To consider a wedding 'website'?

[ObiJuanKenobi]

We are planning our wedding for next winter and have been recommended by a friend that I should set up a wedding website where people can RSVP online instead of having to send back RSVP cards, you can also add details like parking, menus, accommodation codes..

I think you just put on the invite 'please RSVP at blablabla.com by X date'

I know you lovely vipers can be fairly opinionated on wedding etiquette (grabby poems, MIL in white..etc) so would like your thoughts on this! I'm not sure it's necessary but happy to be told otherwise.

I’d prefer receiving an email with direction to a website with all relevant details etc rather than masses of postal crap that often doesn’t cover off everything you want to know!

Much easier to respond online than by post too

One of my closest friends has a wedding website- it's great, all the photos have been uploaded onto it as well so even almost a year later it's a good thing to have

Will it genuinely be useful for you and for guests or will it just add an extra step (potentially a confusing step for some elderly relatives)?

I love when a wedding has a site, especially for checking and double checking times, gift list, etc. However, we made sure it was an add on rather than the only source of info. My mother and grandmother don't have internet access so it would have excluded them if it was the only way to RSVP or to get info.

I did one, people said they found it useful,

We stuck qr codes on the invites and said people could RSVP by post or online. Most did it online as it was quicker to scan with the phone immediately than go find a pen, fill in boxes, put back in envelope and then find a post box.

Also, the benefit of a website is it can't get lost like an invitation card or an email.

@LostInShoebiz my concern was my grandparents and their friends (80s plus) but I guess they could just phone/write if I make sure to put my number too!

Thank you for feedback I can see it would be useful and definitely cost the cut off lots of separate invite sheets with details on.

My friend did this and it was fab! All the details were on the page and we could rsvp on line so took away all the faff of replying by post. She used a free website so saved money on invites too x

Sounds like a great idea, especially with links to the nearest hotels. I'm always paranoid I've booked somewhere random with the same name!

My nephew did this last year when he got married and I thought it was brilliant. It's one handy place for all of the details and photos after the wedding.

I like them as it saves on expensive invites with loads of info and is easier to rsvp etc. They can be as cheesy as you want as well.

It's super helpful IMO, I usually bookmark them on my phone which means I can quickly double check details if I don't have the invite with me. I really ought to get around to building ours...

We had a website (2 in fact as lots of guests didn’t speak English) as an add on to the paper invites. A good 75% of our guests came from overseas so we added maps, details of hotel, church, timings and lots of other useful info.

Good idea. Know people that have done one for their 40ths so don't think its OTT.

Could help with say lift shares etc.

A friend of mine set up a website for their wedding. They sent out gorgeous invites that gave you the details of the website or you could send back an rsvp with menu options. It worked well so those that are shit at getting things posted back could do it online and those who aren't tech savvy posted it.

My friends are pretty hopeless and getting back to people with plans to be fair so I was dreading not getting RSVPs back so I'm definitely warming to the idea.

I'd still want to send out formal invitations and put the details of the website on there but forego the little extra cards you get with details, menus, hotels..etc and probably not use it for evening guests to not to confuse them that they're invited to the lot if all the info is in the site

I would probably give people both options, so they can RSVP either online (webside or email) or via snail mail.

My husband and I did this. DHq is a web developer so it made total sense to us - he made the whole website from scratch and added a lot of personal touches. There are lots of options out there for something a bit more ready-made though.

It really did feel a lot easier and if people were late to RSVP, we only needed to send a reminder text and it was done that day, instead of having to post something to us. We still sent out formal invites by post. And for any older relatives we had, either I or another member of our families sat down with them to help.

Someone in our family did it and it was great; maps, FAQs, gift list stuff all on the site. Photos after.

I'd do it if I ever married again.

DH sorry, not sure what a DHq is!

We had one which included a little RSVP form and lots of info on the day, local hotels, taxi firms, etc. It was great.

The only people we invited who would have struggled with a website were my grandparents, and we sorted everything out for them directly anyway.

We did this, my brother is a website designer so did it for us fortunately. Almost everyone RSVPed this way, but we had visit xxx or write to us at xxx on the invites to cover the people who wouldn’t want to use it. We got one card in the post, the rest were online (won’t mention those who didn’t RSVP at all!!!).

I've looked into this properly and it actually looks really good!! It auto sends an email to anyone who hasn't RSVPs 48 & 24 hours before the deadline.
I've found a site that looks pretty professional but will welcome any recommendations.

Thank you all so much.

Really considering this for ours - does anyone have any recommendations for websites where it is really straightforward to create?

We used this site...

www.gettingmarried.co.uk/

Was great having all info/rsvps/menu choices in one, place easy to set up and run... would recommend.