Launch your wedding online

Build a 'wed-site' to plan and organize your big day

By Brenda Cohen

From the moment I said yes on that moonlit beach in Costa Rica, I knew our wedding date would creep up quickly. Deciding to host the event in Vancouver while living in Toronto added another level of complexity. The Internet was useful in finding a location and vendors, but I wanted our actual wedding to go online, too.

"A wedding web site is a place for couples to add their personality, tell their story and streamline guest details," says Amy Shey Jacobs, director of public relations for The Knot, one of the first online wedding resources to offer free wedding web sites. "It's a great way to cut out all of the extra papers that go in your invites."

We created our wedding web site to share information on how my fiancé and I met, provide introductions to the wedding party and offer details on wedding day events. Since the majority of our guests will be travelling from out of province or abroad, I also included directions to the wedding site, hotel recommendations and top tourist sites in Vancouver.

Because I want my wedding guests to feel involved and share anecdotes, I included a song request form so guests can send in their favourite tunes. My Aunt Barb sent in the first request — her own wedding song — in the hopes that my Uncle Kevin will dance at least once.

I also incorporated a photo gallery and message board so guests can share photos, stories and perhaps even contact one another for travel suggestions. I have already managed to hook up several friends from different places so they can share rooms and rental cars.

As additional decisions are made and new details come to light, I update the web site. While a small number of guests do not have Internet access and rely on snail mail, we are able to access close to 90 per cent of our guests easily and free of charge via the web site.

Free online wed-sites

I'm lucky to be engaged to a web developer and I have personal experience in creating web pages, but you don't need to be web-savvy to have a wedding web site. There are plenty of online resources that allow you to easily create a web site for free. In fact, a recent poll taken by The Knot found that 65 per cent of brides who responded wanted to create a wedding website. Of those, 81 per cent wanted to use the website for wedding day details, such as location, times and attire, and 72 per cent intended to list their gift registries.

My friend, Ema, who is getting married one week after me, opted for a free online "wed" site from the Wedding Channel. "A wedding web site was something my fiancé and I had talked about doing, since we'd both seen couples do them before," she says. "We knew we had a lot of logistics to disseminate to our guests as most of them would be coming from out of town."

Ema's wedding web site not only includes information for out-of-town guests and details on the big day, but also her wedding registry. "Two of our three registries are also linked to weddingchannel.com, so it makes the managing a lot easier, too," she says. Guests choose one of the store registries and a list of items is displayed for a secure online purchase.

There are many online resources for free wedding web sites. Some of my favourites include Canadian Bride and The Knot, both of which are easy to use and offer lots of cool features, including registries, photo galleries, guest books and in the case of The Knot — RSVP services.

Wedding web sites can be simple information sources or re-creations of the entire wedding experience. Either way, they can save you time, money and energy. And trust me, those are things you can't get enough of during this wonderful and hectic time.

Five steps to a perfect wedding website

Set up an online RSVP
Give computer-savvy friends the option of confirming attendance with an online RSVP. Don't forget to ask if guests are bringing a date and/or children, and include your phone number in case they prefer to call to confirm. "Online RSVP will never replace paper invitations, but [they] allow guests to respond faster and give you an idea of numbers further in advance," says Shey Jacobs.
Find out how to get there
Provide travel and accommodation information for out-of-town guests. From simple travel web site suggestions and driving instructions through Mapquest or Bing Maps to a list of hotels near the wedding location, a bit of direction goes a long way in making out-of-town guests feel more comfortable. If you have time, tell them about your favourite restaurants, parks and museums.
Get the inside story
Tell the story of how you and your fiancé met or how you became engaged. Friends and family love to get the inside scoop before arriving at the ceremony. It works as a wonderful icebreaker and will introduce your fiancé/e to all the distant relatives he/she has yet to meet.
Let your guests be the DJ
Don't speculate on what songs your guests will love, nor have them pester the DJ during the reception. Create a song request form so attendees can ask for their favourite songs ahead of time. This puts you in control of what gets played and — more importantly — what doesn't.
Set up an online registry
More and more people are shopping online, so it makes sense to bring the registry online, too. Many of the free wedding web sites offer free registry services. You can also register your honeymoon. Web sites like The Big Day and The Honeymoon essentially make your registry your honeymoon "wish list." Provide your guests with a detailed list of what you plan to do on your honeymoon; this could include dining out, attending a concert or taking a day trip.

"The more creative and engaged couples are with their registry, the more guests want to be involved," explains Jeff Beard, director of business development at The Big Day. "The process is easy with wizards and templates to guide you."

Guests purchase an item, such as scuba diving for two, and make a secure online payment to the honeymoon registry service. On an agreed upon date, you receive a cheque or wire transfer for the total amount of purchased items. Meanwhile guests feel like they have given you something more personal than cash. If for no other reason, register your honeymoon so that you get what you really deserve after all the wedding planning — a vacation!

Additional resources

Free wedding web site services

Life doesn't end after the wedding. Keep family and friends posted on newlywed life with a free Nest Newlyweds Website or Windows Live Spaces home page. Keep in touch with a daily blog, upload photos of the honeymoon and start your new life together with a married couple's to-do list.