Wedding Websites

JCbride2015

I've tried searching but actually haven't found any recent threads on this.  What companies did you all use for your wedding websites?  I don't mind paying a reasonable one-time fee, but anything with a monthly fee is out.

Options I'm considering:

--TK.  I had started building one on TK but I got frustrated because the design was very rigid and I couldn't change much about it.  Plus I'm not so sure how much I trust TK's tech.  But the designs are cute and it's free.

--WeddingWire.  I've heard they have good designs but I haven't really checked it out.

--Appy Couple.  I actually am kind of in love with a few of their designs and the website is very easy to use.  But it costs $35.

Does anybody have feedback on the listed sites, or did you like something totally different?  Our guests are pretty web-savvy, and many of them are traveling, so I'm expecting the website to get a lot of use.

Also-- for those of you who purchased a domain name, which registration service did you use?

WinstonsGirl

 I used Wedding Bells, which is a Canadian site, though I'm not sure if they're still doing them, as they cut their community forums.  It was free and let me customize the pages decently.  

beethery

How much are all of these things? I was just going to get a $3 domain name and do a subdomain directory off of my portfolio site if I really end up feeling the need to create a site.

pinkshorts27

I used wedding wire, no complaints

JCbride2015

beethery said:

How much are all of these things? I was just going to get a $3 domain name and do a subdomain directory off of my portfolio site if I really end up feeling the need to create a site.

Appy Couple is one-time $35, everything else is free.  They all include hosting, so I'd just have to register the domain name.

JCbride2015

@beethery where do you register a domain name for $3?  The cheapest I've found is GoDaddy for $15 for a year.

theartistformerlyknownas

I just used TK and whatever service they linked to for the $20 custom domain name. Wasn't worth it to me to do more research on it, and I really like the design. 

littlemushroom

I used TK.  It let me customize enough that I could pretty much have whatever I wanted in terms of content.  I appreciated the more plug and play of the layout because I didn't want to stress too much over how everything looked beyound the basic design I chose (which took me forever to commit).  I could just focus on the content.  Never had any issues with the site, always worked with no problems.  Plus, you can't beat free.

beethery

I have offers from hostmonster because I already have hosting through them. I might not even do that because I can just do blahblah.myregulardomain.com for free and call it good.

$35 for one year of hosting is a goooood deal.

Tami87

I used google sites. There are some wedding website templates you can get or can completely customize it yourself. I preferred google for customization options and integrating google maps. Downside is domain name which is sites.google.com/site/YourWebsiteName

JaxInBlue

We used Wedding Wire with no problems and it did what we needed it to - be a place to put parking info and maps.

kat1114

We are using weddingwindow.com. I believe the fee was $75 for a year (including domain name), but I found a coupon code online, and I think we ended up only paying about $60. 

And at this point, it has more than paid for itself! The website looks great, but also they have a monthly contest for best site based on votes. We entered one month and just voted for ourselves once a day...from every device we own (i.e. once on my phone, laptop, work laptop, work phone, etc.) and we ended up winning. The prize is a $100 visa gift card, and another 12 months of free web hosting. I don't know that we need another 12 months of the site, but it was awesome getting the gift card!

thisismynickname2

NikkiJay3333 said:

I used TK.  It let me customize enough that I could pretty much have whatever I wanted in terms of content.  I appreciated the more plug and play of the layout because I didn't want to stress too much over how everything looked beyound the basic design I chose (which took me forever to commit).  I could just focus on the content.  Never had any issues with the site, always worked with no problems.  Plus, you can't beat free.

Exactly this. Just make sure you fix your privacy settings on your TK account first, and I definitely recommend putting up password protection. I started creating our website shortly after getting engaged, and didn't even mention it to FI as I felt like I was just playing around. Apparently his mom likes to Google him and found the website, and said something to him.  Whoops!  I fixed the privacy right quick after that. 

Sugargirl1019

I used TK. We got to make our domain slightly, it ended up being janeandjohn.our wedding.com ***
**Names changed. Jane and john were actually our last names.

It was an easy to remember website name, and the layout worked just fine for me.

Now, I've seen some immaculate crazy involved websites and I'm like how did you get it to so that?? They must know how to build websites, or paid lots to do the website, because it had scrolling pictures and music and looked like a professional photographers website.

manateehugger

I used weebly and was happy with it.

JCbride2015

Sugargirl1019 said:

I used TK. We got to make our domain slightly, it ended up being janeandjohn.our wedding.com *** **Names changed. Jane and john were actually our last names. It was an easy to remember website name, and the layout worked just fine for me. Now, I've seen some immaculate crazy involved websites and I'm like how did you get it to so that?? They must know how to build websites, or paid lots to do the website, because it had scrolling pictures and music and looked like a professional photographers website.

Oh God I hate background music on websites.  Noooo!

That said, I actually used to build websites in college as my PT job.  So I'm extremely picky about websites and I really want ours to look professional.

ETA: but my coding skills have not kept up with recent web developments, nor do I have the energy to reteach myself, so a WYSIWYG editor with a nice, pre-made theme is still what I want to do.  I'm just pickier than the average bird about it.

Sugargirl1019

I really want to see yours when its finished!

JCbride2015

Sugargirl1019 said:

I really want to see yours when its finished!

