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How to Create a Free Wedding Website and Make It Useful?

Elizabeth Thistle
Wedding Website

Wedding preparation is far from pleasant. The ceremony and party won’t organize themselves, guests won’t know about the wedding without your help, and even the dress won’t appear at the wave of a magic wand. I went through it, so I feel your pain. It is exciting, it is important, but it still is a piece of work that could be hard for those who are not prepared.

When I heard about the wedding websites, I thought: “Come one, who would waste time for that?” There are so many things you have to remember about. Spending time for a website is something like blasphemy. However, I looked through the information about it and changed my mind. In fact, you have to spend some efforts on it, but further, it will save you loads of time and a bunch of nerves. Follow me, and I’ll tell you how to create a free wedding website and, thanks to it, make your preparation to “day X” less painful.

What do you need a newly minted wedding website for?

In the current state, websites are used for everything. Company platforms and online shops were only the beginning. Now creating a website is so easy that anyone can make a portfolio page or online restaurant menu. So, why don’t build a wedding website instead of sending invitation cards? Paper letters are nice, but a receiver can easily lose or damage it, and a link to a wedding website will not just be accessible from everywhere, but also much more convenient.

As the date of the event comes closer, lots of people will call you with millions of questions. And most of them are guests that want to clarify the ceremony’s time and location, what presents to bring, and what clothes to wear. A wedding website will help you avoid that communication apocalypse and place all the data in one, easy to reach and understandably organized the place. You also won’t have to set a calling marathon to ask everyone if they are planning to come or not – they will be able to subscribe to the event automatically.

How to create wedding website on WordPress?

Certainly, you can hire a web developer to build you a wedding website, but as we are talking about a free site here, I assume you are going to create it by yourself. Why do I choose WordPress?

There are three reasons for that:

  1. It is free. WordPress CMS is an open source software, so you will be able to download it without any payments.
  2. It is simple. This CMS is so popular because it is easy to download, install and work with. More than a half of all existing websites, created with the help of CMSs are made on WordPress, and volunteer developers continuously work on its system upgrades.
  3. It has many templates and plugins. A vast number of developers create new themes and extensions for WordPress every day. It won’t be hard to find the perfect template for your wedding website and add some interesting options via plugins (many of those goodies are free).

Now, when I convinced you that WordPress is the best wedding website CMS, let’s go through it. Every website creation process consists of three main steps:

The detailed description of every step is a little too long to mention it here. We have a stand-alone article about WordPress website creation for beginners - “Building a WordPress website brick by brick,” so go through it to create a basis for further customization. After the WordPress is installed, it is time to choose a wedding website template.

Free WordPress wedding themes

Every bride wants her wedding website to be unique and creative. That’s why there is a vast variety of wedding themes all over the internet. Of course, if you want a completely free site, a list will be sufficiently narrower, but there still is what to choose from. Here are TemplateMonsters best free wedding website themes. Some of them are created for other CMS, but let’s focus on those that are made for WordPress.

Jen + Ben

Demo | Download | Hosting

Elegant and sophisticated, this template will be a perfect match for a wedding in a romantic style (I’m sure every girl dreams of a Hollywood-movie style gorgeous wedding). All the pages you may need are already pre-made, which decreases the time you spend on customization. If you pick the photos carefully, you two will look awesome on that slider on the top of the homepage. The theme is simple to install and intuitively understandable. If you want to know more about it – check out Jen + Ben Wedding Planner Free WordPress Theme article, we wrote about this beautiful wedding website template.

Iridescent

Demo | Download | Hosting

The first thing in this wedding site template is its video background page top. That will be a feature that calls a wow-effect on the site’s visitors. The template is responsive and will look gorgeous on mobile screens - guests might need to check the site while driving to the event's location. The Power Builder is included in the plugins pack that go with this theme, so all the customization of your wedding website will be a child’s play. For more details go through Iridescent Wedding Album Free WordPress Theme article.

Additional freebies

After getting a template, you will need not only divine photos for your wedding website. Some beautiful textures and interesting ideas for invitation cards will also come in handy. We want to spare you some time, so we gathered a few useful free sets to make your wedding site more beautiful and original.

