Your wedding website is a valuable source of information for your wedding party and the invited guests to this gala occasion. By building a wedding website that incorporates all the most important elements and integrates your own personal style, you can make a real impression on those closest to you and your partner. This can make your special day even more memorable for you and the ones you love.
Building a personalized wedding website can sometimes be intimidating for couples who are unfamiliar with the principles of web design. At Bliss & Bone, we work to make it easy to create custom wedding websites that stand out from the crowd and that reflect the special love between you and your partner. We can provide you with the tools and the knowledge you need to create an engaging and custom wedding website for your upcoming ceremony and reception.
This guide will provide practical tips and strategies to help you build your own wedding website and why you need a customizable wedding website to celebrate and prepare for your big day. We will discuss the various parts of custom wedding websites and will provide you with wedding website examples that can inspire your own personalized wedding website design.
From a traditional standpoint, wedding websites epitomize the idea of "something new" for you and your partner. Building a wedding website can provide much-needed information to your guests and your wedding party while serving as an ongoing reminder of your upcoming events. Here are some of the key reasons to consider customizable wedding websites for your upcoming ceremony, reception and other wedding-related activities:
Taking the time to create a wedding website and to customize it to suit your needs can help you to communicate more effectively with your wedding party and your guests. Personalized wedding websites can also allow you and your partner to share your story through images, videos and text.
Your custom wedding website will include some basic features that will ensure that it is functional and beautiful. Some of the basic parts of a customized wedding website include the following:
Finding the best ways to build a wedding website can allow you to present the best possible image to guests planning to attend your wedding. Custom wedding websites are an outstanding way to create engagement and excitement among your invited wedding guests.
As you build your own, consider the factors that are most important to you. Your custom wedding website can be as simple or detailed as you would like, and it is always recommended that you give your guests all of the information they need. This way, you will avoid last-minute texts or calls to verify your wedding details and allow you to fully enjoy your special day.
In general, customized wedding website providers charge only a minimal annual fee that allows you to build a wedding website and to keep it in operation throughout the lead-up to your wedding. The average customized wedding website costs between $60 and $100 per year. Since the cost of an average wedding is estimated at about $30,000, a customizable wedding website is only a very small drop in the proverbial bucket for most couples.
While some wedding website providers may allow you to build a wedding website for free, most experts recommend against choosing these low-cost options. Avoiding free one-size-fits-all wedding website providers in favor of customizable wedding websites can help your site to stand out from the crowd. Even in tough economic conditions when the costs of many wedding essentials are rising, customized wedding websites continue to be a real bargain that can fit just about any budget or financial situation.
Some add-on services may increase the cost of your website or its features. For instance, live-streaming your ceremony for those who cannot attend in person may require added fees to be paid to a provider before this feature can be added to your personalized wedding website.
The customizable wedding websites available through Bliss & Bone offers some real benefits for you and your partner. Choosing to build your own wedding website through our platform can provide you with added information and improved communication throughout the lead-up to your ceremony and reception. Some of the most important benefits of custom wedding websites include the following:
These features of customizable wedding websites are not available on most of the free wedding website options. By choosing to create a wedding website with Bliss & Bone, you can access our wedding website examples for inspiration. This can allow you to create a wedding website that reflects your own special story and the joyous celebration planned for your wedding day.
Personalized wedding websites typically include a few common features, including the following functions and capabilities:
Bliss & Bone offers some exclusive additional services, most of which cannot be found in other wedding website providers:
At Bliss & Bone, we can help you to create mobile-friendly websites that look great on mobile phones, tablets and on laptop or desktop computers. We make it easy to create a wedding website that is ideally suited to your upcoming ceremony, reception and other activities.
At Bliss & Bone, we have collected an exceptional array of wedding website examples that can help you to fine-tune your own unique wedding site. Some of our most popular themes include the following options:
At Bliss & Bone, we can provide the right tools to help you create a wedding website that is in tune with your personal aesthetics and that delivers the right information for your guests. Your custom wedding website can act as a primer for your guests, or as a window into your design decisions. Think carefully about your theme and general preferences as you weigh your options.
At Bliss & Bone, we make it easy to create a custom wedding website with step-by-step instructions and guidance for you and your partner:
Many couples have questions about sharing their personal information on personalized wedding websites. These questions often boil down to the statement, "We are not sure how to write our story for wedding website guests." At Bliss & Bone, our customized wedding websites make it easy to upload pictures, poems and images that mean a lot to you and your partner. This can make it easier to tell your story in the online environment.
Personalized wedding websites are an outstanding way to deliver information about your ceremony, your reception and many other aspects that go into creating the perfect wedding day. Custom URLs can help guests find a couple's wedding website more easily. Guests can also search by first and last names on some wedding website providers to find the right website or on search engines for a broader range of results.
Photographs and videos of the venue and the surrounding areas can also be valuable resources for guests to your wedding. Including information on local attractions and on travel arrangements can provide practical assistance for those unfamiliar with the area.
Personalized wedding websites can be configured to allow full access to you and your partner, partial access to your wedding party and close family members and limited access to all other guests. This can confine the information on your website to those who have a real need to know while streamlining the experience for all other visitors to your custom wedding websites.
Most experts recommend that you build a wedding website before sending out Save the Date announcements to provide an avenue for responses and to ensure that your guests can access the latest information. In general, you should build a wedding website at least six to nine months before the big day. Building custom wedding websites can also help you to create excitement among those participating in the wedding party and among your invited attendees.
In addition to the time when you should start working on your custom wedding website, these are other related timeline elements to keep track of along the way:
Once you have reached this part of your wedding planning timeline, you still have a lot of steps to complete. These include tackling your wedding invitations and sending them out about six to eight weeks before the wedding, designing rehearsal dinner invites, confirming your final guest count, establishing a seating chart and customizing a wedding menu.
