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Engagement 101 - Special Features
Do I really need a Wedding Website ?
January 3, 2003
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
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