Wedding websites: building from scratch vs using a template
Personal wedding websites have a special place in my heart. They serve a very unique goal in bringing your dream wedding to life and making wedding planning a breeze. But why exactly should you have a wedding website and is it worth it? What is the difference between building a custom wedding website from scratch and using a template? Is it better to build a wedding website from scratch or use a template? Is a custom website worth it? Which option fits you best and which one should you choose?
Let’s talk about the main reasons why most couples choose to have a wedding website for their special day. And once you hear why it’s ABSOLUTELY worth it to have a wedding website you’ll need to decide between using ready-made templates or creating a custom-built wedding website from scratch. We walk through both options and discuss their advantages and disadvantages. We provide you with all the necessary information to understand which choice fits your unique needs best so you can make the decision for yourself.
What is a wedding website?
As the name suggests wedding websites are created for personal use for your special day. Having a website is not something that's exclusively reserved for businesses or big brands. You too can enjoy the benefits of having your own little piece of the Internet celebrating you and making you feel special. The goals of a wedding website are to showcase your love story, make wedding planning easier and free up your valuable time.
Is it worth having a wedding website?
ABSOLUTELY! A wedding website is the perfect way to showcase your love story in a very unique and personal way in preparation for one of the most beautiful days of your life. Whether you're organizing an intimate wedding with only a handful of people or you have a wedding with more than 200 guests, showcasing your love story from your own viewpoint will make your guests as excited about the upcoming event as you are! Having a website also communicates how serious you are and how important the event is, therefore giving your wedding day a real presence before the big day even comes. In a way, having a wedding website is also a way to get people more invested and lock in your guest list well ahead of time.
Another major benefit of having a wedding website is that it makes wedding planning so much easier. You already have enough things on your plate so why not make life easier with a strategic tool that helps with all that? A wedding website gives you the opportunity to provide all the necessary information - details, directions, booking instructions, helpful links and more - that you would never be able to fit on to an invitation or a details sheet. Also, having all information in one central place that your guests can always return to can be very valuable for saving your time and your nerves. It’s also useful that when some of the information has been updated or you have more information that you previously didn't have, you can update in a matter of minutes and it's available to all your guests instantly. Additionally, having a website for your wedding also enables you to handle other practical things with ease. To name a few other perks, a wedding website enables you to collect RSVPs online without any effort at all, email all your guests and connect to your wedding’s social media.
Custom wedding websites vs templates
How to choose between using ready-made tools or templates or creating a custom-built wedding website? Both options have advantages and disadvantages and there’s no right or wrong choices, you should go with the choice that fits your unique needs the best. Let’s walk through the things that you should be aware of so you can make the decision for yourself.
Wedding website templates
There's many platforms and tools that offer ready-made wedding websites or templates. For convenience I’ll refer to all of these collectively as ‘templates’.
Advantages
Let’s start with the advantages of using wedding website templates. Most templates will usually be very affordable or even free, depending on which one you land on. This is because there is no customization to your specific needs nor do they follow a personalized approach. Using wedding website templates will also allow you to create a website quicker than it would take to make a wedding website from scratch.
In some cases, the templates or platforms may offer quite user-friendly interfaces and a specific set of useful capabilities built into them (such as collecting RSVPs or managing your guest list). These capabilities depend on a case-by-case basis as not all of them offer the same options.
Using templates enables you to publish your wedding website without much knowledge of the website design process or design in general. The design options will be set for you, giving you a limited number of options to choose from.
Overall the biggest advantages are affordability & speed for all those couples who are looking to DIY their website.
Disadvantages
Templates are standardized and available to everyone cheaply but limit your design options and what you are able to change considerably. In most cases you will be restricted to a few available options and you can expect to be limited in your website layout options, or what type or how much content goes into your website, the graphic elements you have on your website, your font choices… virtually every visual element of your website will be restricted to the available options and there’s very limited design possibilities. Because of the very few choices you have, your website will also not be unique to you or your wedding and there’s limited personalization options.
From a strategic standpoint, using templates for your wedding is backwards. If your focus is on creating the most amazing wedding day then all of your wedding day elements should fit and adjust themselves to your unique wedding’s needs. Using a template that significantly limits your options forces your wedding inside of the template. It then needs to fit within the available options that the template offers instead of the other way around.
When using a template your website will be a page on the website builder platform you choose. Meaning, your domain name will include the name of the platform that you're using FIRST and only then you can add your unique slug at the end of the link. As an example, your website would look like www.thefreeplatform.com/laura_cameron_wedding or something very similar. This isn’t easy to remember for your guests nor is it very personal to you.
Using a template can also limit your website’s capabilities. There are different offerings out there and some will have more capabilities and some will have less. One may offer online RSVPs and guest list management while another platform may not. You will need to spend some time and find the one that provides the capabilities that you need, if that’s even possible. Also, not all templates and platforms are created equal, some will have handy user experience and some will have a not-so-handy user experience.