You and your partner will need to stay organized during your wedding planning process, and if you need additional assistance, consider bringing on a month- or day-of coordinator or wedding planner. These professionals can help you navigate this sometimes overwhelming process, and they can take on many of the planning responsibilities involved.
Your custom wedding website may come with additional features if you pay more for a particular service. At Bliss & Bone, there are two different types of subscriptions: Standard and Premium. For an additional monthly rate, the Premium offering provides you and your partner with access to the following upgrades:
There are plenty of customizations that are available with all custom wedding websites, but understanding what you can expect from the various types of subscriptions is key. Review your custom wedding websites provider as you weigh your options. And if you are working with Bliss & Bone’s system, you can always upgrade or downgrade your subscription.
When you first sign up, you have a free 7-day trial to test everything out at no cost to you. After that, you can add in your credit card information in the Manage Subscription section of your account. To upgrade or downgrade, you will also make that choice here. Keep in mind that if you have Premium photos on your custom wedding website and downgrade, all of those images will be replaced with a gray color.
While most custom wedding website providers secure URLs that are connected to their main URL, you can personalize this part of the process as well. For example, most custom wedding websites have URLs that say, “www.myblissandbone.com/jackandjane.” It is perfectly acceptable if you and your partner are happy with the look of this URL, but you can adjust this if you are interested.
To couples curious about these URLs for custom wedding websites, this is how it works:
This might seem like a complicated process, but it really only requires a few extra steps as you set up your custom wedding website. The result? A unique URL that is easy for your guests to remember. So, instead of referring back to your Save the Date or sending you a text for a refresher, guests can simply remember your custom URL.
When you are preparing your wedding stationery, one big decision you will make is whether to have digital or printed invites sent out. With that, you will also need to make choices about how guests will submit their RSVPs to your wedding.
RSVP is derived from the French phrase repondez, s'il vous plait, meaning, “respond, if you please.” In decades past, it has been more common to send out printed invites that come with reply cards and pre-stamped envelopes to send back to the hosts. In recent years, however, it has become more widely accepted to send out printed or digital invites and ask guests to submit their RSVPs online. In most cases, you would use your custom wedding website and the RSVP feature provided within it.
Your RSVP wedding website can be as minimal or detail-oriented as possible. You can ask guests for a “yes” or “no,” or you can use the opportunity to prepare even more for the big day. For example, you can ask for dietary restrictions or preferences, which can make every guest’s experience at your wedding as safe and enjoyable as possible. And if you are offering a meal with several courses, you can also ask guests to submit their specific meal choices. Guests will then feel understood, heard and appreciated as your wedding approaches.
If you ultimately decide on asking guests to submit digital RSVPs, you can access the details to track everything directly on your account. And because you likely will not hear about all of the “yes” or “no” responses until about two to three weeks before your wedding day, you want a streamlined system to finalize your guest count. If you reach your RSVP deadline and have a few holdouts, you may need to text or call those guests to get their confirmed response.
When you finally receive the official number for your guest list, you should jump into action and send out details to the relevant vendors. Your wedding planner, catering staff and venue coordinator will need specific numbers so they can best prepare for the appropriate number of people. Your next task is slightly daunting: creating your wedding seating chart. This will take a lot of time and thought, so schedule a planning meeting with your partner and work on it as a team. Once that is completed, you and your partner can look forward to your epic celebration.
Your custom wedding website is only one part of what is known as your stationery suite. This collection comprises several elements, but building a wedding website is typically first on this list. So, selecting the best customized wedding website is crucial because it kicks off your design decisions for the rest of your stationery suite. Even more, Bliss & Bone offers curated collections that have coordinated, thoughtful designs that will work with practically any wedding theme.
Your wedding stationery suite includes:
And the popular themes you can match to our collections include:
There are so many iterations and interpretations of the best custom wedding websites, Save the Dates, invitations and menus for your celebration. You should review each collection and see which ones match or coordinate with your vision. Keep in mind that you can switch up the colors, fonts and more to make these the most customizable wedding websites and other stationery items imaginable.
For couples exploring other ways to customize their wedding websites, there is another offer from Bliss & Bone that you should not miss out on. By adding a custom logo or monogram, you can easily put your special touch on every aspect of your stationery suite (plus more!).
A custom logo or monogram is a designed piece that often includes the wedding couple’s initials or names, wedding date and a custom design. You can work with a dedicated designer to fit your exact specifications, and you will receive one revision with your order. You should review the many options available, and then purchase the one you love most.
When you order it, you have three choices: to use it on Bliss & Bone products only, outside of Bliss & Bone or both. The second or third option can allow you to take your custom logo—sent over on a print-ready file—and use it to craft a one-of-a-kind aisle, cocktail napkins and even signage at the cocktail hour or reception. You have the power to envision your wedding logo however you would like, and the same goes with how and where you use it.
Depending on your budget and all of the items you want to mark with your custom logo, you can purchase it for use everywhere. This will give you an almost unlimited number of options to bring in your design.
At Bliss & Bone, we make it easy to build a wedding website that reflects the special love you and your partner share. Our interface can make it easy to update details on weekend events, travel and accommodations, local attractions and your wedding registry. Additionally, your custom wedding website can feature a photo gallery and a section for frequently asked questions, which can provide real assistance in dealing with all the details leading up to your wedding day.
To learn more about the services we offer and how we can help you with building the perfect wedding website, visit Bliss & Bone online today. We look forward to the chance to help you make your wedding truly memorable for you and your guests.