How to make a wedding website, step by step

Decide what the site is for

Most wedding websites have three jobs: tell guests what’s happening and where, collect replies, and help people who are travelling. Everything else is a bonus. Start with those three and you’ll have something worth sharing in an evening.

If you’re sending paper invitations, the website carries the detail the card can’t: the timings, the dress code, where to stay, how to get there. The card can then stay simple and beautiful.

The steps

1. Pick a designChoose a look that matches the wedding rather than one you’ll want to customise for hours. Good designs handle your photos and names well without fiddling.
2. Add the essentialsYour names, the date, the venue and the timings for the day. If there’s more than one event (welcome drinks, the ceremony, the day after), give each its own time and place.
3. Write the practical bitsDress code, children, parking, accessibility, the nearest station and where to stay. These are the questions you’ll otherwise answer one message at a time.
4. Set up RSVPsAsk for a reply per household, with a yes or no for each person and each event, meal choices and dietary needs. Set a deadline about four to six weeks before the wedding.
5. Add your guest listGroup people into households so a couple or a family replies once, and each person still gets their own answer.
6. Check it on a phoneMost guests will open the link on their phone, often from a message. Read every page there before you share it.
7. Share the linkWith your save the dates, on the invitation (a short link or QR code), or by email straight from the site.

What makes a wedding website easy for guests

• One link that works for everyone, with no app and no account to create.
• Each guest sees only what applies to them: if the evening guests aren’t at the ceremony, their page says so.
• Replies in a minute, with clear deadlines and a confirmation afterwards.
• Travel help for anyone coming from further away: nearby airports and stations, and places to stay.
• A privacy option, so the site isn’t open to anyone who finds it.

Common mistakes

• Leaving out the timings. “Ceremony at 2pm” isn’t enough if the bar opens at 4 and carriages are at midnight.
• One RSVP per person. Households reply together; make that easy and you’ll get answers faster.
• Burying the deadline. Put the reply-by date where people can see it, and send a reminder a week before.
• Forgetting the people without email. Print a short code on paper invitations so they can still reply online, or reply for them.

How long does it take?

With the details to hand, an evening. Writing the travel and accommodation section takes longest, so gather hotel names, booking codes and the nearest stations first.