Wedding Websites - How To Enhance Your Special Day
If you want your wedding preparations to be slightly different, why not try one of the hottest new trends, wedding websites. Your website, or wedsite, is designed to celebrate the progress of your wedding. It can range from a simple site that displays the photographs from your big day, to a more elaborate site that is updated a number of times
The ideas is simple, but the benefits are virtually endless. For example, your wedsite can be used to;
a) Keep your guests up to date with the preparations and last minute changes prior to the big day
b) Share your thoughts with everyone involved through your own wedding blog
c) Display photos/videos of your engagement party, stag/hen night, wedding, honeymoon etc
d) Tell the story of how you met
e) Give people maps/directions to the venues
f) Give details of the main wedding party
g) Link to your wedding list details
h) Allow friends and acquaintances to wish you well through an online guestbook
i) Provide accommodation details for people who have to travel to attent the wedding
j) Allow people to accept/decline your invitation using an online form
And most importantly, make everyone who is part of the celebration feel more involved, wherever they are in the world.
But the best thing is the cost. Your own wedsite can cost as much as you have to spend.
1) Build Your Own Website
If you know how to build a website, why not have a go creating your own website? Or if one of your friends knows how to build a site, why not ask them (it could be their wedding present to you). Hosting may cost anywhere from $0 to $10 per month and you can register your own domain name for as little as $15 a year.
If you build your own site, it will give your ultimate control over the way it looks, but it could add more pressure to your already busy schedule.
2) Use A Website Design Site
The next option is to design your own site using one of the automated website building services that are available online. There are a number of companies specifically aimed at the wedding website market that provide this service.
Just choose the site that offers the different website features that you want, sign up, and you'll get access to a user interface that will allow you to create your wedsite.
You don't need any designing of programming experience to build a professional looking site. It's just a case of dragging and dropping to design the site layout, uploading your pictures, videos and sound samples etc and typing in the text that you want.
And many of these wedsite services offer a 7 day free trial. This allows you to experiment with the design interface and see what it's possible to create before you decide to spend your money.
This option will cost slightly more (perhaps up to $50 to $100 for an 18 month site), but it's a quick and enjoyable way to build a powerful website with a variety of interactive features.
On the downside, it may still look similar to other websites created using the same service and the website address is likely to be a subdomain of the main company site (for example www.markandemma.sitedesigner.com) instead of your own address (eg www.markandemma.com).
3) Get A Custom Built Website
To make your special day more memorable, why not push the boat out and have your wedsite custom designed. That way you can have it just the way you want it. It will be able to do whatever you want and it will be unique. It will cost more, but you should be able to get an excellent looking site with a custom made flash introduction and everything you want for less than $500.
And as you won't have to send people as many details, you may save on the cost of printing and posting additional details with your invitations (eg $0.25 per invite, 100 invites = $25). And then there's the stress factor. When you're up to your eyes in arrangements and preparations, it's a much easier option to give people a website address where they can find all the info they need, instead of having to make sure everyone has maps and hotel details etc etc
But whatever the cost, don't let it prevent you from getting your very own wedsite. It will reduce the pressure from your preparations, your guests will love it and it will provide a wonderful record of your special day.
The ideas is simple, but the benefits are virtually endless. For example, your wedsite can be used to;
a) Keep your guests up to date with the preparations and last minute changes prior to the big day
b) Share your thoughts with everyone involved through your own wedding blog
c) Display photos/videos of your engagement party, stag/hen night, wedding, honeymoon etc
d) Tell the story of how you met
e) Give people maps/directions to the venues
f) Give details of the main wedding party
g) Link to your wedding list details
h) Allow friends and acquaintances to wish you well through an online guestbook
i) Provide accommodation details for people who have to travel to attent the wedding
j) Allow people to accept/decline your invitation using an online form
And most importantly, make everyone who is part of the celebration feel more involved, wherever they are in the world.
But the best thing is the cost. Your own wedsite can cost as much as you have to spend.
1) Build Your Own Website
If you know how to build a website, why not have a go creating your own website? Or if one of your friends knows how to build a site, why not ask them (it could be their wedding present to you). Hosting may cost anywhere from $0 to $10 per month and you can register your own domain name for as little as $15 a year.
If you build your own site, it will give your ultimate control over the way it looks, but it could add more pressure to your already busy schedule.
2) Use A Website Design Site
The next option is to design your own site using one of the automated website building services that are available online. There are a number of companies specifically aimed at the wedding website market that provide this service.
Just choose the site that offers the different website features that you want, sign up, and you'll get access to a user interface that will allow you to create your wedsite.
You don't need any designing of programming experience to build a professional looking site. It's just a case of dragging and dropping to design the site layout, uploading your pictures, videos and sound samples etc and typing in the text that you want.
And many of these wedsite services offer a 7 day free trial. This allows you to experiment with the design interface and see what it's possible to create before you decide to spend your money.
This option will cost slightly more (perhaps up to $50 to $100 for an 18 month site), but it's a quick and enjoyable way to build a powerful website with a variety of interactive features.
On the downside, it may still look similar to other websites created using the same service and the website address is likely to be a subdomain of the main company site (for example www.markandemma.sitedesigner.com) instead of your own address (eg www.markandemma.com).
3) Get A Custom Built Website
To make your special day more memorable, why not push the boat out and have your wedsite custom designed. That way you can have it just the way you want it. It will be able to do whatever you want and it will be unique. It will cost more, but you should be able to get an excellent looking site with a custom made flash introduction and everything you want for less than $500.
And as you won't have to send people as many details, you may save on the cost of printing and posting additional details with your invitations (eg $0.25 per invite, 100 invites = $25). And then there's the stress factor. When you're up to your eyes in arrangements and preparations, it's a much easier option to give people a website address where they can find all the info they need, instead of having to make sure everyone has maps and hotel details etc etc
But whatever the cost, don't let it prevent you from getting your very own wedsite. It will reduce the pressure from your preparations, your guests will love it and it will provide a wonderful record of your special day.
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