Amazing Collection of Free Wedding Textures for Designers and Artists. Here you will find some marvelous textures and backgrounds for the site. You can download them in .psd format and then edit according to the vision and taste.

Watercolor Wedding Invitation Freebie. This is a set of minted wedding invitations that look like they were painted with watercolors. A few original ideas to spice up your e-mail cards.

Fabulous Free Wedding Invitation Templates. If you want your invitation cards to look witty and breathtaking – this article listing is entirely for you. After receiving one of those, every guest will not only gladly agree to come, but also will smile.

A whole wedding website creation process in one eBook

I know that it is not convenient to jump between the pages while reading an article or trying to understand how to do something (yeah, I’ve already asked you to do just the thing). Searching for a concrete page through the dozens of opened bars in browser devours time and is annoying. That is the reason TemplateMonster continually creates eBooks. We gather all the materials in one place and after downloading you can use it both online and offline. No more jumping from one page to another.

As “How to make a wedding website?” is a popular question, we took care of creating an eBook that answers it. We include all relevant topics in it, and it is entirely free.

You will find answers to the following questions there:

If interested, the eBook is called “How to create a Wedding Website?” and you are welcome to download it without any payments.

Useful wedding website ideas

That’s it; you have it - your wedding website is beautiful and almost ready. The photos look magical, and all the animation works smoothly. However, it won’t help you in any way if there won’t be useful content or it will be hard to find. Here are some tips that will help you to get some sufficient profit out of that wedding website, not only the remarkable appearance (the efforts spend on its building will be wasted if it won’t reduce some pressure on you during the preparations).

Date, time, and place should be everywhere

That is the most important information on the whole wedding website. Date of the event, the precise time of the beginning and place where all that will happen. The primary purpose of creating a site is to show up that data and don’t remind every guest about it on and on. It won’t hurt if you place it in the header so that users could reach it from any page. And make it in really BIG letters (and even then you are not entirely protected from at least one guest who will call you and ask “Hey, where’s the ceremony location will be?”).

Set up the RSVP

RSVP (répondez s'il vous plait) software is an extension that asks users to respond to your invitation and gives them the opportunity to do it. In plain language, you send a question “Are going to come?” with your invitation card, and receiver can automatically say “yes” or “no.” It will save you loads of time because you won’t need to call everyone personally and ask (and you can spend that time on massage or spa).

When is a relationship story page useful?

You will need this page only if some of the guests don’t know you or come from some faraway parts of the country (or from abroad). For example, if you invite all your relatives and some of them don’t communicate with you often enough to know all the details. If all your guests are your friends and closest family, that page will be redundant (they already know everything about you and sometimes even more than you would like them to know).

Gift registry page will save you some nerves

This page will save your guest from a desperate searching of a fitting present (and it will save you from a vase your aunt considers to be beautiful). Make a wishlist and let your guests buy something you wanted as a gift. There’s nothing to be ashamed of, both you and your guests will feel more confident if such a list will be available on your wedding website. Just make it clear, that nobody forces guests to give you a present. Inform them of what you would like to get, if they are going to mark the occasion somehow.

Countdown: to add or not to add?

Timers focus attention and make a viewer feel something important is coming closer. In most cases, they also look cool and hypnotizing. But, of course, that all is up to you and your taste. If you don’t like countdowns – don’t use them.

Don’t set up a face-control

On one of your wedding website pages, you can place some recommendations about guests’ clothes, such as color, style, or some accessories usage. But, once again, you can’t force them. You won’t kick anybody out for wearing red when everybody else is in the green outfit, so make sure to present your wishes in a friendly manner. After all, it can’t ruin your wedding, can it?

Whether alert

A small widget that will show the temperature on the “day X” will be a wise addition to your wedding website. The guests won’t complain about the weather and prepare for it, so nobody gets wet of freezes.

Something for those out-of-town

If you are inviting some guests from other towns or even countries, it will be nice to add a page telling them where they can eat something delicious or see something interesting. I, personally, would have taken at least one extra day if going to another town – for sightseeing. If your guests follow your recommendations and like the place, you will be able to discuss it, and that is always great to share the same feeling about something.

