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I pulled ours for the same reasons that you're concerned. (My boss also mentioned it when he found I had designed one). We figured better safe than sorry. I don't need opposing counsel reading how I met my fiance!!
Good luck in whatever you decide. (Maybe BIL Bee knows about it?)
EXACTLY! So if you're foregoing the website, how are you conveying information about venue, events, etc. to guests, particularly out-of-towners?
We are considering making a CD to include either with the save the date or the invitation itself (or a companion mailing), since 80% or more of our guests will be coming from California or Upstate NY to our wedding in Annapolis, and a fair amount of my family members (the Californians) have never been to the east coast!!
We used ewedding.com, and it's still up so I tried some searches. No matter what I searched by, including picking a bunch of text from one of the pages, it didn't come up in Google at all.
It may have something to do with the web design? I only say that because from the reverse end, I've been working on a web site design and researching how to make it come up in search engines, and they've gotten a lot pickier about it in recent years.
HTH! :)
I've searched for ours several times and in several different ways (I also have an unusual full name, and if you google me, no other person shows up), and I haven't been able to find it. We used weddingwindow which comes with top-notch security.
Is it possible to make the site without using your last names? Have Jack and Jill’s wedding website instead of Jack LastName and Jill LastName’s wedding website. Password protect the intimate details like location and time but still leave out your last name. Your guests will know who you are based on the URL you provide to them and any pictures you post.
f08_mackenzie_20080609_psd_(2).jpg (11.4 KB, 300 downloads) 3 years old
Thanks Julya, but it is my first name that is unique and what I'm most concerned about. So leaving off our last names, which we would do in any case, won't help us too much.
Thanks, nigelsbride and kleverkira, for the information on eweddings and weddingwindow. I'll have to check them out.
I just tried to find ours via a search engine. I tried FH's name and nothing - same with mine. I even tried typing in one of names and 'wedding' as well as both our names together. No matter what I tried, our wedding website would not come up. Our website is with weddingannouncer.com
We sent save the dates to out of towners with the venue names and city/state so they knew it was not nearby. I just put the hotel info in the invite (pocketfolders- cardsandpockets.com).
I don't think you need it all to go with the save the date, and the hotel may not want to offer a reduced rate that far in advance either.
Consider an inexpensive out of town bag with local info for those who stay. Miss Lemon did one, and Miss Jelly Beans too, check those out for inspiration. Plus, I'm sure when they get the save the date, you'll get phone calls and e-mails. Maybe have a form e-mail typed up to cut and paste to those who contact you with links about the area.
Our wedding website is also with WeddingWindow and it doesn't come up under google.
An option for wedding window you may like is that you can password protect your website. You can do this at various levels. You can protect certain pages only, or you can protect every single page. You dictate what gets protected and what doesn't. You set your own passwords. It's awesome and I really recommend it.
This will take care of all your concerns. Only those you give the password to can access it. Not only that, it shouldn't be google-able anyway. :) HTH
We're using Wedding Window and so far, I haven't been able to find our website using a search engine. Then again, our last names are nowhere to be found on the website. We also password protected it, which makes us feel a lot better about privacy/security issues. I highly recommend Wedding Window-- everyone has been really wowed by our website and it's so easy to use.
Our website is password protected and doesn't mention either of our last names. Even if somebody found it, they'd have to guess the password (which isn't easy).
also, something you can do (which i do for e mail addresses to reduce spam or fishing) is any time you use your real/full name on your website, use a jpeg of it rather than a text writeout of it. That way search engines cant pick it up! if you want a (lousy) example, e mail me at penguin@weddingbee.com
GL!
scallopedlocket29_edited-4.jpg (60.5 KB, 83 downloads) 3 years old
there also isnt really any need to have your last names included in your personal wedding website :) I dont use our full names in ours, since you assume your guests already know your names, and if they dont (for registry purposes) of course its on your printed invitations!
Great thread. We don't have any detailed info on ours yet, but oops! It's the second entry when I Google our first names! (My fiance's first name is rare.) We're using wedding window, too. Not sure why ours is appearing while others' aren't, but it may be because we purchased a domain name and attached that to the wedding window website we built (so the address isn't names.weddingwindow.com - it's firstnameandfirstname.com). I'd rather not password protect the site, but it looks like we may have to do some variation of that....
I have a last name that is very unique as well but I'm in graduate school for healthcare. My fiance is a law enforcement officer but has a common name. So we have a similar situation. We just don't want any crazies he has arrested showing up on our wedding day. So we decided not to put our last names on the website because the people that will get the address will know our last names because they know us and if they are parent's friends they will know our names from STD's and invitations.
So we are just simply Mike & Michelle for the wedding website, both in address and in name. ;)
Also, brides.com and theknot.com have password protection so only invited guests can get into the site with the password.
