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Hi Bees! I'm still fairly new to the hive, but have really enjoyed reading the different tips, advice, vents, etc. There is definitely a lot more to weddings than meets the eye so it's nice to have a place where you can talk about it 24/7 if you want.
Anyway, I've read a lot of posts about whether or not to include registry info in invitations (don't worry not going there just bear with me). Many of the people against including them in invites have suggested including the information on the wedding website. I immediately thought, do people really create entire websites about their wedding? I can barely figure out posting on internet boards, let alone create my own website. LOL!
So my questions are: what's the point of a wedding website? Is it so guests can go and find out where you are registered, location of the ceremony/reception, etc.? What makes it less (or more) tacky than including relevant information (i.e. registry, area attractions, directions, etc.) in the wedding invite? Is it more acceptable etiquette-wise?
I honestly have no opinion either way just looking to get as much information as possible so I can make the best decisions for me when the time comes.
Thanks!
Some friends have made fun of me for having one (good naturedly) but honestly- I have so many guests coming from out of town. This is a place where all the info can be found, and i don't have to keep emailing everyone or responding to the same questions all the time.
I think it is perfectly fine to list registries- at the top of mine I wrote "Your presence is certainly gift enough, but if you so wish here are our list of registries" (something like that)
There is info about the locations, directions, parking, dress attire, whether kids are being invited or not, etc...
I think it also gets the excitement up for the event. You can also update it with wedding shower, bachelorette, bachelor pics which is fun.
As you can see, I am very pro-wedding website. :)
I had not planned on having a wedding website. I thought they were a bit frivilous and silly.
But now that my wedding is less than 2 months away (and a destination wedding to boot), I decided to make one. I realized I was emailing the same information over and over and people are asking the same questions. I anticipate I'd get more and more of that as the wedding gets closer, so a website is perfect to consolidate it all in one central, easily accessible place.
i think people use the wedding websites as a place for their guests to go to find all the information on the wedding, from direcions to the church to how to book hotel rooms. I think its a little more ettiquette friendly in the gift department because they are willingly going to look at it rather than you sending them a card and saying oh hey here is where you can buy me a gift.
To be honest i dont know how many of my guests actually looked at our website but i can see how it would be wonderful to have in case there are any changes in venue or say the block of hotels is booked up and you need to let them know they have released more rooms. something like that.
Most wedding (blog) websites will have a free template you can use and they are pretty user friendly.
if you want to see an example, PM me and ill send you mine.
I don't find them tacky but they are not my style really. Maybe because in my circle it's not common and so far the only person to have one was a bride who was completely absorbed in her own wedding so it came off as pushy and in your face to everyone. I've seen tasteful ones though and I'm sure they are helpful I just won't be having one.
@VegasSukie: Hi and welcome :)
I don't think wedding websites are tacky at all. You can get the majority if not all the information about the wedding without having to bug the bride and groom. You can put anything you want up there; ceremony and reception location, directions, hotel information, info about the couple, registry information, some even have best places to visit/see if its a destination wedding, thank you's to people who may have helped in the wedding, and even later wedding pics :)
You don't have to be technologically savy either to make one. Many have templates that allow you to pick the layout you like and then you just fill in the information or upload the pictures!
I really don't get why it's ok to list registry information on a website but not on an invitation. The website is about the wedding; the invitation is about the wedding. Why is one okay but not the other?
It depends on the way the website is put together. If it focuses on providing useful information then thats fine but alot of them dont focus on useful information and have long essays about how in love the couple are and every tiny detail about how they met.. I just find that to be self congratulatory. I have an online rsvp page and thats it, and so far its proved very useful
I think it's a great way to let people know about various aspects of your wedding. It can also be a money-saver (not to mention environmentally friendly)! We live in the digital age; chances are that whatever information you put on your invitation will be looked up online anyway! My FI and I are planning to send out very simple invitations and skip all the extra papers except an extra little card referring people to our website to RSVP (they can also telephone if they're less web-savvy).
It's incredibly easy to make one these days. Mine is on weddingwire, but there are dozens of places to choose from. They range in price (many are free) and complexity. Even on the free ones, you can add forms such as music requests, apps such as weather and maps, links to registries. . . You can also buy your own domain name for a few dollars so people have a quick easy address to remember-- "Jane-John.com."
I also enjoy looking at other people's websites. It's fun to look at photos of the couple and read their little stories and such. You might want to think about demographics though. The majority of our guests will be mid-twenties to early sixties, all people well familiar with the internet. If you have a lot of older people it might not be as useful.
Anyway, I am obviously pro-website, but you should by no means feel that it's necessary.