Transform it into a wedding album

After the event is finished, gather all the photos and videos and transform your wedding website to an album. It is easy to reach, all the guests will be able to see it, and the guests will be able to leave some comments and memorable inscriptions. After a few years, it will be nostalgic to view and read it once again.

Helping hand

After some practice, everyone would be able to sew a dress. That dress would be free (or at least not so expensive), but still, people mostly prefer to buy clothes created by professionals. The same situation is with wedding websites. I’m not telling that site creation is as complicated as clothes designing, WordPress makes it easy. However, if you don’t have enough time or want to get a professionally crafted product, you pay for it. Despite I’ve described you what and how to do with your wedding website, you don’t have to create it by yourself. We can do it for you, TemplateMonster team is always ready to help.

Premium wedding WordPress themes

Free WordPress wedding template often have limited functionality. Yes, they are as beautiful as the paid ones and have enough options to create an excellent site, but premium themes are always a step ahead. They are more dynamic, more customizable, more interesting. Previously, I was talking about free Jen + Ben wedding website template, now let’s look at the paid version.

Jen+Ben - One Page Wedding WordPress Theme

Demo | Download | Hosting

This one is my favorite wedding template. If this theme had been available at the time I got married, I would have used it for my wedding website. The free version of the template is nice, but the paid one has a few functionalities that make it worth its cost.

Lots of layouts

Paid Jan + Ben template has a bunch of pre-made layouts that will make customization faster. Eight post types, four blog layouts, seven headers and three footer styles – there will be thousands of combinations, and you can be sure your wedding website will be unique. After choosing the layout you like most, you may save it to the specialized library and use it to customize other pages.

Extended widgets pack

A free wedding website template includes some built-in plugins, like Cherry Framework and social media options extension. The premium theme gives you much more functionalities: original slider, post carousel, and social media feed. You will save time for searching necessary plugins and money for their paid versions.

Stock photos

All the eye-catching pictures that make this template demo so gorgeous are included in the premium pack. Of course, you will put there your own photos, but some of the images could stay as it is. All those stock goodies are entirely at your disposal – use them whenever and wherever you like.

So, if you want to have an original and fully functional site – check out our best wedding templates. On TemplateMonster there are themes for all existing CMS, so to simplify the search for you, we gathered the most beautiful WordPress wedding websites to a single set.

You can find it in “Best Wedding WordPress Themes For The Happiest Marriages” article.

We can do everything for you

Although WordPress is a convenient and simple CMS, beginners may find it hard to use. TemplateMonster has a fascinating tech support team that could help both with separate installations and the whole website building process. You don’t have to go anywhere - contact our tech support team via chat or e-mail and a friendly (neighbor Spiderman) WordPress specialist will resolve all your wedding website issues.

Template installation from Service Center

Let’s assume that you started to create your wedding site and then something went wrong. You got stuck at some particular step and had no idea how to move on and fix the problem. “When you need help just call” and TM Tech Center will save you (yeah, just like Chip `n` Dale).

What we could do for you:

Ready to use website offer from service center

As I told earlier, preparations for the wedding could drain all your time. You may have no time to understand how to create a wedding website. If you are strong in the desire to have a wedding website – TM Tech Center can help you with that. All you have to do is choose the template and add “Ready to use website” to your shopping cart. We will create the best wedding website possible and customize it according to your needs and wishes. It could be even better than the one you will manage to do for yourself (we are not sure).

Wrapping up

You now have a great power (of informing your guests and making wedding preparation more pleasant), so use it wisely. A wedding website is a beautiful and powerful organization tool to impress your friends and relatives. However, it is not the most important thing in the forthcoming event. The wedding is a serious step that marks one of the most joyful and exciting moments of your life.

So, I wish you happiness in further married life and good luck with it!

Did you find this article useful? Are there some questions I haven’t answered? Maybe you have already created a wedding website and have good advice that I didn’t mention? Please, leave a comment in the section below so that I can improve the article. I would love to hear from you.

Read Also

Fabulous Free Wedding Invitation Templates

Jen + Ben Wedding Planner Free WordPress Theme

Best Wedding WordPress Themes For The Happiest Marriages

Iridescent Wedding Album Free WordPress Theme

5 Startup Ideas to Create a Wedding Website with MotoCMS