What to put on a wedding website

The short answer: answer the questions before they are asked

A good wedding website is a list of answers to the texts you would otherwise get: where is it, when do I show up, where do I park, can I bring my kids, what do I wear.

That is also the easiest way past the blank page. Skip the question of what a wedding website is supposed to look like. Write down the last ten questions a friend or relative asked you about the day, and make each one a section or a line. Anything nobody would ask about can stay off.

The table below lists the sections most couples need, the guest question each one answers, an example line, and whether it is a must-have or optional. The rest of the page goes through them in the order guests need them.

The essentials: date and schedule, venue and directions, RSVP

Three things belong on the first screen: when it happens, where it happens, and how to tell you they are coming.

Date and schedule. Give the full date, the time guests should be seated (not the time the music starts), and a short run of key moments: ceremony, cocktail hour, reception. If some guests are invited to only part of the day, say so plainly in the schedule rather than leaving them to guess. Example: “Ceremony at 4:00 pm. Cocktail hour follows on the terrace, and dinner starts at 6:30 pm.”

Venue and directions. Name the venue, give the street address, and add what a map will not tell guests: where to park, whether there is a shuttle, which entrance to use, and whether the ceremony and reception are in the same place. If the ceremony and reception are in different places, give both addresses and the drive between them.

RSVP. State the reply-by date and make the reply easy. On your MyWedding Planner site, guests reply online, by person or by household, and choose their meal. Their answers fill your guest list, your meal counts, and your seating chart, so you are not copying replies from texts into a spreadsheet. If you want to see how that works end to end, read how to collect meal choices with RSVPs.

Travel and stay: hotels, transport, parking

If any guest has to travel, give them two or three places to stay and one clear way to get to the venue.

Write each hotel as a short entry: name, a one-line description, roughly how far it is from the venue, and how to book. If you have arranged a room block or a discount, put the booking instructions and the cutoff date right next to the hotel, because that is where guests will look for them. If you have not, say that too (“We have not reserved rooms, so book early”), since guests will otherwise wait for a link that never comes.

• Nearest airport or station, and how long the drive to the venue takes.
• Shuttles or rideshare: whether you have arranged a shuttle, its pick-up times, and where rideshare cars can wait.
• Parking: is it on site, is it free, and where do guests go when the lot is full.
• One budget-friendly option alongside the nicer ones, so nobody feels the trip was priced for someone else.

The wedding website you build in MyWedding Planner has a lodging section for exactly this, plus a practical information section for parking and access details.

Dress code, kids, and plus-ones: write it once, kindly

Say what to wear, who is invited, and whether kids are welcome in two or three calm sentences, and guests will stop asking.

Dress code. Name the level (“cocktail attire,” “black tie optional”) and add a practical line about the setting: grass and heels do not mix, the barn gets cool at night, the ceremony is outdoors in the sun. A sentence about the setting does more than a label.

Kids. Be direct and warm, and say it once. “We love your little ones, and we have chosen an adults-only celebration. We hope you can enjoy an evening off.” Or, if children are welcome: “Kids are welcome at the ceremony and dinner. We will have a kids’ table.” If your list is open to only some children (for example, the wedding party’s family), the clearest wording is the one that names who the invitation applies to and avoids explaining why.

Plus-ones. Guests who are unsure whether they can bring someone tend to stay silent, which stalls your headcount. Say it on the page: “Your invitation lists everyone invited. If it names a guest, they are invited too.” Then make sure the invitation matches what the website says.

Registry and gifts: link it, and keep the wording light

Give guests a link to your registry or your cash fund, with one short sentence, and put it in its own section so it never competes with the practical information.

In the MyWedding Planner wedding website, the gifts section holds a link to a fund or an outside list. We do not host a registry ourselves, so your registry lives wherever you already made it, and the section is where guests find it. Example: “Your presence is the gift. If you would like to give something, here is a link to our registry.”

• Keep it optional and short. One or two sentences, no explanations about what you already own.
• Do not ask for cash in the schedule or the invitation text. The gifts section is the right place for it.
• Say what a fund is for (“our honeymoon,” “a new sofa”) so guests understand where the money goes.

