January 3, 2005
Many engaged couples are asking themselves this question as a
very popular trend snowballs through the wedding industry. Before
I got engaged I certainly wouldn't have considered getting a personal
website to post personal information and pictures about myself,
so the idea seemed bizarre to me too. Then, about a month after
my fiancée proposed, I visited a friend's wedding website
and realized it was more of a necessity as a means to distribute
information, than about vanity at all.
As it turned out, our wedding website was one of the best parts
about our wedding. The site allowed us to build a lot of momentum
towards the big day. People felt a part of the planning and our
families and friends who hadn't met John or myself got to learn
more about us, which made a big difference on our wedding day.
We both have big families and had many people coming from out
of town. The website allowed us to put all of the travel information
(air, car, hotel) in one spot that everyone had access to. There
was also tons of information about our city available on our site,
which was great for people who had never been to Boston before.
We made sure to include a little card in our invitation that informed
everyone that all information regarding the wedding such as details
and maps of events would be posted on our website. This saved us
many phone calls with questions about where and when each event
was taking place. Our guests loved the RSVP feature, 75% of our
guests replied on line ! People really seemed to prefer responding
by email instead of snail mail. Once they were on the site, the
online registry also made it very convenient for our guests to
give us gifts that we actually wanted.
Due to my chronic shyness, I thought you had to be an exhibitionist
to consider getting a website. The truth is, it gave many people
who didn't know us, a great way to learn about each of us through
our story, biographies and pictures. People seemed to really like
the Poll and Quiz which we updated a few times before and after
the wedding. We were able to stretch out our incredible wedding
for a long time as people went to the site to see our pictures
and send wonderful comments through the guest book for weeks after
the wedding.
We couldn't believe how easy it was to create our site. It really
was just filling in forms online. All the work was done for us,
and the designs were just great. We also really appreciated that
it did not cost a fortune and that we were able try it before we
bought it before committing to what was a thoroughly enjoyable
process from beginning to end.
As you can see the website was a huge success with our guests
who came to the wedding, but it was equally gratifying for our
friends and family around the world who couldn't make it. Witness
my 94 year old grandmother who was actually able to take part in
my wedding even though she couldn't leave her house. So in answer
to the question posed in the title of this letter, this former
sceptic highly recommends a wedding website for every engaged couple
!
The preceding article was written by a client of virtuallymarried.com
To learn more,
visit VirtuallyMarried.com |
