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Updated Oct 14, 2024Why a Wedding Website is an Essential Tool for Planning Your Wedding
It can leave you with beautiful memories and stress-free communication.
While doing your wedding planning research, you've probably seen various sites recommend creating a wedding website. You already have lots of important tasks to check off your wedding planning checklist and may be wondering, "Is a wedding website necessary?" if it will only add more work to your to-do list. Don't think of a wedding website as an item that will increase your workload but instead as a tool that will lighten it in the long run. Based on The Knot Real Weddings Study, 89% of newlyweds decided to create a wedding website during their engagement. By using a wedding website builder, you will not only organize your wedding planning but also help your guests easily access all your wedding details (without needing to text or call you on every whim). Read on to learn what a wedding website is, what it can offer and our best wedding website recs for creating one.
In this article:
What Is a Wedding Website?
A wedding website is a helpful wedding planning tool that can be beneficial for providing wedding details to your guests. Your wedding website acts as a central hub for your guests to easily access important information that's not included on your wedding invitations, such as dress code, transportation, hotel accommodations and more.
There are templates and themes available so you can personalize your wedding website to reflect you and your partner. Another way to personalize your wedding website is by showcasing your love story, sharing your wedding hashtag or adding bios for everyone in your wedding party. One of the most helpful tools some wedding websites have is an RSVP manager and tracker so you can confirm RSVPs in real time. If you're worried about having your wedding details in the public eye, some sites allow you to set custom privacy controls, like passwords to access your wedding website or ways to hide your site from search engines. The good news: The Knot Wedding Websites offer this great feature and more (including the Wedding Planner App so you can update your site on the go!).
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Benefits of Having a Wedding Website
We get it—creating a wedding website takes time and effort, two things you might not have an abundance of at the moment. But it turns out that creating a site can actually save you time (and money!) in the long run. Here's how:
It's cost-effective.
Wedding expenses like your wedding entertainment, wedding venue and invitations can add up. According to The Knot Real Weddings Study, newlywed couples spent an average of $250 on their invitations and RSVP cards. A wedding website can help cut down on invitation and RSVP costs because you won't have to fit all your wedding details into one wedding invitation suite with multiple insert cards (which can increase your costs). Instead, you can place your wedding website URL on your save-the-dates, on the back of your invitation or an insert card with a note to your guests that they can use your site as a way to find all your wedding details. Some wedding website builders offer RSVP tracking, so if you want to decrease your wedding stationery costs, create a website so you can request wedding RSVPs online—this is a great option for your tech-savvy guests. (The RSVP tracker is one of the many pros of The Knot Wedding Website builder.)
Many wedding website builders are free (think of it as you and your partner's first wedding gift) but provide you with the option of purchasing a custom domain for an additional fee. If buying a custom domain fits into your wedding budget, we recommend personalizing it by adding you and your partner's names, wedding date or your wedding hashtag to your site's URL. This makes it easier for your guests to find your wedding website in the event that there are other couples with the same names or wedding date as you.
It's eco-friendly.
If you're aiming to have a sustainable wedding, one way to help achieve your goal is by building a wedding website. Your invitations, envelopes and RSVP cards can add up to a lot of paper, so making a wedding website eliminates that paper waste since all of your wedding information would be online. (We do recommend paper stationery though since it's a great memento for you and your guests to have before and after the wedding. Many local stationery designers and The Knot Invitations offer eco-friendly paper options for your wedding invitation suite needs as well.) To reduce your carbon footprint, find other ways to continue the paperless theme throughout your wedding, like using decorative escort cards that double as favors, or opting for virtual invites for prewedding events (you might appreciate these eco-friendly online wedding shower invitations).
You can share details that aren't on your wedding invitations.
You may look at some of these benefits and still wonder to yourself, "Why do I need a wedding website?" Data from The Knot Real Weddings Study found that wedding websites are a major source of communication between couples and guests, with 79% of couples using one to share key wedding details. This means couples consider wedding websites to be a great way to have one place where their guests can have all their questions answered. With just one click, random questions, like, "Are you having an unplugged ceremony?" or "What's your wedding day health and safety guidelines?" can be answered in the FAQ section of your site.
There's also wedding invitation etiquette to keep in mind as well. Elements that are considered inappropriate to include on your invitations like your registry information (because you don't want to seem like giving a gift is required) or announcing that your wedding is adults-only (because you don't want families to feel unwelcome) fit perfectly on your wedding website.
Bonus: Normally, there's no space to include your love story, bios and photos of your wedding party or your engagement photos to your invitations, but by having a wedding website you can create a home for these special memories and personalize your website.
It keeps your wedding planning organized.
From finalizing your guest list to hiring your wedding vendors, there are lots of important decisions you have to make, which can make wedding planning seem stressful. A wedding website can help you avoid planxiety (planning anxiety) since you won't have to answer the same questions from vendors and guests. Your wedding details can be found all in one place—making it easier for everyone to find everything related to your wedding.
You can share your registry information in one place.
Here's another reason why you should have a wedding website: Instead of having your guests switch back and forth between multiple stores' sites to find items on your registry, continue with the all-in-one approach by sharing your registry on your wedding website. Guests will be able to look through the gifts you and your partner truly want or need, give money to your cash fund (yay money for date night!) or donate money to your favorite charity. Most importantly, guests can see what gifts have been purchased already, so you don't get three identical blenders mailed to your doorstep. Note: The Knot Registry can be a great tool to add to your wedding website since it has all the features mentioned above and much more.
It's easily accessible.
Any device that can access the internet can easily access your wedding website. The days of paying for extra invitations in case people misplaced theirs are in the past. Now, your guests can check the ceremony start time, the dress code or the venue's address last-minute from their phone, even if they don't have the physical invitation on-hand.
It's an everlasting memento.
You may feel intimidated by the phrase "what goes on the internet, stays on the internet" (since it refers to once you publish anything online, it's essentially there forever). But when it comes to your wedding website, this is a great thing! You can think of it as a digital keepsake of your special day. Customize your wedding website design to fit you and your partner's style, share your love story and add photos from your wedding day. Some wedding website builders even have virtual guest books so they can send you well-wishes. (Did you know The Knot Wedding Website offers a photo timeline, livestreaming and a messaging hub to help share your wedding day in multiple different ways?) Everything on your wedding website is there for as long as you want it to be, so that you and your guests can reminisce about the special moments shared on your wedding day for years to come.
