When to create a wedding website

Wedding websites are obviously great but the more detailed the website, the more time it takes to build it which brings me to the question – When is the best time to create a wedding website?

Once you have decided on your wedding date and theme (usually the first step after getting engaged), I suggest you begin researching wedding website design companies. If you are on a budget, a free or template-based wedding website might be right for you. If you need a more custom wedding website, you can hire a wedding website designer to create a one-of-a-kind wedding website.

Once you have decided on a provider, it’s good to begin developing your wedding website before your save-the-date cards (usually send 4-12 months in advance) go out. You can include your wedding website URL on the save-the-date cards, even if you just have basic info (the date and location).

If you’d like to wait till you have the details planned (such as hotel accomodation and guest list) then you can put together a wedding website 2 months in advance, right before your invitations are delivered.

As you add more information to your wedding website, you can send emails to your guests letting them know of the updates.

For more ideas on how to advertise your wedding website, click here.

A great example of a wedding website

Kristin & Ben’s wedding website is a beautiful example of a wedding website. It has all the info guests need and I love the way it looks like an invitation. It seems to be personalized with the wedding colors (pink and green) and even has a gorgeous embossed paper background. What a wonderful example of how beautiful a wedding website can be.

Ideas for wedding website pages

A wedding website is a personalized space on the internet that is accessible by anyone in the world. Not only can you personalize it to your wedding design but you can customize it’s content by adding as much personal content as you’d like.

Here are some of my ideas of wedding website pages:

• Proposal Story
• Wedding Party Bios
• Family Bios
• Ceremony & Reception Info
• Wedding Events Calendar
• Post-Wedding Info
• Online Gift Registry
• Online RSVP
• Accommodations Info
• Photo Album
• Wedding Countdown Clock
• Password Protected Area
• Quizzes & Polls
• Honeymoon Info
• Memories & Stories
• Bridal Blog
• Guestbook
• Out of Town Guest Info

The possibilities are endless. If you wanted to have a special page for kid info or even Fido, it’s possible with a wedding website.

Personal wedding websites give boost to online wedding market

Recent results from a wedding survey (by http://www.theweddingreport.com) show that 77% of couples will use the Internet to help plan their wedding, and that number is on the rise! As related to their engagement, wedding, honeymoon, and time after, 43% will use the Internet to research products and services, while 13% will purchase products and services.

Creating a personalized wedding website is a new trend that is helping boost the online wedding market. Companies have been using the internet to share information for years but with the recent incredible increase in personal information sharing on social networking site such as Flickr, YouTube, and FaceBook, brides are gaining interest in sharing their wedding details to the world!

The online wedding market was worth more than $7.9 billion in 2006 according to The Wedding Report. Those numbers are only expected to increase as the wedding industry grows. Personal wedding websites are one portion of the wedding industry that is just beginning to be tapped.

How to advertise your wedding website

What good is a wedding website if nobody knows about it. Here are a few ways you can advertise your wedding website.

• Website cards – physical cards that can be included with your invitations directing your guests to your “wedding website”. Essentially the cards contain your names, the website address (http://www.) and your email address(es).
• Save-the-date cards – you can include your wedding website address on your save the date cards, since usually this is the first medium of announcing your wedding to your guests.
• Stationary – you can also include your wedding website address on your wedding stationary. A good place for this is on the envelope flap.
• Email – if you have email addresses for your guests, you can email them your wedding website address and also follow up emails announcing updates to the website.
• Word of mouth – if you have an easy to remember wedding website address then word of mouth is a good way to advertise your wedding website. It’s easy to remember kimandjim.com.

Tips on how to personalize your wedding website

The great thing about having a wedding website is you can personalize it to your taste. Whatever the theme of your wedding is, you can personalize your wedding website to coordinate with it.

Today, brides can become obsessive about coordinating everything from the flowers to the aisle runner so why not coordinate your wedding website to match perfectly. I’m thinking beyond a picture of the couple and colors to match. Why not scan in your invitation, use the lace from wedding gown, or even pictures of the venue as the background – the possibilities are endless.

Here are some of my ideas to personalize your wedding website:

• Use your calligrapher to do extra words for your website such as RSVP, the story, directions, etc.. and scan them in to use on the website.
• If having a seasonal them such as fall, scan in dried leaves.
• Scan in ribbon and fabrics used to decorate your wedding.
• Use your monogram as the logo of the wedding website.
• Carry the same illustrations used in the invitation onto the wedding website.