hey you guys, i have a question.
i've been avoiding this one because it's really boring, but people keep asking me....
where's the best place to set up a (preferably free) wedding website?
we all know the wedding channel/the knot* sucks (right? okay good) but are there any out there that don't suck?
clip art via ETC
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*don't even get me started on the knot. and don't -- FOR THE LOVE OF GOD -- put your dates/dets in there. you'll never get away.
If it's simply to get information out to guests (maps etc), then Google Sites worked fine for us.
ReplyDeleteWe ended up using google sites as well, because it was so easy to integrate google forms for the online rsvp/ meal choices.
DeleteGoogle Sites!
Deletewedding wire is pretty good. less ugly than the options on the knot and a little easier to use.
ReplyDeleteYes we're using Wedding Wire too. Also the budget tracking, mailing list, guest RSVP, gift tracking, thank you card tracking, table setup sections are a God send. Plus, there's an app for that...it came in handy on Sunday when the FSIL mentioned some family members I'd never even heard of before.
DeleteWe used WeddingWire, too. Really easy to navigate and use, and so many design options that you're bound to find something you can live with!
DeleteI just started with Wedding Window and I like it A LOT
ReplyDeleteI'm also using Wedding Window. The RSVP system (which allows guests to RSVP online) is really user friendly and saves paper, money and time!
DeleteI also used Wedding Window. I am not a website designer and I was easily able to customize the template to make it simple black, white, and grey.
DeleteMywedding.com
ReplyDeleteThey have a huge variety of non-schmoopy templates and you can do your RSVP's through them.
We made ours on mywedding.com too, and their templates are fantastic.
DeleteI had success with wix.com. Not at all wedding based and all the better for it.
ReplyDeleteMe too! Easy to use and very flexible because it's not wedding-based.
DeleteYes Wix was really good, that's what we are using after trying a few (and hating) of the more wedding orientated ones.
Deletewe used wix.com as well. Would definitely recommend them for the not so computer adept.
DeleteWe used mywedding.com. It was ok, a lot of templates/color schemes to choose from. The also partner with offbeat bride.
ReplyDelete*they, not the
Deleteafter hours of scrolling thru fugly templates on other websites, mywedding.com was my favorite.
ReplyDeleteMy friend used wix wix.com
ReplyDeleteI used Wordpress and set everything up as pages. Lots of templates, easy to do basic customization, CSS access if you want it, easy to embed Google forms for RSVPs, and you can nest pages -- we had Travel and Lodging pages nested under Guest Info. Bonus: doesn't look super wedding-y, doesn't have gross gendered marketing.
ReplyDeleteTHAT SOUNDS HARD
DeleteIt's easy.
DeleteWe used Wordpress.com too, but it's because we have HTML/CSS experience and are kind of secret web/design dorks. I loved it for all the same reasons as Rhubarb, but I think for non-web-design-savvy folks, it's a little more challenging than a anyone-can-do-it kind of free wedding website.
DeleteYeah, we used Tumblr and did similar stuff to Jen and Rhubarb. Embedding Google forms was the best part.
DeleteTumblr's probably a bit easier for novices than Wordpress.
I think it's so weird that people go to all the trouble to design cool invites and decor but then choose some crappy template from a free wedding website provider that doesn't match any of their other work.
Wordpress here too. I'm not a complete tard in terms of web/design but i'm not good in html and coding. It was easy.
DeleteOur site is simple and not too bridal which is what we looked for.
It was super easy to set up a section for rsvp.
Not free, but I bought our own domain and then am bumming hosting off a friend. I then designed the whole site myself with basic HTML & CSS. Tumblr may be the best option for someone who wants to keep it free but still have great control over the design.
DeleteIt is hard. But it's the best choice if you're relatively computer savvy, and want control over the design of your site. We chose wordpress because everything else was Fugly.
DeleteWe're not HTML or CSS savvy at all; we just picked a pretty-enough wordpress template, stuck in the essential details, and called it a day. I only go to wedding websites to get the hotel & registry info.
DeleteWe did pay for our own url. I don't care what wedding websites look like ever, but I always want to be able to find it easily/remember where to find it easily.
