A wedding website that is free can be a wish come true for couples needing help with wedding details. Free websites offer many valuable features for a wedding couple. It is a great savings that allows the couple to share their story without straining the wedding budget.
Paid vs. Free Wedding Website
Many couples take advantage of the resources and wedding planning tools on various wedding websites. A personal wedding website can be an invaluable resource for modern couples. With more brides and grooms contributing and sometimes even paying entirely for their own weddings, a free wedding site can sound extremely tempting. While there are some companies offering free wedding sites, like Web Wedding, and theknot.com, there are pros and cons associated with them.
Obviously the biggest plus with a free wedding website is that you don't have to hand over any money. You may be able to get the following features with a free site:
- Photos
- Post your personal story
- Post important information about the wedding
- Links to your gift registries
- Free wedding planning tools
- Polls and quizzes
- Different themes and backgrounds for the site
There are some disadvantages to free wedding sites, however. You may get limited photo and web space, and your site may only be up for a limited time, typically from 6 months to 2 years.
Paid websites may offer additional resources that aren't offered with a free one, such as:
- Interactive guestbook
- Online RSVP
- Space for posting pictures and bios of the wedding party
- Seating plans
- Maps and directions to the church, reception, etc.
- Unlimited photo uploads
- More extensive options for themes, backgrounds, and music
- Audio and video downloads
- Contact or messaging capabilities
- Address books
- Honeymoon information
- Thank you and special message sections
- Vendor sections
- Calendars
With paid sites, you'll typically pay a low monthly or yearly fee. Depending on your needs, you may want to consider the additional features offered with a paid wedding website. Dozens of reputable sites, like ewedding.com and Wedding Window offer these personalized wedding website builders. Having additional features like online RSVP may end up being worth every penny in the time and stress they save you.
Free Trials
Most wedding websites offer 7 to 10 day free trials so you find the site that is best for you. You'll want to consider whether the site has the options you need, templates you like, and adequate space for the information and photos you include or plan on including. You'll also want to consider how easy the website builder is to use. If a site is difficult to navigate or slow to load you may want to consider another one.
Free Wedding Websites for Do-It-Yourselfers
In addition to specialized wedding websites, there are other options. You can build your own free wedding website from sites like Bravenet.com. While you can build a great site with the huge benefit of being free, these sites may contain pop-up ads or other types of inadvertent advertising that you (or your web readers) may find annoying.
Free blogging sites like Blogger.com are another idea. While weblogs won't come with the same types of resources as a site specializing in personal wedding sites, it is a great way to post photos and updates of your wedding plans, wedding, and honeymoon. This is more of an online journal of your wedding planning, and could be used in addition to a personal wedding website.
Free Sites from Honeymoon Registries
Still another option is offered by honeymoon registry sites like Honeymoon Wishes. In lieu of standard gift -giving registries, a honeymoon registry allows wedding guest to purchase services or cover costs associated with the honeymoon for the new couple. These sites may offer free web pages for couples to post pictures, information about the wedding and reception, their personal story, and special messages to their guests.
Free Sites for Niche Weddings
While not ideal for all brides, some wedding resources providing information on niche weddings also provide wedding website services. One of the latest additions in this area is the Beach Wedding Guide, a site dedicated to helping couples plan a beach wedding in the Caribbean. The site recently launched its own free wedding site service, providing many of the features previously found only in "paid" wedding websites, but available only to couples planning their wedding in one of the destinations covered in the Guide. The free sites offered by the Beach wedding guide offer features usually found only at a price, including unlimited photos, RSS feeds and file uploads, along with an unlimited site lifespan.
Whether you just want to post a post-wedding photo of you and your sweetheart on a free wedding website, or you opt to take care of a large portion of your wedding details with a paid one, there is a wedding website out there to meet your needs.
