What to put on a wedding website: a full checklist

If you only have an evening to build your site, these are the things that matter. Everything else is a bonus.

• Your names, written the way guests know you. If half the room calls the groom by a nickname, it can go in brackets.
• The date, with the day of the week.
• Where it is: the venue name, its address and the town or city.
• How and when to reply, with the deadline in plain sight.

Put these at the top of the first page. Guests will open your site on their phones, often while doing something else, and should be able to find the date and the reply button without scrolling.

This is the page guests come back to most, usually the week of the wedding and again on the morning itself.

• Each event with a start time, and a rough finish if people need to plan childcare or transport home.
• Venue addresses with a map link for each event, especially if the ceremony and reception are in different places.
• Dress code, in words people understand. “Cocktail” means different things in different countries, so add a line: “Suits and dresses; no need for black tie.” If there are colours to avoid, or a traditional outfit guests are welcome to wear, say so.
• Parking and public transport, including where taxis can drop off.
• Accessibility: steps, lifts, uneven ground, how far the walk is from the car park.

If your day has several parts, such as a tea ceremony, a solemnisation and a lunch, show only the events each guest is invited to, or make it very clear which is which.

For a local wedding this can be a paragraph. For a destination wedding, or one with many guests flying in, it deserves its own page.

• The nearest airport or station, and roughly how long the transfer takes.
• Two or three places to stay at different prices, with any group booking code and its expiry date.
• Whether you are laying on transport between the hotel and the venue, and when it leaves.
• Anything guests from overseas should check, such as entry requirements, in general terms.

Do not give immigration or visa advice beyond pointing people to the official government website for their country. Rules change, and they are different for every passport.

Customs differ widely here, so match your wording to what your guests expect. In the UK, US and Australia a gift list or a honeymoon fund is common. In Singapore and Malaysia, many guests give a red packet (ang bao) at the wedding itself, and a gift list is less usual.

Wherever you are, a short, gracious line is enough:

Your company is the best gift. If you would like to give something, we have put together a small list here.

Keep gifts on their own page rather than on the front, and never mention them on the invitation itself unless that is normal in your community.

Whatever you do not put on your website, guests will ask you on WhatsApp instead. A short FAQ answers the questions before they arrive. The usual ones:

• Can I bring a plus-one? Are children invited?
• Is the ceremony indoors or outdoors? Will I need a jacket?
• Can I take photos during the ceremony?
• Will there be vegetarian, halal or other options?
• What time should I arrive, and when does it finish?
• Who do I contact on the day if I’m lost?

Answer the plus-one and children questions plainly and kindly. It is far easier to point to a sentence on the website than to have the same conversation twenty times. Our guest list etiquette guide has wording for both.

These make the site feel like yours rather than a form. None of them is compulsory.

• Your story, in a few short paragraphs. How you met is the part people read.
• Photos: one great one beats twenty good ones.
• The wedding party, so guests know who the bridesmaids, groomsmen or brothers are before they meet them.
• A countdown and a place for guests to leave wishes.

• Your home address and anything else you would not want a stranger to see. Wedding sites are easy to find by searching your names.
• Events that not everyone is invited to, unless you can show them only to the people who are.
• Complaints or rules in capital letters. One calm sentence works better than a list of don’ts.
• Out-of-date information. If a time or venue changes, update the site and tell guests directly as well.

If privacy matters to you, add a password and share it only with guests. And keep the tone consistent with your invitation: a black-tie evening and a barbecue in the garden should not read like the same party. Guests take their cues about dress, timing and formality from the way you write, as much as from what you say.

Publish the site when your invitations go out, with at least the essentials and the schedule. You can add the rest as plans settle. A free Love at First (Site) wedding website covers most of this list, including per-event replies, a schedule with add-to-calendar and directions links, an FAQ where guests can ask their own questions, a wishes wall you approve, and an optional password, in one of 18 designed looks.