I don't think they're tacky, but I do always LOL at the "how we met" stories which are never that interesting (seriously 90% of people meet in college, you're not that special) and are always written in different tenses. They'll be like, "Nicole and John met in college where I saw him in class and fell in love right away! John proposed two days later and Nicole said yes and we couldn't be more excited!" IT'S EITHER FIRST OR THIRD, PICK ONE!
@Evie19: I can totally see how a wedding website would be helpful for destination weddings or out of town guests. The thing is, do people actually visit the website? I've never even heard of them before coming here. Also, I really liked the wording you used about "their presence being gift enough...".
I myself am pro-website since MOST of our guests are from out of the country/hemisphere. We live in Canada and Canada in November has the reputation of being a cold, frigid place with igloos. Happily, we live in the southern portion of Canada which lends itself to spring like weather in November.
But nobody believes us. They keep calling and calling asking about what winter clothing to bring, where they can ski and if we have snow tires. Seriously. ("Which fur should I bring?" "Um, none, please.")
This website is going to clear up MANY misconceptions of my beloved nation when I post average weather tempuratures, photos from past November's, etc. Also, many people are wondering what to do around the area and the website allows me to post all that information without having to personally tell them EACH. My poor FMIL fields about two calls per week with these questions. A website is just easier in this case.
As for the registry information potentially being tacky, I agree that it's not appropriate to be ON the invitation because it's seen as a "gift grab", however, the website is a place for information to be conveyed, including registry information, song requests and photos of the couple up to the big day.
I am having a DW so a wedding website is a great place to communicate all the info to our guests. However, if I was having a regular wedding I wouldn't have a wedding website because I would think its unnecessary and likely no one would view it.
@shaunna: I kind of agree with you here but can also see how it's more etiquette-friendly than putting it in the invite.
@ohheavenlyday: I agree with you on the tense issue! Also, I don't think people care how the happy couple met, to me the website should be a more practical tool.
I mean if you're invited to the wedding, you presumably know the couple well enough to already know how they met, right?
@bells: This was I thought initially as well, until I saw a few helpful wedding sites that really did provide guests with useful information. I definitely do not see the appeal in creating a website about my "love story" or anything like that, but it could be useful for destination weddings or OOT guests. The problem is will anyone even bother looking at it or will they just think we are a self-absorbed couple?
@ohheavenlyday: Not to be a grammar stickler, but that's a difference in person not tense.
First, welcome to the Hive!
Wedding websites are a great place to have all of the information relating to your wedding day/ weekend in one place, so that, as PPs have said, you don't have to constantly email the same information over and over to guests! You can list hotel accomodations, fun things to do in the city (if you have OOT people coming), etc. If your reception area is different than your ceremony location, you can also include maps and directions between the two.
Essentially, I think they super useful just in terms of the amount of information they can convey, particularly if you don't have a hefty stationary budget, and can't afford a large invitation package that includes everything (reception card, directions/ map card, etc. etc.)
@ohheavenlyday: LOL!! you are soooooo right about the mixed tenses.. they do mix past and present tenses and then mix up 1st person adn 3rd person.. its a hot mess
You're right, I just couldn't come up with the proper word in my head so I stuck with tenses. LOL.
@VegasSukie: It depends on your guests the older ones may never look at the website, but younger internet savvy people will check it out just out of curiosity. I know I always check the websites
I think they can be really helpful. I don't think that most of our older guests will be checking it out, but we're friends with a lot of nerdy 20 and 30 somethings, and we're all familiar with getting info online... We're including a link on our save the dates and writing something like "Check out our website for more info and updates" and we plan on making a Google map with suggestions for places to stay, places to eat, places to visit for people who are coming in from out of town. Also, we have our registry info on the website, and are including it there instead of anywhere else. I think that the slips of paper that some stores give you to put in with your invites are tacky, so I wanted to make sure that we were making the information available for anyone that wanted it, without having to make a loud "HERE ARE OUR REGISTRIES" announcement. We'll also post times and info for wedding related parties / activities and stuff. I'm not going to pimp the site out anywhere else except on the save the dates, though. That way, people can look if they're curious, but i'm not going to be pushy about it.
@ohheavenlyday: Exactly! And if you're only going as a date (+1), then you could care less...haha
I don’t find wedding websites tacky at all but maybe that’s because we have one and I am damn proud of it! Lol. I slaved for hours over that thing!
We basically use our website as an extension of our wedding invitations. We didn’t want to clog up the invites with a bunch of random info, so we posted all the extras on the website. We have a whole FAQ section that touches on parking, registries, dress code, meal options, child care, directions, dietary needs, etc. These are all things that we felt were important to relay to our guests but we didn’t want to have to purchase 12 enclosure cards to do so.
We also have sections for our actual wedding, accommodations, attractions, our story, bridal party, honeymoon and our engagement.