We used wedding window and it easily comes up in google...we have common names as well BUT our site is password protected, so all u get is the front page and we have a note saying if you forgot the password to contact "Jane or John" but no contact info. So yeah u can see our picture but as far as "vital" information you can't get it.
As a side note for any brides I highly recommend password protection. I can't even begin to tell u the number of wedding albums I've broken into b/c it was easy to find the bride or grooms last name. I was using my power for good (usually just wanted to see photos of my site, or flowers my florist had done, etc) but someone could very well use the power for evil.
We were concerned about "visibility" too; our first names aren't very remarkable, so we went with the first-names-only option. Also, I didn't put very many details of the event, just advice for traveling, etc.
I did do a personal, set-to-private-invitation-only, blog at blogspot.com (which is the same as Google's "Blogger"). That's where we put all our pix, etc. The thing that's a PITA about that is that you need to "invite" people (register their email in your preferences) otherwise they cannot log in. I got around this by creating an Excite email account and "inviting" that email; then I passed around that email and password on all our wedding communications. It's a hassle, but it does keep our stuff private. The good thing is that even if your name comes up in a search (which I think it's not supposed to if you set the private function), no one can read it w/o having a valid login account that you've authorized. Another con, though, is that it's a blog -- it's not a traditional website, so you can't really do things like set pages for different things ("how we met," "event details," "registry") -- it will look like WeddingBee -- a series of blog posts.
Keep in mind my advice is only on free sites (I didn't want to pay for hosting or anything like that since a relatively tiny number of our guests are e-savvy); I'm sure there are options out there involving $$ that let you do whatever you want!
Mine came with the ability to password protect I used wedshare.com and I've been thrilled! So worth the $70 or so it was to join!
I even password protected it after everyone knew about it- I just snet out aquick e-mail and there's been no issue.
If someone missplaced it then just e-mail me at the listed address I provide right off the bat "The site is password protected, if you've lost the password please cantact Amber at......."
Easy as pie.
I believe there is a way to remove your wedding site from search engines. Mr. eggplant did that for ours. but to be on the safe side, Mr Eggplant also removed all surnames from the wed-site also. I'll ask Mr. Eggplant what the method is to remove sites from search engines.
I will not be using one because of privacy issues, but I am concerned that if I register with say, Williams Sonoma" that weddingchannel.com or theknot will automatically create a page for me. i am not a fan of the websites in general. People got by without them 10 years ago- I plan to as well.
We're using mywedding.com, and there is a security option where no one can see your page unless they register and use a code provided by the couple. I just did a google search for both of our full names and it did not come up. Best of all, the site is free!
I'm using mywedding.com also -- great so far. Not using last names and not using the password protect thing. Have tried google searching, found nada. I don't get the big concern if you are not a professional like the original post. Is someone going to steal my wedding identity? If I have nothing more than this is the date, this is the location, here are some places to stay, here are my registries -- is it dangerous? I kind of figured that the only people who were interested in the site were people who are attending. maybe I am naive.
gocco.jpg (31 KB, 120 downloads) 3 years old
I was concerned about the same problem but have done various self-searches since launching our site and nothing has come up (phew)! We used eoccasions.com.
I've tried Googling our website and the only time it comes up is if I enter the exact URL into the Google Search engine. We used Wedding Window and spent the extra $ to get a customized URL address. Try creating a unique URL that doesn't have your full names in it.
You can include code in your website that actually excludes search engines indexing it. Google has some pretty basic, helpful tips on the subject:
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35301
Since you might not have total control of the coding of your website on some of the wedding site hosting services--this might not be useful with those services. But if you have access to the metatags on your pages, or can include files--then I think you should be pretty much set...
Most sites can be password enabled, so that even if it does come up on a search users would have to type in a password to access it anyway. We decided to let ours be public, but have password protected the RSVP. Also, I have to approve all comments before they are posted on the website. That said, we aren't too worried about privacy --we want the whole world to know!
agree with calioteach - mine is password protected so all you can see is that we are getting married (first names only) and the date. didn't have any concerns for letting the world know those 2 things.
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My fiance and I are considering whether we should design a personal wedding web site using one of the many vendors out there, but are somewhat concerned about the visibility of these sites via google and other search engines. I have a very unusual name, and if you google it, you find me right away on pages ranging from my professional profile at my law firm to reported cases and other professional activities. My fiance's name is much more common, but both of us are professionals and are mindful of our online presence and reputation.
Has anyone tried using google or another search engine to find your wedding website hosted by a private provider like eweddings.com or weddingwindow.com? If so, is it easily visible? Does password protection on the site keep it from coming up in a search engine?
I'd be interested to hear whether this is a concern for other brides and, if so, whether you've chosen to make a website for your wedding and how you've protected your online rep. Thanks!