A major disadvantage of DIY and using templates is that there might be times when things are unclear to you and there’s limited or no guidance available, leaving you to figure it out on your own. While planning a wedding it can quickly get overwhelming or confusing and there's so much information coming at you all at once. There's so many things you're trying to juggle and at some point you're not sure what even needs to be on your website. Did you tick all the boxes, does your wedding website include all the information you want it to include? You might get stuck on how to present a ton of information in a strategic and visually appealing way. Or worse, you might be struggling with the tech part of your website design process.
Custom-built wedding websites
Fully custom-built wedding websites on the other hand offer you an experience that is truly unique. You, your love story and your wedding are completely unique and special and a custom built wedding website showcase that accordingly. In order to tell your love story there needs to be a personalized approach that works for you. No standardized template can do that.
Advantages
The main benefit of a personalized approach to your wedding website design is that you get to set the rules. Your unique needs come first and your website adjusts to fit that perfectly, not the other way around. Leading with strategy and value ensures that your website is the strategic tool it was intended to be, not as a place you try to squeeze your wedding into. Your custom built wedding website is unique, personalized and truly stunning. You can have your own unique and personalized domain name that is memorable and personal. All in all, a custom website celebrates your love story, expresses your personality and showcases truly unique visual elements at every interaction.
By having a custom built website you also ensure that you get all the capabilities that you need. There’s no trade-offs or choosing which functionality is more important to you. You don't need to restrict yourself and choose from a predetermined list of things that are available, the sky's the limit.
Another major benefit of building a custom wedding website is that you will hire a professional. A web designer will create your website professionally while freeing up your precious time and energy. Website designers introduce structure into the process that’s otherwise chaotic, they ensure that the process goes smoothly and stress-free and that all the elements are taken care of. That way you get to focus on the things that are most important to you and save a lot of time.
Disadvantages
There are some disadvantages for custom build websites in comparison to templates.
Building a wedding website from scratch takes a lot of design and technical knowledge and skill as well as following a thoughtful and strategic process. Therefore, this option isn’t for the DIYers, you will need to hire a professional wedding website designer. As a result, custom built websites will always be a more expensive option.
Building a custom wedding website will be a longer process then using a ready-made template for the obvious reasons - everything is built from scratch and the process involves thorough preparations, strategy and professional website design.
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Put this together
Now you can confidently make the decision that fits your unique needs best. It’s no secret that custom built wedding websites offer many benefits that I’m sure you’d love to enjoy. Templates have a different offering but with the help of some branding and a clever approach you can make the best use of templates as well. Usually one of the main deciding factors between these choices is your budget and I want to make sure that it’s not the ONLY factor swaying your decision.
It’s a common misconception that having a custom built wedding website takes a big part of your wedding budget
That doesn't have to be the case and professional wedding website designers will also be able to offer you different services according to your needs and in line with your budget. While there are additional expenses for your custom-built website (hosting, domain name purchase and email campaigns) these don’t need to be a problem either. Wedding websites are uniquely positioned to keep these costs at a minimum. Contrary to business websites, a wedding website will only need to be published for a year or max two years. As a result, you only need to cover the costs for a short period which is usually affordable. There are also opportunities to gain special deals and think of ways to optimize these costs.
Want my two cents?
Here’s my personal opinion. I wouldn’t choose a template for myself because I think the benefits of a custom website are simply unmatched. I love designing custom wedding websites in Squarespace for my clients because it’s an all-in-one platform for domain purchase, hosting & design. It offers many built-in capabilities enabling things like online RSVPs, information gathering and easily emailing save the date & invitations or any other communications to your guests. Plus it offers affordable pricing and there are always ways to explore opportunities for cost efficiency in this area.
I hope that this post has been useful for you and that I have given you the right information in order to make the choice that works best for you.
You don’t need to do it alone
I hope that this post has been useful for deciding which route to take for your perfect wedding website. It’s an important decision and there’s already so much to think about but the good news is - you don’t need to do it alone, I can help!
The way I see it, weddings are big and beautiful events that require lots of preparations & careful planning. They also need beautiful visual elements that showcase your unique love story through every interaction and make planning a wedding a breeze. This can be achieved with website design and branding, which I happen to be so passionate about! 🤍
Reclaim ease of mind - Save your precious time and energy, enjoy the process without any stress or overwhelm and have fun while ticking all the boxes for your design needs. Our signature process is stress-free and offers you all-in-one support.
Elevate your wedding - Leave behind searching the internet for hours or winging it when it comes to your wedding design. Elevate your wedding by celebrating your love story, expressing your personality and showcasing truly unique visual elements at every interaction.
Own your story - Experience wedding website & stationery design that makes your life easier while impressing your guests with stunning visuals. Gain confidence and write your own storyline through fully custom designs that fit your wedding day perfectly!
You can always reach out to ask any questions about your design needs, I’d be more than happy to help! Or if you're ready to jump in and turn your vision into a reality then you can have a look at our offering now!
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