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By Bliss & Bone, April 2026
A wedding website needs to do two things well: give every guest the information they need to attend, and act as the central RSVP and logistics hub between save the dates and the wedding day. Everything else is optional. This guide covers what to include on your wedding website ranked by priority: what's essential, what's worth adding, what to leave off entirely, and which sections need to be live before save the dates go out versus which can fill in over time.
These are non-negotiable. Without them, your website is not functional and guests will start texting you with questions you should never have to answer in real time.
Couple's names and wedding date. The homepage needs both, prominently displayed. Guests sometimes land on your site before they've fully internalized the wedding date, and it should be visible in three seconds without scrolling.
Ceremony and reception venue with full address. Both venues, not just one. Include the full street address and city for each, and a map link. If the ceremony and reception are at the same venue, say so explicitly. If they're at different locations, note the travel time between them.
Date, ceremony start time, and reception start time. Include the actual ceremony start time, not when guests should arrive. If you want guests seated by 4:30 for a 5:00 ceremony, your website should say "Ceremony begins at 5:00 PM. Please arrive by 4:30." Vague timing causes more confusion than any other detail.
RSVP form with a clear deadline. This is the most-used feature on the site. Three to four weeks before the wedding is standard for the deadline. Make it visible from the homepage, not buried in a sub-menu. For full RSVP form guidance, the wedding rsvp wording guide covers every field and prompt with ready-to-use examples.
Dress code. "Black tie," "cocktail attire," "garden party formal," or whatever you've chosen. One line. If you're being more specific about footwear or weather considerations, save that for the FAQ rather than cluttering the dress code line itself.
Hotel block or accommodation guidance. If you've reserved a block, include the hotel name, address, booking link, and group rate code. If you haven't, list two or three nearby options at different price points. Out-of-town guests need this within days of receiving the save the date.
Registry link. This is the one place registry information belongs. Etiquette says it should never appear on the invitation itself. On your website, include direct links to every registry you've set up: traditional, honeymoon fund, charitable contributions, or any combination.
Not strictly essential, but each one materially reduces the volume of questions you'll field in the final weeks before the wedding.
Schedule of events. A timeline showing the rehearsal dinner, ceremony, cocktail hour, reception, and any post-wedding events guests are invited to. Keep it broad strokes. Guests need to know roughly when things start, not minute-by-minute detail. For destination weddings or wedding weekends, this section becomes essential rather than optional.
Travel and transportation. Closest airports, recommended ride services, parking instructions, and any shuttle service you're providing. Out-of-town guests rely on this more than any other section once their travel is booked.
FAQ page. This is the single most-read page on a wedding website after the homepage. Cover plus-one policy, kids policy, what time to arrive, where to park, weather contingency, and what to expect at the reception. Aim for 8–12 questions. Beyond 15, guests stop reading and you've usually moved information that should live on a dedicated page.
Wedding party introductions. Brief bios of your wedding party with photos. Helps guests connect names to faces and starts conversations at the reception. Two to three sentences per person is the right depth. Full life stories read as filler.
Local recommendations. Especially valuable for destination weddings or weddings where most guests are traveling in. Three or four favorite restaurants, a coffee shop near the hotel block, and one or two non-obvious things to do in the area is plenty. Don't write a city guide. Guests will plan their own free time.
Photo gallery. Engagement photos work well here. Three to six images is the right count. Beyond that, you're testing the patience of guests scrolling on a phone.
These are common on wedding websites but are not always worth the effort. Add them when they fit your wedding; skip them when they feel forced.
Your love story. Some couples love writing this. Most guests skim it. If you have a genuinely good story or if a meaningful portion of your guest list doesn't know you both well, include it. Three to four short paragraphs is the right length. If you're writing it because you feel obligated, leave it off.
Countdown timer. Builds excitement for some guests, feels gimmicky to others. Most wedding website platforms include this as a one-click toggle, so the cost of adding it is near zero, but it's not a section worth manually building if your platform doesn't support it natively.
Photo upload page. A shared gallery where guests upload their own photos after the wedding. Genuinely lovely if you have the right platform, more friction than it's worth if guests have to download an app or create an account to use it.
Live stream link. Essential for hybrid weddings, otherwise skip. If you're live streaming the ceremony for guests who can't attend in person, include the stream link, the time it will go live, and a contact for technical issues. Don't post the link until close to the wedding date to avoid stream sharing.