The site does offer a field for a bank transfer, but it accepts only an IBAN, the international bank account format used in Europe. It does not accept a U.S. account number. For a U.S. wedding, write “a link to your registry” and send guests to your fund or list.

The FAQ: 12 questions worth answering

The FAQ is where you put every small question that does not deserve its own section, and twelve entries usually cover it.

Keep each answer to one or two sentences and write it in the voice you would use on the phone. Start with these twelve and delete the ones that do not apply:

1. What time should I arrive?
2. Where do I park, and is it free?
3. Is the ceremony indoors or outdoors?
4. What should I wear?
5. Are kids invited?
6. Can I bring a plus-one?
7. Will there be a vegetarian, vegan, or gluten-free option, and how do I tell you about an allergy?
8. Is there a shuttle or an easy way to get a ride home?
9. Can I take photos during the ceremony?
10. Where can I share my photos afterward?
11. What is the plan if it rains?
12. Who do I contact on the day if I am running late or lost?

The last question is worth the effort. Name one person who is not you or your partner, such as a sibling, a friend, or a day-of coordinator, and give their number only to guests who will need it. That way you are not the person answering your phone on the wedding day.

Your story and your photos: optional, but they make it yours

A short story section and a photo section are optional, and they are what turn a list of facts into your site.

For the story, three or four sentences are enough: how you met, one detail only you two would know, and how the proposal happened if you want to share it. For photos, two or three pictures of the two of you are plenty. This is not where to post a full engagement shoot.

The photo gallery on the MyWedding Planner site works the other way too: guests send their own photos from their browser, with no account, up to 10 MB per photo, and the gallery is included in the one-time payment. If you want that, mention it in your FAQ (“Where can I share my photos afterward?”) so guests know it exists.

Privacy: what not to post, and who can find the page

Do not put anything on a wedding website that you would not want a stranger to read, and keep the address of your home, your phone number, and your travel dates off it.

Mini-sites made with MyWedding Planner are not indexed by search engines, so the page will not turn up when someone searches your names. It is still a web page with a link, so anyone who has the link can open it. Write for that: assume the link may be forwarded.

• Home address and personal phone number. Use a day-of contact or a shared email address instead.
• The dates you will be away, such as the honeymoon, if you do not want to announce an empty house.
• Full guest names and details about who is sitting where. Keep the guest list and seating chart in your planner, not on the site.
• Photos of children other than your own family’s, unless their parents have said yes.
• Complaints or comments about relatives, vendors, or the guest list. It is easy to forget a site is public.

Your bank transfer details deserve a second thought as well. If you add a payment detail, add it only where you are comfortable with anyone who gets the link seeing it, and send a registry link instead when you can.

Sharing the link: invitation, message, QR code

Share the link yourself: put it on your invitation, send it in a message, and print a QR code that opens the site.

MyWedding Planner does not email or text your guests for you. You share the link, and you decide when. A simple plan: add the web address and a QR code to your save-the-dates or invitations, send the link in your group chat with a one-line message such as “All the details are here, including how to RSVP,” and keep the link in the first lines of any reminder you send.

The product includes a QR sticker you can print that leads to the site. Use it on the invitation, on a card in a welcome bag, or on a small sign at the venue so guests can find the schedule and the shuttle times from their phones.

One more detail: publishing a wedding website is part of the one-time payment. During the free trial you can prepare the site, but you cannot publish it, so fill in the sections first and publish when you are ready to share the link.

Before you publish: a last read-through

Read the site once as a guest who knows nothing, then ask one person who is not in the wedding to do the same.

• Can they find the date, the time, and the address in under ten seconds?
• Do they know how to reply, and by when?
• Is it clear whether kids and plus-ones are invited?
• Do the hotel, shuttle, and parking details agree with what is on your invitation?
• Does the site say anything you would not want a stranger to read?

If you are putting the whole day together yourselves, it also helps to see how the website fits with the rest of your plans, which planning without a planner covers.