We did blogger, set up pages for everything, and embedded google docs as well. It was super simple and free.
DeleteWe did Wordpress as well.
DeleteYou definitely need to be computer savy. It's not for everyone. But I designed everything else for the wedding and would have gone mad if the site didn't match all my other wedding stuff.
We also paid for our own url
We did wordpress for info and set up a mail account for RSVPs. I did try using a wedding website (greenvelope) but I had loads of problems with it. the wordpress options was so much easier.
Deletei'm having someone put together a wordpress site for us, and i'm wondering how much i ought to offer to pay them for this-- it's the little sister of one of my best friends, and she's starting a little design business with her BF. they're going to do some custom graphics for us, but the rest we're keeping simple. i have absolutely no experience with this kind of thing, and, while we're on a limited budget, i want to make sure i don't underpay her. i'm afraid she would be too nice to tell me.
Deletewe're having someone put together a wordpress site for us, and i'm wondering how much we ought to offer to pay them for it. it's my best friend's little sister (she and her BF are trying to get a design business off the ground), and i'm afraid she'll be too nice to say if i offer too little. they'd be doing a couple of custom graphics for us, but we'd be supplying all the text info. the site should be relatively simple, though the RSVPs will be a little challenging, as it's a weekend-long event, and some people might be there for some parts but not others.
Deleteas people who have put together these sites yourselves (and maybe with some design experience), i wonder how much you'd charge for it?
weduary.com is a game changer and has awesome facebook integration. I went the DIY HTML route but think weduary is the best package solution by far.
ReplyDeleteI set mine up through Appycouple. The website side is just okay, but the app portion is great. It's very intuitive and there are lots of design options. You can also keep it semi-private from the world.
ReplyDeleteI had one issue with uploading photos, and I got a reply from customer service (AKA the CEO) within 30 minutes. They get major points for that.
I agree... I am using Appy Couple and really like it. You can turn features on and off, so like if you don't want to include how we met stories you can just exclude that portion. You can also track RSVPs there, links to websites, maps, etc...
DeleteI'm using Appy Couple too. I like it. I linked the hotel block information and our registry so that someone could make a hotel reservation from the app if they really wanted to.
DeleteI really liked the privacy settings the best.
Instead of posting a "How We Met" story, we each posted 5 obscure facts about each other.
I posted old goofy pics of us with each member of our wedding party too.
I did weddingmapper.com. For free you can have a complicated url, or for, like, $20, you can just have your names as the url. I liked them.
ReplyDeleteI also used weddingmapper. Liked it
DeleteWe used mywedding.com and were very happy with it. We did get some spam from them, but I just unsubscribed from their emailing list and it stopped.
ReplyDeleteI liked mywedding.com too. I liked their templates and the RSVP module was great.
DeleteAny (preferably free) wedsites out there that have password protection?
ReplyDeleteWordpress! I forgot that was one of the things I liked. No user id or account required. You can also hide your site from search engines.
Deletep.s. that was Rhubarb.
DeleteI am using Appy Couple - both an app and website. Both can be password protected. Best of all - FREE.
Deletemywedding.com has password protection. Part of the reason I chose that one.
DeleteEasyweddings.com.au was good for us - it's free, pretty easy, they have nice templates to choose from and you can make it as basic or as personalised as you want... I got loads of compliments on ours. You can RSVP, gift registry, everything on there.
ReplyDeleteWe used projectwedding.com. Templates are fine and it doesn't include the annoying wedding countdown.
ReplyDeleteWe used projectwedding, too. I liked the built in map feature, high level of customization & ability to preview as you edit, and being able to lock the site with a password. It's free.
DeleteDecided not to use the online RSVP feature, but it might be great for others. You upload the guest list — they enter their name and indicate whether they'll be there. If I recall, you could also customize other things like their entrée selection for a sit down dinner.
We used Project Wedding too, but it was nearly three years ago. There may be better sites out there now.
DeleteHusband wrote WordPress plugin for gift registry, but yeah, we're savvy.
