Friday, June 25, 2010

It's Friday We're in Love with... Wedding Websites!

When I got married just a short 5 years ago, creating a wedding website was a rarely heard of concept. There were definitely no "easy" solutions to create your wedding website. Today, there are companies specifically built to provide you with easy, build-your-own-custom website solutions!




The great thing about wedding websites is that in today's world, everyone is online. Even Granny Smith is online now and can navigate well enough to find your website. Because of the accessibility, a wedding website can now give your guests valuable information and keep them up-to-date on wedding details, including lodging, things to do when they are in town, etc. A couple can even use it to post a blog of their planning / engagement journey.

So, you want a wedding website. Where do you go to get one? Well, you have a few great options out there!

First up, the Wedding Channel. I chose them first because this is where I went to use all their planning tools. I used them to manage my budget, my guest list and my gift registry. Now, you can use them for all of this and a wedding website.



PRO: It is FREE for members (it's free to join) and fairly easy to use!
CON: You are limited on your customization

Next up, the Knot. The Knot & the Wedding Channel are actually sister companies but they definitely have different feels to how they work. The Knot was the first company touting the wedding websites as a marketable product.


PRO: Again, its FREE for members!! You can't beat free!
CON: Again, you are limited on customization. However, they seem to offer cooler design options!
The Knot also refers you to another company called "Wedding Tracker". They offer you a free trial with them. These websites are really in-depth and customizable but we haven't found out how much it costs after your free trial... Hmmm...



Up next - Wedding Window! I LOVE this company! Their main business IS wedding websites so they focus on bringing you the best options. They are very Relishy! :)



PRO: They have TONS of customization options and they are VERY easy to use!! Plus they offer great tutorial and tips!
CON: They are not free. They cost between $11 - $79. Still - not a lot considering what you get!!!


So with all that being said, what would I do if I were getting married today? Well, I'd probably design my own site but that's because I know how. ;) But if not, I would go with Wedding Window. I LOVE their step by step, ease of use and customization. Reminds me of another company I know...


Lastly, I needed to include Wedding Wire. They offer lots of design templates, mainly by stationery companies. Some of the designs are very cute. However, the customization is very limited.

Now, wouldn't it be fantastic if you could get your awesome customized invitations / wedding stationery through Relish and then flow that same customization into your wedding website? Hmm.... something to think about... ;) In the meantime, due to the popularity of wedding website, Relish is adding "Wedding website card enclosures" to our stationery sets in our next version of software (coming soon). Here's a sneak peek at the card. If you want yours added to your package before the new software, just give us a call!



Have a good weekend everyone!!

1 comment:

MODwedding said...

Lovely invitation design! May we also suggest checking out MODwedding?