The Welcome Page - To keep it casual, we chose a photo we took of our goofy selves rather than using one of our e-pics. The text invites them to explore with our choice songs playing in the background (more detail on the music below):
Our Story Page - We wrote about eachother here so that those who haven't met us can get to know us a bit before the wedding. We also included a couple funnies on the proposal and how we met. Turns out, this was a very popular page and most of our guests enjoyed the stories whether they know us well or otherwise. Here is a snapshot that includes what I said about the mister:
Wedding Party Page - I gave each girl a spice name accordingly (Chef Spice, Sugar n' Spice, Dr. Spice, Picky Spice, Princess Spice). Oh and of course we had to include Optimus Prime:
Wedding Events Page - Here I threatened to embarass any late comers, which is something I couldn't pull off if we didn't have an easy tone throughout the website (but they knew d@mn well I wasn't playin'!). In addition, I included a few pictures of the venue so people have an idea what they're getting into. Especially with outdoor weddings, guests aren't necessarily prepared for the conditions, so I wanted to give everyone a clear headsup on what to expect.
We included some info on things to do for the OOT guests while in town. Some of our guests didn't realize the State Fair was going on the same weekend and/or that it was close by, so this turned out quite helpful. I also included a pic of the mister at the fair a few years back, on one of our 'first dates':
No matter how many times I told people that we're not having a Chinese wedding, no one from the mister's side seemed to truly comprehend it. Since many of them are not that familiar with being around different cultures, I included information on what they can expect that day. Unfortunately, having spring rolls as hor d'oeurves automatically makes it a Chinese wedding to some. Grr...
Anyway, you can also see we suggested red attire (emphasizing OPTIONAL), and a lot of guests indeed showed up in red. In fact, quite a few ladies told me prior to the wedding how they were looking forward to wearing some special red dress that day since they so rarely get the occasion to do so!
We didn't find much use for our e-pics, but people love pictures and this was a great place to share them:
Just for fun, we included an excerpt from one of Mr. Monkey's blog entry:
I love-love-loved that we were able to put music on the site, which automatically played when guests arrived at the welcome page! I think it contributed big time in delivering the fun-quirky-personal feel that we were going for with our song selections:
The website is also how we solicitied wedding photos from our guests for the Marriage Celebration Tree which turned out quite well! Other boring pages included Accomodations, Registries, Guest Book, and Contact Us. Actually the guest book / contact page is quite fun, where multiple people we either did not know or did not invite to our wedding left us notes telling us how they enjoyed the site and sent us well wishes! Apparently some of our guests decided to share our website with others, one guest even told us how she showed it to everyone she works with!
For a freebie, the website really worked well for us, but it did take a lot of time to put together. For the record, it is from http://www.mywedding.com/, which we found easy to use and navigate, without making us or our guests feel bombarded with ads.
Did you bother doing a website? If so, what worked well for you? Share your tips here!
Your site looks great!
ReplyDeleteWassuuuppppp GT! It's Dumpling. I tagged you in my blog today! www.gingerbride.blogspot.com
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