Wedding websites have gone from niche to mainstream. While paper invitations are still considered the standard, every couple wants an online guide to help inform their guests of the latest developments and details of their big event. A wedding website also helps your big day become internet-official, alongside the social media announcements and online registries.
More importantly, a wedding website is simply one more way for a couple to communicate to their friends and loved ones--a medium to convey their happiness and love. It is a way to tell their story to the world. A wedding website, therefore, should be beautiful as it is functional.
In the midst of wedding planning, you might feel the added burden of having to create a new wedding website too much to add to the tasks on your plate. This is completely understandable. Every bride and groom has felt the pressure of organizing too many things at once. One of the things that you are probably wondering about is how to fit in creating a wedding website into your already hectic schedule. But setting up a wedding website for your very special day is something that you definitely don’t want to miss--not in the age of the internet, and definitely not during a raging pandemic where people are already socially distanced--so you need to be on the lookout for solutions that can help you accomplish this task.
There are other practical advantages to having a wedding website. Your site can serve as an online hub for everything that has to do with your wedding and even help you with preparations leading up to the event. You can use a free wedding website built on an amazing platform like Strikingly to send out invites, receive RSVPs from guests and even share memories of your special day. Many couples create a wedding website so they can communicate wedding details clearly to their guests in real time. Changes are best communicated as they happen, or at least ASAP. A wedding website allows you the convenience of announcing alterations or changes in plan without causing a stir. It also gives couples an opportunity to immortalize the finer details of their wedding preparations that may not be captured or publicised properly otherwise. These moments tend to go by in a blur during the event, and can be missed entirely once they settle into their married lives. Some wedding templates enable you to set up a gallery where all this can be documented. Other couples even use a wedding website to jumpstart a continuing online presence wherein their personal website grows from a page for documenting this special event and into a content-rich website that tells the story of their lives.
Sound like too much work? Don’t worry! We have a guide that’s going to help you put your site together.
How to Make a Wedding Website that’s Beautiful and Free of Charge
Wondering if you need to be a programmer in order to set up a great wedding website? Fret no more! The good news is that you don’t need technical expertise to be able to create a wedding website. With the help of a good wedding website builder and the right template, you can create a site that stands out and makes your guests feel excited about your special day.
Platforms like Strikingly offer this service for free too. Yes, you heard that right. You can create a Strikingly wedding website absolutely free of charge. The platform also offers many wedding website examples that can serve as inspiration for your own personal site. All you need to do is sign up and you’re on your way.
Here are a few tips to get you started.
1. Be mindful of the motif! Choose a color scheme that reflects your theme.
To be consistent with your motif, you will want to implement exactly the same theme on your wedding website. After all, you don’t want your guests confused as to whose wedding it actually is! Besides this, ensuring that you have a consistent theme throughout your different wedding templates just looks way better and more put together. So to start right, start with a well-chosen theme on your wedding template.
Be sure to implement the same color scheme on your free wedding website as your actual wedding. This sets the stage for the general mood and imagery of your special day. It gives guests a preview of what to expect in terms of visuals and design elements and helps build the excitement towards your wedding.
2. The right wedding website builder makes things easier for you.
The great thing about using a site builder is that you don’t have to build your website from scratch. You can choose from a collection of free wedding websites examples and go with one that suits your personality and your content needs.
On Strikingly, you get a good amount of freedom to transform your selected wedding template into a unique wedding website, so don’t worry about ending up with a generic-looking online space. It’s also okay to change your mind at any point while building your site because you can switch to a different wedding template with ease. You can even change your theme after you have published your wedding website. You can keep working on your site as you move along, so don’t worry if you do make mistakes or want to change design elements here and there. Everything is editable. This is the magic when setting up your Strikingly free wedding website.
3. Include all important details.
Your wedding website serves as an online hub for all wedding-related information. You want to include as much information about the event as possible to make your website useful and functional.
Important details such as the date, time and venue should be there. If you’re expecting guests coming from out of town, you want to include a section on travel information, driving directions, hotel accommodations, etc. To make your guests’ experience worthwhile, you might also want to add suggested tours and activities that they might want to participate in during your wedding weekend.
In summary, these are the crucial details you will want to share with your guests:
- Clearly stated names. While some might choose to go with nicknames and omit surnames, you will want some parts of your site to clearly state the names of the engaged couple for formal and practical reasons. Remember, as a social event, you need to communicate clearly to your guests.
- The wedding date. This information is important, so be sure to put it in a visible spot on your wedding website. This is first announced when you send out your “Save the Date” invites, and you need to post this clearly on your online touch points as well.
- Wedding venue, location and details of travel requirements when necessary. The wedding location is another important part of your wedding website that shouldn’t be missed. For visitors who are from out of town, it would be considerate to add a map or travel guide to help them with their journey. Whatever the arrangement you are considering, you will want to include all relevant travel information to make their stay as comfortable as possible. During the pandemic, logistics can become a bit more complex and tedious. While large gatherings and unnecessary travel are not recommended, those who insist on flying in guests should outline a rigorous plan, including testing, quarantine and accommodations plans to help their guests adjust to the country or place they are flying into.
- An overview of your schedule. You may choose to be as specific or general as you want. You will have to make sure that you have a decent outline of the pre-wedding events as well as any post-wedding parties lined up. You can include other details such as transportation and assembly points.
- Gift registries. If you decide to get on a particular store’s gift registry, or create your own, a wedding website adds to the convenience of keeping your guests informed. Your wedding template should be able to accommodate this. Special donations or contributions can be routed through a payment request on your site. A free wedding website will be able to accommodate such functionalities.
- Fun social media hashtags. Hashtags are a great way to organize your content and make your event more fun and creative. Your guests will enjoy it more when they have specific hashtags they can use for all the photos they take or for their own social media posts to consolidate their experience with other guests.
- Organizer’s contact details. Whether it’s you doing all the planning or you are delegating some tasks to a professional wedding planner, it’s helpful to have a contact person that can answer guest queries. Post this person-in-charge’s contact info on the site to save you the trouble of having to relay it frequently.
4. Personalize your wedding template design.
Aside from adding your own color scheme, we suggest using other custom design elements such as a logo that could be anything as simple as you and your partner’s initials, to something intricate that could also be used on all other wedding-related materials. Certain details such as a gallery of your prenup shoot or engagement photos, a short section on your love story or even a presentation of your entourage are great additions to your wedding website.
The Best Wedding Websites Powered By Strikingly
If you’re looking for inspiration for your own free wedding website, here are a few heartwarming examples that you may want to check out. Each has a specific mood and theme that will suit varied concepts and tastes.
Whether your choice of theme is elegant and urban, luxurious and sophisticated or charming and rustic, Strikingly has a wide range of wedding templates for you. There is a wedding template for every couple and personality.