@VegasSukie: We've had hundreds of hits to our website. Sure, probably 1/2 of them are me and my mom but our guests are defintiely checking out the site.
I haven't started ours yet, but I love seeing other couples'! I think they're a great way to list pertinent information that might be too lengthy for the invitation, or not proper etiquette to include. I think they've taken the place of the phone calls to the parents of the bride and groom, and they're much more convenient for all involved. Plus they give you a place to share any engagement photos, hotel blocks, maps, etc, that might not fit in an invitation.
i just don't feel comfortable putting all my info on a webpage. i don't think it's tacky at all! the proposal story is definitely hilarious especially when people make heinous grammar errors but i think websites are pretty cute!
I am pro website, as long as it is telling people useful stuff, not just the lovely-dovey we-are-so-happy crap. Our wedding is in a little beach town in the middle of nowhere that no one who is coming has ever been to. So our website pages are RSVP, Wedding Venue (it's a holiday house so I need to explain that people shouldn't look for a church or a club, including directions), Accommodation, and Request a song.
If everyone knows the area, they are probably fairly pointless.
@med700: "This website is going to clear up MANY misconceptions of my beloved nation when I post average weather tempuratures, photos from past November's, etc. Also, many people are wondering what to do around the area and the website allows me to post all that information without having to personally tell them EACH."
I LIKE this! We are planning a DW in Vegas and were trying to think of ways to let people know about hotels, things to do, tips, etc. Initially I thought I would just do word-of-mouth and OOT bags for everyone, but this website thing might be a great way to give out this information in advance.
Doea anyone know if these websites are interactive? For instance, can I put up polls for my guests to respond to so that we can plan a better weekend for them? Like Vegas shows: O, La Reve or Carrot Top, which would you want to see? Stuff like that? Or since my friends are drinkers, polls on best bars in the area.
I don't think they're tacky at all. They're a great place to put additional information like maps, schedule, gift registry, ectect. It's very practical for guests.
We make websites professionally, so an awesome website was a necessity for us lol!
@ohheavenlyday: the "I, we" mix drives me crazy too!! i didnt put any "how we met" or detailed info about us...i tried it but it just sounded wierd any way i tried...
@VegasSukie: people did visit our site..i sent an email to my friends and family, and i also posted it on facebook. when it gets closer to the wedding date i will probably send out another email reminding guests to find info on it. Ive had many visits, posts on our "guestbook" and general interest.
@VegasSukie: Yes polls are definitely available- they are for sure on ewedding.com, but also on others i just don't know which ones...
I don't think that they are tacky, but I don't think they are necessary. To me they are becoming like Save the Dates, something that you feel like you absolutely have to have.
I don't think there really are that many questions you could put on the website, that isn't on the invitation.
I also agree with the previous posters who said that it is too often about the love story, and bios of the BMs and GMs, which eh, I don't care so much about.
The wedding websites that I have been to, I looked at for about 20 seconds, saw there was nothing different from the invite (that I cared about), and that was it. I am sure the bride and groom spent hours on making it, so I don't think it was a good return for their time.
About 2/3 of our guests come from out of town (and out of the country...) so I made a website with All the information about the wedding: hotels,how to get there, things to do around,etc. Since most, if not all the American guests have never been to France, I also included advices on what to do to get the best airfares, how to get around, this kind of thing. I really would never post anything on there about us as a couple or how we met and so on. I really doubt people care,and if they do, that's one of those things they can ask directly. Sorry about the lack of paragraph, I am on my phone and it sucks.
Tacky? I put as much helpful info for our out of town guests as I could on the website and still got more questions! The more info you can provide for guests the better, I don't know how that could be seen as tacky. There are all kinds of details that would be overkill in an "info" card that can help a guest's trip go smoothly. As for the registry, I think it's fine to have it somewhere on there as long as it's not the main focus of the page.
@Hirondelle: ooh la la, France! Can I come? ;)
I just wanted to say to everyone else, in regards to privacy I agree. I would like to build a password-protected site.
@ohheavenlyday: haha oh my gosh I can't stand it when people do that! We have some friends who did that on their website and that's all I could focus on.
I don't think wedding websites are tacky, but they can be annoying and overly focused on the "how we met and how in love we are" rather than just getting the helpful information out there.
I think whoever thinks they are tacky are stuck in last century. Everything is online, yes your wedding should be online. If anything invites should be obselete and tacky, really why waste paper and postage when you can just do it online!
I think they will become obselete in the near future.
I am definitely pro-website. Ours is pretty simple, and serves the purpose of informing our 200+ guests from out of town/out of the country with information about hotels, things to do, etc. I see nothing wrong in putting the registry information on the site; it's not on the invitation.
This is also good for people who lose their invitations, or portions of them... I know I've lost the little information insert when too much comes in one envelope!
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