During the wedding season, it seems to me that there are about a gazillion anxious brides and grooms wondering how the heck they are going to pull it off in time for the big day. Whether you are an uber geek or just a geek in training, it seems the latest wedding must have is a hip, clean and beautiful wedding website.
There's a great range here - some wedding websites chronicles the engagement through the wedding with photos, announcements and even message boards and some are simple pagers that announce the engagement or wedding day with few bells and whistles.
Step 1: What Do You Want To Share? Where Will You Share It?
The first thing you have to do is decide how much information you want to share and put up on the website. If you want to announce your engagement to all your friends and family at the same time consider putting up a simple page with the picture of the two of you and a cute note about your engagement. I love when couples purchase a domain name that combines both their names, i.e., Abhishekandaishwarya.com or rahulanddimpy.com (note: Yes, I made those domain names up). You can purchase a domain name for less than Rs. 500.
Step 2: How Detailed Will It Be?
When you begin creating the site, take some time to consider the level of detail you want to go into the site. There are some couples that start with a wedding website and later extend it to include photos of their children, vacations, funny videos and life accomplishments. Others create a website just for their wedding, but make it incredibly detailed, detailing not only the engagement, but an online invitation and RSVP form, links to online registries, the story of how the couple met and other numerous details, etc.
Step 3: Design It Yourself or Get Help?
If you're not a computer programmer or HTML savvy, I suggest going the easier route (after all, you have enough to worry about, don't you!) and picking an easy package from www.wegettingmarried.com (this one is my favorite). The best part about this website is that it is completely free. There are dozens of customisable themes that the non tech savvy user can choose from to design the most amazing website in minutes. I played around with it and it wins for having the easiest setup and the most choice in terms of background themes and design. (See galley of images for a few of its themes.)
If you have money in your budget you can also consider hiring a designer to make the website look exactly like your invitation or wedding theme.
Step 4: Announce Your Site!
Once you have put the site together, make sure to send out an e-mail or handmade snail mail announcement to let your friends and family know about the site.
Be sure to tell us about it, I love to link vicariously! If you have any questions or comments about how to build a wedding website, then just post questions below & we’ll get back to you.
