What Wedding Website Should I Use for Our Wedding?

The world of technology has yet again provided us a way of getting a lot of information to a lot of people in a quick and orderly fashion... this time it's called a wedding website. Wedding websites are used for obtaining wedding RSVPs, providing wedding ceremony and reception information, providing wedding registry information, and some include options for honeymoon donations. The good thing about wedding websites is that it's a central place where all the information can be held... the bad thing about wedding websites is that if you don't have a computer, you have no other way of getting the information. Not everyone is technically savvy, so you may still have to do mailings for some of your potential wedding guests.

If you do decide to use a wedding website, which one should you use? I definitely recommend using one that's free of charge for two reasons - 1) after you're married you won't use it ever again; 2) you don't need any unnecessary expenses for your wedding; there is enough stuff you'll be charged for. I want to compare three wedding websites that I've found that are good and free of use. You can weigh their options and see which one may be the most beneficial for you.

WeddingChannel.com - A wedding website at WeddingChannel.com is free to members of the Wedding Channel website. You can choose from 50 or more designs, tell your story of how you met, include all of your gift registries on one page, and more.

TheKnot.com - Creating a wedding website at TheKnot.com is free to members of TheKnot.com community. It's free to register for the community as well, but not necessary if you just want to get some information from the site. What you get with this website is a personal address on TheKnot.com, a page to "tell your story", share your gift registry, and upload photos. You can choose from existing designs and create save-the-date designs to match your website. I think the advantage to a wedding website on TheKnot.com is access to the community and having TheKnot.com resources at your fingertips. Inside TheKnot.com are wedding ideas, showcases of previous weddings, tips on wedding planning, and insider information for the groom and his guys as well as the bride and her bridesmaids. You can also get information about honeymoon spots, and Q&A about various factors of the wedding process.

MomentVille.com - MomentVille has the ability to keep track of your RSVPs, checklists, budgets and more. You can add photos, music, or videos... get email updates, send invitations... and it's ad-free for your guests. Some websites that are free are free because they are smothered with advertisements, but not MomentVille. If it helps, all websites hosted on MomentVille are carbon neutral, so it's a green website. There is no page limit, and your website will never expire. You also have the ability to search from thousands of vendors for any part of your wedding needs - photography, videography, catering, clothing, etc. MomentVille does offer a premium service for a one-time fee of $35. With the premium package you get password protection, increased storage for photos, no advertisements for you, and a downloadable keepsake of the website. You can have a personalized domain name for an extra cost.

If neither of these options appeal to you, there are some premium wedding website companies you can check out. Those include: eWedding.com, weddingwindow.com, and weddingtracker.com. WeddingWindow.com has designs for save-the-date e-cards as well as a blog page, music, video and more. WeddingTracker.com gives you your personal .com address, a website with flash animation if you choose, and advanced planning tools.

If your desire is complete customization, you can hire a web designer/developer to create your own fully-customized wedding website for you with whatever features you want and are willing to pay for. (Quick plug: I also develop websites, so feel free to contact me if this idea interests you.) Honestly, you will come out cheaper by going through one of the free wedding websites, or even one of the premium wedding websites and you set up the information yourself and have more control over it. Most couples only hold on to their wedding website throughout the duration of the engagement period; afterwards they don't even think of it again unless there is a guestbook feature.

Having a wedding website is the least of your concerns, but for those who want to engage the technology available to them, wedding websites are a great way to reach a big group of people in a little bit of time.