I could take some screenshots and post them without our last names, for sure.

Honestly though I just want to find a stock theme I like and use it.  As much fun as coding websites used to be for me, I just don't have the skills to make something that looks better than what I'd get from a professional theme.  

Sugargirl1019

Aw but I want to stalk you and crash your wedding....

Jk. I am curious to what design you end up choosing! Sorry I am not more help. Try wedding wire - I thought those were cute.

theartistformerlyknownas

Sugargirl1019 said:

Aw but I want to stalk you and crash your wedding.... Jk. I am curious to what design you end up choosing! Sorry I am not more help. Try wedding wire - I thought those were cute.

Not kidding. I will totally crash your wedding.

I'll show you mine if you wanna see! I ain't skeered.

Peaseblossom55

We used wedding wire it was really easy and served it purpose.

Cookie Pusher

I used TK and didn't have any issues - and we had our site up for nearly 2 years before our wedding. We didn't have to include a ton of info so it was pretty easy. Even though I've done website design and I could have easily hosted a page through either my day job or my side job, it was just easier not to deal with HTML when I finally had time to update the site (invariably, around 2am after a few glasses of wine).

ETA: We had a couple of people come up to us at the wedding to tell us how cute they thought our website was. We just used one of the standard ones with a night sky and stars as the background but I guess it was cute?

Sugargirl1019

lolo883 said:

Sugargirl1019 said:

Aw but I want to stalk you and crash your wedding....

Jk. I am curious to what design you end up choosing! Sorry I am not more help. Try wedding wire - I thought those were cute.

Not kidding. I will totally crash your wedding.

I'll show you mine if you wanna see! I ain't skeered.

Yes! PM me then. I love seeing different designs!

Simky906

FI and I used wedding paper divas. We got our StD's and invites from there and liked that we could have a website that coordinated with everything (cause I'm special like that).

It wasn't anything crazy-fancy but it was free and got the job done!

wandajune6

lolo883 said:

I just used TK and whatever service they linked to for the $20 custom domain name. Wasn't worth it to me to do more research on it, and I really like the design. 

I did the same thing but am irritated by a few things:

1. limitations on page design. Basically, no HTML allowed. It works for most things but it's limited.
2. Miserable tracking capabilities. I'm not a web genius by any stretch of the imagination but I was super-annoyed when I found it that TK doesn't allow Google Analytics.

JCbride2015

I've spent half the day clicking around and I still like Appy Couple's designs way better.  But now there are too many that I like.  I'm going to show Fi some tonight and see if he likes it, too.

Also tech-related: a couple months ago I was playing around with my married FirstLast@gmail.com and deleted it because I didn't want Fi to see that I had it.  Now come to find out that once you delete a Gmail account, that username is kaput forever!  You can't ever register it again!  WTF?  Why would they want to perpetually tie up deleted email addresses?

I just got FirstMLast@gmail.com just to have something to sit on but it really annoys me.  I called their customer service and everything, no luck.  >:|

ETA: Fi just asked me if he should use Bing instead of Google "because we are mad at them."  Aw.

And here are a few of the templates I like @sugargirl1019 and anybody else who cares:

1) https://www.appycouple.com/signup?q=wedding/leoandbetty&tid=291&template=1

2) https://www.appycouple.com/signup?q=wedding/leoandbetty&tid=439&template=1

3) https://www.appycouple.com/signup?q=wedding/leoandbetty&tid=361&template=1

4) https://www.appycouple.com/signup?q=wedding/leoandbetty&tid=397&template=1

steph861

Simky906 said:

FI and I used wedding paper divas. We got our StD's and invites from there and liked that we could have a website that coordinated with everything (cause I'm special like that).

It wasn't anything crazy-fancy but it was free and got the job done!

SITB

Is this MyWedding? That's the site I'm using and it's linked with WPD, so it (roughly) matched our invites.

AddieCake

I used Weddingwire.

theartistformerlyknownas

wandajune6 said:

lolo883 said:

I just used TK and whatever service they linked to for the $20 custom domain name. Wasn't worth it to me to do more research on it, and I really like the design. 

I did the same thing but am irritated by a few things:

1. limitations on page design. Basically, no HTML allowed. It works for most things but it's limited.
2. Miserable tracking capabilities. I'm not a web genius by any stretch of the imagination but I was super-annoyed when I found it that TK doesn't allow Google Analytics.

Hahaha I do web analytics for a living. The last thing I wanted to do was analytics on my wedding website.

KatieinBkln

Thanks for this thread, @JCBride2015! I have been lurking it hard because although I would happily throw something up on The Knot and deal with it, FI has already said he wants a "nice" site that doesn't look cookie-cutter.

So, thanks for basically having your shit more together than I do and basically planning my wedding.

JCbride2015

KatieinBkln said:

Thanks for this thread, @JCBride2015! I have been lurking it hard because although I would happily throw something up on The Knot and deal with it, FI has already said he wants a "nice" site that doesn't look cookie-cutter.

So, thanks for basically having your shit more together than I do and basically planning my wedding.

Ha, my pleasure @KatieinBkln.  From now until October 1 is hardcore planning time for me before I start my job.  Lurk away!

ETA: next up is STDs and the photo shoot for those (I can't really call it an engagement shoot after 1.5 years, but ya know.  Picturez because why not.)