In this guide · 12 sections
Start with what guests need
A wedding website does one job above all: it answers your guests’ questions before they have to ask you. Where is it, when should I arrive, what do I wear, where do I stay, and how do I reply? Get those right first. Your story, photos and the wedding party are lovely extras on top.
Here’s what to include, roughly in the order guests need it.
The essentials
Your home page should cover the basics at a glance:
- Your names and the date
- The town or city, and the venue
- A short welcome (a couple of sentences is plenty)
- How and when to RSVP
The schedule
List each event your guests are invited to, with:
- The start time, plus an end time if it helps people plan transport or babysitters
- The venue name and full address, with a directions link
- The dress code, in plain words (“Cocktail: suits and dresses, no black tie needed”)
- Anything that affects comfort, like an outdoor ceremony on grass, a walk from the parking lot, or a reception that runs late
Tip. Tell guests when to arrive, not just when things start. “Please be seated by 3:45 for a 4:00 ceremony” saves you a procession of latecomers.
Travel and places to stay
This is where a website earns its keep, especially when guests are traveling.
- Where to stay Hotel names and links, plus any room-block details, such as the booking code, the rate and the date unbooked rooms are released
- Getting there The nearest airports or train stations, the drive time, and whether guests will need a car
- On the day Parking, shuttle times between the hotels and the venue, and when the last one leaves
- Making a trip of it A few favorite restaurants, walks or sights nearby
RSVP
Put your reply-by date somewhere obvious and let guests reply from the site itself. If your invitations go out by mail, the website address printed on them is how guests will reply. Our guide to collecting RSVPs online covers meals, plus-ones and deadlines.
FAQs that head off the group texts
A good FAQ saves you a lot of messages. These are the questions guests ask most often:
- Are children invited?
- Can I bring a guest? A kind answer works: “We’re keeping things small, so we can only host the guests named on your invitation.”
- What does the dress code mean in practice?
- Is the venue accessible, with step-free access?
- Is it an unplugged ceremony? If you’d like phones away, say so here.
- What’s the plan if it rains?
- Is there parking?
- Who should I contact with questions on the day?
Registry
Link to each registry or fund you’re using, with a line of thanks. Many couples keep it low-key, lower down the site rather than on the home page.
The personal parts
Your story, the wedding party, engagement photos and a guestbook make the site feel like yours, and they help guests who only know one of you. Keep each part short. A few paragraphs and a handful of photos beat a full biography.
Keep it current after launch
Your website keeps working after the invitations go out. Use it to post updates (a new shuttle timetable, a rain plan), add a livestream link for guests who can’t travel, and share photos after the day.
When something changes, update the site first, then tell guests directly. That way the site is always the place to check.
What to leave off
- Your home address. Anyone who needs it can ask.
- Events not everyone is invited to. A rehearsal dinner or after-party on the main schedule invites awkward questions. Share those details directly with the people invited.
- Honeymoon dates. They tell strangers when your home will be empty.
- Long essays. If a section runs past a few short paragraphs, split it up or simplify it.
When to launch and how to share it
Most couples publish with or just before their save-the-dates, usually 6–8 months out (8–12 for a destination wedding), and print the address on both the save-the-dates and the invitations. Start with the essentials and add travel details and FAQs as you confirm them.
Before you share the link, open the site on your phone and check every page, link and time.
12 · How Forevermore does it
Building it with Forevermore
Forevermore’s website builder is free to use today, and its pages line up with this guide: Home, Our Story, Schedule (shown to guests as “Details”), Wedding Party, Travel & Stay, FAQ, Registry, Gallery, Guestbook, News & notes (shown as “Updates”), Livestream, RSVP and Music. Every page except Music starts switched on. Turn pages on or off, put them in order with the arrows, and fill each one in with a simple form. Travel & Stay has a “Price / booking code” field for room-block details. Page names are fixed for now; changing them and adding your own pages is on our roadmap. A few things worth knowing before you share it:
- Who sees each page. Each page can be shown to everyone, to followers you approve, or to guests only. New sites show Details, Travel, Wedding Party and Registry to followers and guests, and RSVP and Livestream to guests only. Guests on your list who open their personal invitation link see everything meant for guests.
- Who sees the site. The whole site can be public, protected by one shared password, or invite-only, where visitors ask you for access. With a password, everyone needs it, including guests who arrive by their personal link, and someone who only has the password sees just the pages set to everyone. If a password is how you’re sharing the site, set Details and Travel to everyone too.
- Every event shows on Details. The RSVP form asks each household only about the events they’re invited to, but your Details page shows every event to anyone who can see that page. Bear that in mind before adding a smaller event like a rehearsal dinner.
- Your address. Your site lives at yournames.forevermore.wedding. You can change it later in your settings, but the old address stops working, so settle on it before anything is printed. Using your own domain, like amaraandelliot.com, is on our roadmap.
- Publishing. Until you publish, nobody can open the site at your address, including you. The only preview before then is the one beside your design settings, so publish, then check it on your phone before you send the link.
- Search engines. Your site stays out of Google and other search engines unless you turn on “Let people find our home page on Google” in your settings. Even then, only your home page can be listed. Your RSVP, photos and other pages stay out of search.