Custom hashtag. Wedding hashtags peaked years ago and have largely faded. Include one only if your guests will actually use it.
Some details are better handled elsewhere or left off entirely.
Gift expectations or pricing context. Link to your registry; don't editorialize about gifts. "We're saving for a house and would deeply appreciate contributions" reads worse than couples expect.
Detailed reasoning for guest list decisions. No plus-one explanations, no kids-policy justifications, no notes about why certain people aren't invited. The FAQ should state your policies cleanly without defending them.
Phone numbers as default contact. Use a dedicated email or your wedding planner's contact info. Personal cell numbers on a public website invite spam and unwanted calls.
Drama-prone information. Anything involving complicated family dynamics, divorced parents, or contentious guest situations should be handled privately, not addressed on a public website.
Outdated details. A site that still shows "venue TBD" two months before the wedding undermines guest confidence in everything else on it. If a section isn't ready, hide it rather than leaving placeholder text.
Wedding websites don't have to launch with every section complete. Most couples build them in two phases.
Live before save the dates go out (6–12 months before the wedding): homepage with names, date, and city; ceremony and reception locations; hotel block; basic travel guidance. This is the minimum viable version of the site. Save the dates direct guests here, and they expect to find enough to start booking travel.
Filled in 2–3 months before the wedding: RSVP form, dress code, schedule of events, FAQ, registry, wedding party bios, local recommendations. These align with the wedding invitation send and stay live through the wedding day.
For a full breakdown of when to send each piece of stationery alongside your website, the wedding invitation timelinemaps every milestone in order, and the guide on when to send wedding invitations covers the calendar in detail.
The recurring problems are predictable: ceremony start time labeled vaguely or omitted, RSVP deadline buried in small text, dress code left off entirely, hotel block deadlines not mentioned, and broken or outdated links to registries. Test the site on a phone before sharing it. Most guests will only ever view it on mobile, and desktop-first designs often have unreadable spacing or buried navigation on small screens. Update the site every few weeks as plans firm up; nothing erodes guest trust faster than landing on a stale page in the final month before the wedding.
The seven essentials: couple's names and wedding date, ceremony and reception venues with full addresses, ceremony and reception start times, an RSVP form with a clear deadline, dress code, hotel block or accommodation guidance, and registry links. Everything else, including the schedule, FAQ, wedding party bios, and love story, is recommended but optional.
At minimum, the information your guests need to attend: where the wedding is, when it starts, where to stay, how to RSVP, and what to wear. Add a schedule and FAQ if your wedding spans multiple events or guests are traveling in. Include the registry link separately from the invitation, where it doesn't belong. For couples managing responses through the site, the rsvp wedding websites guide covers form fields, deadlines, and follow-up in detail.
Detailed gift expectations, justifications for guest list decisions, personal phone numbers as the default contact, anything tied to family drama, and outdated or placeholder text. Keep the tone informational, not editorial. Guests want logistics, not commentary.
The basic version (homepage, ceremony date, location, hotel block, travel info) should go live before save the dates so guests can start planning. The full version, including the RSVP form, dress code, schedule, and FAQ, should be complete by the time wedding invitations go out, six to eight weeks before the wedding. For destination weddings, build in another four to six weeks of lead time.
Only if you want to. Some couples enjoy writing it and some guests genuinely read it, but it's the most-skipped section on most wedding websites. If your guest list includes many people who don't know you both well, a brief love story adds context. If everyone attending already knows your story, the section is filler.
On a dedicated registry page, accessible from the main navigation. It should not appear on the homepage, the RSVP page, or the invitation itself. Etiquette places registry information exclusively on the website, never on printed stationery, and the website should make it easy for guests to find without making it feel central to the event.
State the dress code in one line on the homepage or events page — "Black tie," "Cocktail attire," "Garden party formal." Add a sentence or two of context only if the dress code is unusual or the venue affects what guests should wear. For more detailed guidance on wording dress codes across your invitation suite, the wedding invitation etiquette guide covers the conventions in full.
Bliss & Bone's wedding websites include every essential section by default, with built-in RSVP collection, registry integration, and coordinated design across your save the dates and online wedding invitations. Browse our wedding website templates to see how a complete site comes together, or explore wedding website examples and custom wedding website ideas for inspiration on how other couples have structured theirs.
