Your wedding website has one job: answer questions before they become texts. A page-by-page guide to what belongs on it, what does not, and how to word the awkward parts kindly.
The AlmostWed team 9 min read
Every wedding generates the same twenty questions, asked by ninety different people, one text message at a time.
Your wedding website exists to answer all of them once, in one place, before they become texts. That is the whole job. Not to be a scrapbook, not to be a second Instagram — to be the one link you can send anyone, about anything, all the way to the day itself.
Which makes the content decisions surprisingly simple: if guests will wonder about it, it goes on. If it only matters to the two of you, it probably doesn’t. Here is the page-by-page version of that rule.
A wedding website’s job is to answer questions
before they become texts.
Six pages, no more
Six sections cover essentially every wedding. Small local wedding? You might merge this into three. Nobody has ever needed ten.
Your names, the date, the city — above everything else
The first screen should answer “am I in the right place, and when is it?” in two seconds. A photo you love, your names, the full date, the town. Resist making guests scroll for the date; it is the single thing everyone comes back to check.
What happens, when, and where — including the boring times
Ceremony start (and the “please be seated by” time), reception, dinner, last dance. If ceremony and reception are in different places, say how long the journey takes. Guests plan babysitters and taxis around these numbers.
How to get there, where to sleep, how to get home
The venue’s full address that works in a maps app, parking or the nearest station, two or three hotel suggestions at different prices, and whether there is transport home at midnight. Out-of-town guests read this page more than any other.
The reply, the deadline, and the follow-up questions
The deadline in bold, and everything you need to collect in one pass: attending or not, meal choices if any, dietary notes, and the names of everyone in the party. One reply per household saves everyone the “did your partner answer?” round.
The awkward answers, written once, kindly
Dress code with examples, the kids and plus-one policies, the weather plan, photography wishes during the ceremony. The FAQ exists so nobody has to text you the uncomfortable questions — and so your answers are consistent.
On its own page, phrased warmly, never first
Link the registry or explain the honeymoon fund. Lead with warmth: presence before presents. It belongs on the website precisely so it never has to appear on the invitation.
Choosing the RSVP deadline itself — how far before the wedding, and how it relates to your caterer’s final-count date — is its own small science. We wrote a whole guide to picking the RSVP deadline; the short version is four weeks before the day, or earlier if a vendor needs numbers sooner.
Say it once, say it kindly
These are the five things couples dread writing. Steal these lines — the pattern in every one is warmth first, clarity second, no apology spiral.
Adults-only
“We love your little ones, but we are keeping the day adults-only. We hope the night off is part of the gift.”
No plus-ones
“We are keeping the wedding small, so we can only welcome the guests named on the invitation.”
Dress code, decoded
“Cocktail attire — suits or jackets, dresses or dressy separates. The ceremony is on grass, so consider your heels warned.”
Honeymoon fund
“Your presence is truly the present. If you would like to give something more, a contribution to our honeymoon would mean the world.”
Unplugged ceremony
“We are having an unplugged ceremony — our photographer will catch everything, so we would love your eyes instead of your screens for twenty minutes.”
The rain plan
“The ceremony is outdoors, fingers crossed. If the sky disagrees, everything moves inside the barn — same times, same address, drier confetti.”
Be careful with
Softening a boundary until it disappears. “We’d prefer a mostly adults-only celebration” reads as “ask us for an exception.” Every hedge you add is a text message you will receive. Warm, then clear, then stop typing.
The other half of the job
A useful test for every section: would you be comfortable with it screenshotted and forwarded to a stranger? The link will travel further than your guest list.
Your home address
Guests need the venue’s address, not yours. If gifts are being shipped somewhere, let the registry handle addresses privately.
The registry as the front page
It belongs on the site — on its own page, after the welcome. Leading with it sets a tone you don’t mean.
Surprises you actually want to keep
The fireworks, the choir flash mob, the dress details. The website is public enough that word will travel.
Inside jokes at scale
The story that delights your six closest friends can read as baffling — or unkind — to ninety readers including your grandmother and your boss.
A second copy of every detail
Write each fact in exactly one place. The moment the ceremony time lives on three pages, one of them will be wrong by June.
Anyone else’s private details
Your bridesmaid’s phone number, your parents’ address, the baby news your cousin hasn’t announced. Their information, their call.
Timing
The website is not a launch — it is a living page that grows with the plan. Publish early and thin; fill it in as decisions land.
6–12 months before
Names, date, city, and “details to follow.” This version rides along with your save-the-dates so guests can bookmark one link from day one.
2–3 months before The one hard deadline
Schedule, venue details, travel and hotels, dress code, FAQ, registry — and the RSVP, open and working. The invitation points here, so the site must be ready the day the first envelope lands.
1 month before
Chase stragglers, close the numbers, and update anything that shifted — the timings that firmed up, the shuttle that got booked.
1 week before
Exact seating time, parking reminders, the weather plan’s latest word. Guests will re-check the site that week more than in the previous three months combined.
The rule that keeps it useful
When a detail changes, guests should find
the new answer at the same link.
That is the real advantage a website has over the most beautiful paper invitation: paper cannot be corrected in October. Keep the site the single source of truth and every change you make reaches everyone at once.
Where AlmostWed fits
You can build a wedding website with any site builder. AlmostWed’s is built for the connection: the schedule, travel notes, FAQ, and registry live on one beautiful page, and when a guest RSVPs there, the reply lands straight in your guest list — names, dietary notes, plus-ones and all.
Your guests never create an account. They open the link, find their answer, reply once, and go back to being excited for you.
Before you hit publish
At minimum: your names, the date, the venue with its address, the schedule, how to RSVP and by when, dress code, and travel or accommodation notes if anyone is coming from out of town. A short FAQ and a registry link are the two most common additions.
Publish a simple version when your save-the-dates go out — names, date, city, and “details to follow” is enough. Fill in the schedule, RSVP, and travel details before the invitations are sent, since that is when guests will actually visit.
No — couples married without them for centuries. But if your guest list involves travel, plus-ones, dietary needs, or more than a couple of dozen people, one link that answers every question will save you a remarkable number of texts.
Yes — the website is exactly where it belongs, on its own page, phrased warmly. What etiquette frowns on is putting registry details on the invitation itself. “Your presence is the present, but if you wish to give something…” followed by the link works well.
Kindly and unambiguously, in the FAQ. For example: “We love your little ones, but we are keeping the day adults-only.” For plus-ones: “We are keeping the guest list to those named on the invitation.” Guests forgive a clear no far more easily than a vague maybe.
Anything you would not want screenshotted and forwarded: your home address, room-by-room gift lists on the front page, inside jokes that read wrong to ninety people, and surprises you want to keep. Save the deeply personal for the speeches.
One link for everything guests ask
Schedule, travel, FAQ, registry, and an RSVP that lands straight in your plan — guests never sign up for anything. Free for 7 days, no credit card required.
No credit card · Free for 7 days · $49 once for your whole wedding