If you are a Wedding Junkie you truly want everyone to share in all your wedding moments from the time he says “will you” to the time you say “I do”. One of the greatest ways to help people from near and far share in all of these moments is with a personal wedding website. Some are free and some charge, but all of them can help you get messages, photos, travel info, etc., out to your friends and families.
When I got married I used a company called Wedding Window to create our personal wedding website. What I loved about them was I could just go in, tinker around and create a website using their free trial. I saw how easy it was to use and I was sold.
I used our personal wedding website primarily to:
- share photos, share photos, share photos
- provide info and links on where to stay to out-of-town guests
- entertain people (or so Id like to think) with stories of how we met, etc.
- share the fun of planning with friends and family who lived far away
Factors to consider when picking a website vendor:
|
Personal Wedding Website Option:
 www.weddingwindow.com
|
Try Before you Buy
Go with one that let’s you try before you buy. Your soon-to-be-hubby let you try him out before you decided to buy so why not your web vendor.Trying out the site will let you go in and see how easy or hard it is to use. You are going to be the one putting all the info in and the last thing you want to do is have to go get another college degree to fill in your wedding website. It should be easy — if it’s not — go to the next one. |
Personal Wedding Website Option:
www.theknot.com |
Pay or Free?
Go with something that meets your budget — don’t feel like you need to spend a mint. But don’t immediately discount the ones you have to pay for because as we know sometimes you get what you pay for, right?
|
Personal Wedding Website Option:
 www.wedshare.com |
Functionality that’s important to you!
Get what you want. For me it was photo sharing — I asked myself “Do they let me add photos or add links to photos I have stored somewhere else, like KodakGallery or Shutterfly?” I didn’t want to store my photos on the Wedding Window rather I wanted to use what I normally use, KodakGallery. Wedding Window allowed me to just link to the albums I already had elsewhere.
|
Personal Wedding Website Option:
www.wedquarters.com |
Sample Text and Templates
Please girl, you are planning a big shin-dig for all your family and friends and you don’t have time to go writing eight pages of fresh-out-of-your-brain content for your website. You will love the help — if nothing else it will give you something to start from. Go with a site that has a bunch of sample text in there already. You don’t have to use it word for word, but you can use it to start what you are going to say. |
Personal Wedding Website Option:
www.ewedding.com |
When It’s Over
I hate to tell you this — I didn’t want to hear it either. Your wedding… it will be over one day. I mean having said “I-Do” and being off on your “marry” way will be a good thing, but you will want to keep every last memory, piece of paper, scrap of rice left on the floor, etc that you can to remember your big day — that is IF you truly are a Wedding Junkie, of course. So, while I contemplated paying the annual fee for my wedding website for the next 50 years to keep it active it just didn’t make much sense. So, the website I used actually let me purchase a keepsake cd of the site. This way I will have it for—ever. Even though when I go to show it to my grandkids one day I will have to go lug that thing called a “computer” out from the dusty attic to get it to work… just like my parents did with the record player every time they wanted to play the 45 of Neil Diamond’s greatest hits…. Sweeeeeeet Car-o-line… dudundundah… I digress… |
|
True confessions of a Wedding Junkie — I branded my wedding. Branding, marketing and the like are things I do everyday at work. So I thought why not bring my professional “expertise” (or so I like to think) to my own wedding. I know I’m not the only one out there who’s work life bleeds into personal life, right? You know what I mean… you’ve caught yourself at a cocktail party suggesting to your very best girlfriend to do a spreadsheet of the pro’s and con’s of her latest flavor of the week, right? We are corporate dweebs. But face it — you’ve got useful skills that will play right into your wedding plans – you Corporate Diva, you!
Think about it — with the products out there today that let you print at home or customize your wedding invitations, menu cards, placecards, etc. you have all the power to write and design whatever you want. AND this will let you put a consistent look and feel on everything. AND if you’re good enough, and you will be, even make it look like Collin Cowie and Oprah had a thing or two to do with your wedding decor.
Here are four simple elements you need to build your wedding brand.
1. Wedding Color Scheme
What are the colors of Target? Yes, red and white and frankly if you are reading this blog than you are a wedding junkie and so I know you want people to be able to recite on command the colors of YOUR wedding just like they can with Target (well maybe Bloomie’s would have been a better example… but who doesn;t love Target!) The good news is that it’s likely that you are already doing this one anyways — so, good job, you are a quarter of the way there!
2. Wedding Logo
Girls, seriously, nothing fancy here. Just a simple monogram will do… or something with a monogram and your names. Easy as pie.. and well if you don’t cook then it’s as easy as ordering a hot apple pie at McDonald’s.
3. Wedding Fonts
If you are printing things at home you want them to have a consist look and feel — using the same fonts help you do this. Pick two or three fonts that you always use. I chose a primary font for the bulk of the text on the things I was printing, and then I chose a secondary font for the headers, accents, etc.
4. Wedding Tag Line
Yes, Nike just “does it”, and you want to be doing something to. Our wedding tag line was “Live, Laugh, Love.” Before you laugh — I know, it wasn’t very original, but it was just so corny cute I couldn’t resist. That tag line appeared on a few things — menu cards, wedding invitations, and programs. It looked great, it got across how we feel about each other and how we live our lives. Pick a tag line that is representative of the two of you and go for it — even if it’s “Taste Great. Less Filling.”
|
For most of the bride’s I talk with the single most important wedding design decision is the color scheme. Here’s what two of them had to say when I asked “how did you pick your colors?”
“I have always loved the color red. So, for me it was a no brainer that it would be a part of my colors. I went a little out there with the accent and chose a bright pink. Super cute!” – Shannon Hill, California “
It was beautiful! I have been dreaming my wedding up since I was three years old. I always pictured pink and white and that’s what I chose. ” – Susan Rogers, California
For these brides the color choices were easy — a color they loved or one they’ve dreamed up from day one. But what if your favorite color isn’t so wedding-chic? Or you spent most of your childhood playing with your brother’s Tonka trucks instead of Barbie’s? Never fear — here are a few interesting ways to get inspired.
|
|
Look to Mother Nature.
Look at your garden, the sky, the ocean, or your neighborhood park for color inspiration. Who knows you may be inspired by some of the elements you pass by everyday. The photo to the right is an excellent example of this. Check out the color of the sky and the reddy-pink of the leaves. Isn’t that an amazing color combo? If you have a favorite flower that you want in your bouquet integrate the flower’s color as one of the colors in your scheme.
|
|
|
Consider your surroundings.
Take a look at your ceremony and reception site. Are there certain color schemes in the existing decor? For instance, the wall color, flooring, chairs, etc. Don’t fight these elements – work with them. A great example of this was when I was recently working with a bride and she was concerned about the “ugly”black chairs in the reception hall. She didn’t have the cash to cover them or replace them so we incorporated a touch of black into her scheme. Instead of just a monochromatic blue on blue we integrated black as a secondary accent.
|
 |
|
It’s all about YOU!
If red is your favorite color, but your hair color is also the tone — you may want to avoid it as a primary color of your scheme. After all, you won’t be wearing the color, but you will be photographed next to your maids and you want to look as fantastic as possible. So I say, pick a color that compliments your skin tone.
|
photo from www.ariadress.com
|
2 Comments 