ReplyDeleteI've set up websites at ewedding.com for my brother and sister's weddings last year. The thing is they give you a trial with lots of options at first and they later ask you to upgrade, which you don't really have to. The trick is to put all the info you need on the "Free" pages, there are templates and it is quite easy to use.
ReplyDeletemy fiance ended up designing and building our website from scratch (being a master of all things techy) and has made it secure with a password and created a section to RSVP so that it just updates a list for us of who has responded and if they are coming.
ReplyDeleteBut if he hadn't - I would have gone with the one offbeatbride endorses, mywedding.com
appycouple. they're still in beta but it allows you to create a smart phone application which guests can then access using your password. the designs are great and it has been really easy to use so far.
ReplyDeleteUsed weddingjojo.com
ReplyDeleteNot a great great RSVP experience, but it works. Some people (older) found that part tricky.
agreed! it was easy and looked good, but i wasn't pleased with the RSVP functionality. would have been nice to have a way to integrate it into everything else we were doing. i used it almost a year ago though, so it may have improved?
Deletei used this as well. didn't use it for rsvping so can't comment on that part...
DeleteI made another blog and then deleted all the stuff that made it look like a blog and just used pages. It was easy to make and avoided me having to come up with any "our story" business. Only problem: I tried to make it non-searchable in google, for privacy, etc. (hahaha), and maddeningly discovered that the majority of my family plugs websites into the google search bar, instead of address bar. WHY? After much confusion about why I was professing to be born in Virginia and why James had transformed from hot surfer dude (heh) to drama nerd, we made the stupid thing searchable.
ReplyDeleteMost people think google is the internet. :(
DeleteWe just used wordpress for our info, and we're keeping track of details like RSVPs on a google doc spreadsheet.
ReplyDeleteI used virb.com - it's $10/month but I think that's only because I'm using a custom URL and not the virb.com/tktktk address. It's super easy to set up and use!
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone.... not make a wedding website? I don't have one yet for my April wedding and I don't really see the need to make one. We're sending out paper invites with all the info, the old-fashioned way. Am I missing something?
ReplyDeleteI found it was cheaper to put all the extra information on a website, rather than including/printing extra invite inserts with all the information. Sort of essential when lots of guests are traveling from out of town.
DeleteSquarespace! It's $96 for one year and you get your own domain name. They have awesome artsy templates which are suuuuuper easy to customize. Our website is mostly informational, we aren't registering for gifts (since we're old and have lived on our own for ages) so there is no super high-tech functionality on that front. Anyhoo, we've been super happy with it so far. Here's our (almost finished) site: www.pnwromance.com if you're interested.
ReplyDeletethat's what i'm doing too. so easy, so customiz-able, you can pick nice fonts (not dreamy romance fonts), it's great (you can do 10 months, $8/month).
DeleteThanks Kate!!!!This looks perfect. The wedding websites make me a little uneasy. I'm also getting married in WA this summer. Cheers!!!
Deletethere's a new company called sitting in a tree - http://sittinginatree.co - and i think they are doing a great job of making clean, customizable sites that aren't too cheesy.
ReplyDeleteHi Jill! Thanks for the compliment :) It's all those pretty photos.
DeleteEh. We ended up using theknot because I figured people could look for it there on their own and I felt tackier having to explicitly tell people that we had a wedding website. Would have been just as happy to not have a site at all, and share hotel/registry info via word of mouth, which people did anyway.
ReplyDeleteWe're doing a charity registry at the I Do Foundation. You get a simple website, and can turn off the "Our Story", etc. sections.
ReplyDeleteOh and we're having people RSVP, get directions. etc. by email to save the paper/stamps/time.
DeleteDenise, I thought I Do was ending in January and merging with Wedding Channel? Did you find a way around that?
DeleteWe got frustrated with how ugly most wedding website formats were so we just did it through blogger. It makes for a little awkward of a website but at least it wasn't tacky.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.blaineandlaura.com/
I was very happy with Wedding Jojo. We received compliments on the site from guests.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.weddingjojo.com/
Sitting in a Tree is wedding website company we started because of the not-so-awesome designs in the wedding website space. Would love to hear what you guys think! http://www.sittinginatree.co
ReplyDelete