When planning your wedding there are vast amounts of details and information that will need to be delivered to your guests. The invited guest must be in the know to help the celebration run smoothly from start to finish. Thankfully, we live in an era where information is just a simple click away. A customized wedding website provides your guests with easy access to all the information they will need, in turn, making your life easy peasy! But what exactly should you include on your website and where in the world do you begin?

Let’s start with your out of town guests. Some of your guests that may be arriving from out of state will need the full scoop on all travel and lodging accommodations. The best way to ensure their arrival arrangements go smoothly is to include information on the nearest airports. Upon their touch down in the great state of Texas, be sure to make note of any transportation shuttle service you may have arranged for them, as well as the closest hotel and lodging to the venue. If you have secured any discounts, such as hotel room blocks, do not forget to include the name or discount code to reference when your guests are booking.  There are some great places to stay in downtown New Braunfels, like the historic Prince Solms Inn where your guests can pop down for a cocktail at Side Car. Or the Faust Hotel with a pub serving up local brews.

Now that everyone has made it to town safely and is settling in their rooms, what’s next? Keep in mind the morning of your rustic wedding celebration, you will be a busy bee getting all dolled up, so a sweet idea would be to include a few local hot spots that your guests can go enjoy a delicious breakfast or tasty brunch nearby. Buttermilk Café is a local favorite but get there early because the wait can get long.

Perhaps your guest has planned for a long weekend away, so why not include a little information about the area. Downtown Gruene, Texas has some great spots to shop like the historic General Store, right across the street from Gruene Hall, the oldest dance hall in Texas. If you and the future Mr. have a favorite date night spot, include that as well. Use hyperlinks on your wedding website so you guests can click around to make their plans.

Of course, don’t forget detailed directions to the stunning Gruene Estate Wedding Venue for the day of your Texas Hill Country wedding. This section will serve as a great reference to store specific instructions such as, providing an address that can be easily be plugged into Google Maps, parking instructions once on the property, and finally where to go once parked, so your guests arrive on time to your Big-Day!

Tie in Your Wedding Theme to The Website

Your wedding website should be an attestation to your overall theme. From your venue to your floral selection, you will want to give the wow factor when your guests visit your site. The color scheme of your wedding website should show off your dreamy color palette on every page. Staying consistent throughout your entire wedding website will ensure to keep your guests engaged as they scroll through. If you decide to add floral into your design, use snippets of your selected wedding floral selection to splash throughout the pages. One distinguishing feature sure to set your website apart would be to include a beautiful picture of our historic wedding chapel to tie in the foundation of where you will be taking your next step in life. 

 Our Story

What is not to love about love? Share your sweet “meet cute” with your friends and family by including a section about how you two love birds first met. Many of your guests might not know your story yet, so this will provide a little background into your relationship while creating a unique touch to your page. As a quick tip – do not write a novel—wedding websites are meant to be a short and sweet sneak-peek into you and your future husband’s love story!

Hit all the highlights of how you first met, when you fell in love, and how your soon to be husband popped the question! Including in a few of your favorite engagement pictures to share is a nice touch. Keep in mind, you will want to save some to frame and use as a splash of décor throughout the charming reception.

Meet the Wedding Party

Give a little nod to your wonderful wedding party! A trendy way to “meet the wedding party” is adding a photo of each of the bridesmaids and groomsmen, with a short mention of how you know them and maybe a silly or sweet story about each of your dear friends (or family member(s) as a personal touch. 

This is a fun way to make them feel special and invite your guest to learn a little bit more about them prior to the wedding day. Go the extra mile and link their social media pages; Instagram, Facebook, and/or Twitter, so your guests can connect with one another and spark new friendships! Perhaps that groomsmen and your darling gal pal have been waiting for an opportunity to break the ice and click friend request for quite some time.

Wedding Registry

Your wedding website is the ideal place for any information regarding your registry. Providing direct links to your online registries, allows your guests easy access to click through and purchase your wedding gift. 

Perhaps you have all the household items you could ever need and want to focus on an extravagant weeklong trip as newlyweds. A lot of couples today are choosing to ask for a Honeymoon Fund. What in the world is a “Honeymoon Fund”? As a couple you can link your post-wedding trip to your wedding website by providing specific trip excursions or spa services you would like to enjoy during your honeymoon. These items should include a short description (swimming with dolphins, golfing at the resort, horseback riding, etc.) and the total service costs. Guests can donate a portion towards that service. 

While some couples may be apprehensive when asking for money this is becoming more and more popular. Modern couples are wanting fewer materialistic items for their wedding registry and more funds toward creating memories and starting their new life together! A polite way of asking for honeymoon funds would be something along the lines of, “We’re incredibly thankful and blessed to have everything we already need, so we kindly ask for your generous contribution in sending us to (insert honeymoon destination here). A few things we would like to explore during our stay are (list excursions or services here).”  

Maybe you are looking to move into your first home together shortly after you say, “I Do”. Add in a few sentences about how you plan to use the gifted funds, to begin building your life together, so your guest can feel connected to the first steps you will be taking a husband and wife.

Providing the Menu

Another suggestion for your all-encompassing site would be to include your wedding menu if you are going to be serving a variety of dinner options. You can ask your guest to review the menu and submit their dinner selections. In turn, this will give you a good idea of how much food to order for your celebration, so you do not overspend and thus, easily keeping you on track to stick to your wedding budget. Be sure to include a few options for those guest that do not eat meat or may be dairy-free. Not only is this a nice touch that you thought of those specific guest needs, but again, it will serve as a way for you to have an accurate count for food.

Cell Phones & Dress Code Guidelines

With the accessibility to social media and the ever-trending use of #hastags, this may be a section you would like to include for a couple reasons.

First,  (and probably the most important): We have all seen #weddingdayfails when the photographer cannot seem to get a romantic picture of the ceremony due to everyone and their mother (literally) having their phones out. You may want to look at including a friendly “no photography during the ceremony” policy, so wedding guests know in advance to please keep their phones tucked away and let the professional capture the beautiful moment of you and your soon to be husband becoming one. 

Reason number two: You do want your guests to post fun pictures of your wedding celebration, just at the appropriate time and place (the reception!) After all you worked so hard to come up with that catchy #hastag, time to put it to use and be trending…if only for the night. For more on wedding hashtags, check out our blog on wedding day technology.

A big question the wedding guest wants to know is the appropriate dress code. We highly recommend you include a section that references your desired dress code. Whether you decide to go super formal or keep things country classy casual, your guest will feel comfortable arriving at the event knowing they are not going to be under (or over) dressed

Setting these guidelines well in advance will let your guests know what you expect and your wishes on your special day, as it pertains to cell phones and dress code. This may seem like a small detail but trust us when we say it will be a very important item to note.  

Do not Skip on the Formal Mailed out Invitations

While your wedding website should not replace a formal mailed “Save The Date” or wedding invitation, it is a great way to get your guests excited for your dreamy Sparkle & Hay wedding! With everyone staying connected online these days, the wedding website can be a useful one-stop to easily provide updates. Use the comments section to delivers any updates or reminders to guests leading up to the wedding. If your guest has a question, they can be steered to the website as a key resource tool. Plus, it’s a piece of you and your significant other’s personalities, so have fun with it and get creative!

Photos by Harper Blankenship Photography