts that list everything that will be provided at the wedding. This helps you know exactly what you will be getting and gives you something to refer back to. On the off chance something went wrong and you needed to cancel or rearrange your wedding, having a signed contract makes things a lot easier, particularly if you are having to claim with your wedding insurer as they will often require contracts to be provided before paying out.

Make a wedding website

Not only can you provide a lot more information on here than in your invitations, but you can provide a lot of helpful advice too. We have made a website on Zola, where we have put down hotels within a 3 mile radius to the venue, taxi numbers, things to do in the local area and more. We have an FAQ page where we have answered a lot of common questions and some that are specific to our wedding. There is an RSVP page for those who are tech-savvy and will respond online. We have written about our story over the years as we will have known each other 10 years by the time we get married. Finally, we have added the timeline for the day so people can know what time to arrive, what time photographs are in case they want to grab a drink and chill out, what time food is and what time the evening events start. It's so useful and if you use a website like Zola or The Knot, it's really easy to add your information and customise the website design to suit you.

Book hotels in advance

You don't even have to pay for them right now. We have provisionally booked a lovely hotel that is 15 minutes drive away from our venue that at this point, we can't afford to pay for with everything else. We know we can slowly save up to pay for this but at least we have put our booking in now so we know we have somewhere to stay. If your venue does not have rooms to stay in, it's so important you book as soon as it's possible to. We have booked somewhere more expensive as not only is it a treat but also nobody will probably be staying in the same place so we can have some rest ahead of the big day. Some hotels allow you to book blocks of rooms in advance which can come in useful for your guests.

See if your venue has table layout plans

Our venue handed us a ring binder with a ton of table layout plans that are catered for the number of people going to the wedding. We took photos of all of them and so far have made two separate plans, one of long tables and one for round tables. You may have a list of everyone you're inviting but not everyone will be able to come, so having different plans you can edit along the way is really helpful. Wedding websites often have the option to make table plans out of your guest list and this has been really helpful too. The app iVow also has this as an option if you prefer to do it on your phone or tablet.

Consider the time of year

Depending on when you are having your wedding, several things need to be considered. The first is the temperature; if it's hot does the venue have air conditioning or fans, if it's cold do they have heating, outdoor heaters or even fireplaces. The second is the clothing, particularly of the Bridal Party. The people wearing suits may have to opt for a thicker material so buying a year ahead is what I'd recommend. The Bride may also consider buying something to wear around them or providing blankets for guests. We have a basket for blankets and a basket for flip flops for sore feet. The final thing to consider with the season is what your theme is and colours. When we planned for a May wedding originally we have navy blue and blush pink/rose gold but our decor was white blossom trees with pastel blue and pink flowers. Now we've moved to an October wedding we have gotten rid of the blossom trees and are looking at adding pumpkins to the decor along with changing the theme to a celestial/starry night theme.

Make specific Pinterest boards

I started off with one big board for everything and it so hard to look through. I recommend having boards for hair/makeup/nails, boards for interior decor, boards for invitations, boards for the theme or colours you're considering and so on. We also have a board for things we are DIY'ing as Pinterest is a great resource for that too. It is so easy to keep on top of when you have smaller board types.

Real or fake flowers?

I was always going to have artificial flowers as the cost of real ones was not something I wanted to spend a lot on. One thing to consider when weighing up your options is, what happens for people with allergies/hayfever? If it's only bouquets then you only really need to thing about the people holding them but if you want flowers on the tables or dotted around the venue you may run into people sneezing a lot. I ultimately went with artificial flowers so that I can keep my bouquet forever and I need to buy a lovely vase to put it in so I can have it on display after the wedding.

Wedding groups

Facebook has a ton of useful groups on it, I have some for chronic illnesses, vegetarian food, crafting and weddings. You can search by your local area, wedding themes, weddings on a budget, DIY weddings and so much more. People even sell things on some of these groups that they've used in their own weddings if you're looking for something more affordable. People ask for advice so group members can help them out, some people ask for ideas or how to budget and so on. They are so helpful and it's honestly the single only reason I still use Facebook. 

Wedding jewellery 

Don't just limit your search to high street jewellers, look online too. We found both my engagement ring and wedding ring, and Andy's wedding ring on Etsy. I have seen a lot of bad reviews from high street jewellers from wedding groups and it made me want to look into smaller businesses. Maybe look online for reviews from anywhere you're looking to buy from before you get set on rings. This also goes for other jewellery you may wear on the day, including earrings, hairpieces, necklaces and bracelets; any kind of jewellery you like. Definitely look far enough in advance and have a look into getting your rings insured in case they end up needing a cleaning or stones fall out etc. Also, don't get set on engraving your ring, mine is so thin that it can't be engraved so I had to drop that idea.

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