Let's Get Digital

Wedding websites are a handy (albeit cheesy) platform for the couple to share information with the wedding guests.  I'm not afraid of a little cheese, and I like things that are convenient, so I knew we would put together a wedding website and list the address on our save the date cards.  When I first started looking for the wedding websites (way back last summer), I checked out the The Knot and Wedding Wire, since those were easy-peasy: punch in your info, add a few pictures, and move on.  Certainly, I had a lot better things to be doing with my nights than making a detailed, time-consuming website.

Okay, seriously, you know me well enough by now.  Is that how it happened? Of course not.

I loved the look of the beautiful websites by Mrs.Camel and  Mrs. Wallaby, so I decided to take a stab at creating a Wix site like theirs.  This allowed for more customization than the other templates, which apparently I thought I needed.  I told myself to just try out the Wedding Wire one, and if it looked fine then I would just leave it.  Well, there was something that wasn't looking right on there, so I went the customized route because I was picky about something I don't even remember.  Typical.  I started our website in September, after we received our engagement picture files, all bright-eyed and optimistic about making the most beautiful wedding website you ever did see!

Well, that didn't happen either.  But I was committed to Wix already and with a deadline hanging over my head I was able to get a finished site that I'm pretty happy with.



Here's what our homepage looks like:

The large picture is a slideshow with some of my favorite e-pics.

For the background, I used this photo because it gave a really lovely candlelit effect, without being too busy.  I also found a free download of the chandelier somewhere, and I made the background transparent and saved it on top of a snippet of the wallpaper to use in the header.  As you can see in the screenshot, it doesn't really match up despite my best efforts (It looks worse because I zoomed way out to screenshot everything.  Normally it's still noticeable, but not enough to matter).  I just put a little blurb about how excited we are to celebrate with everyone on the front page.

I decided to use that jumping picture of Sphinx and I think it's awesome.  He just looks so darn excited for this website!

I put off the "About Us" page until the last minute, since I wanted to write something but was having trouble coming up with wording that didn't sound like a bio that would be read during the glamour portion of a Toddlers and Tiaras pageant.  "Miss Pyramid loves bubble baths, playing dress up, tacos and dancing.  One day she wants to end world hunger and learn to ride a two-wheel bike."
I just decided to make it short and sweet, listing our parents' names (because maybe there would be a distant family member or two that would only know us as so-and-so's son/daughter), some bullet points about each of us, and the shortest proposal story ever.

The "Wedding Day" and "Accommodations" tabs.

For the Wedding Day page, I wanted to put the times, the locations, and where the closest parking would be available for each.  For the accommodations, I spelled out what the hotels had stipulated in the contracts, making sure to include the prices, the dates the rates were available, and the locations.  I haven't shared these with y'all yet, but I will!

"Registry" and "Contact" tabs.

For the registry page, I put a logo for each of the stores we registered at, with a link to the corresponding online registry.  And for the contact page, I just wanted a spot where someone could shoot us a message if they wanted to.  So far, it's been utilized by my mom and grandma (she's pretty good with the computer!), so at least I know it works.

As you can see, I didn't bother to go overboard with our entire dating story or pictures and descriptions of each member of the bridal party, and I wasn't worried about making this perfectly match everything else.  I started out that way, and then realized it just was not a big deal if that chandelier at the top doesn't find its way onto any other paper products, or if these fonts aren't the exact ones I use later on.  I just wanted to get the useful information out to the guests.  As a former Disney cast member, I am not so naive to believe that we will have no questions just because the answer is available in an convenient place (you can't imagine how many times I was asked how to get downstairs when the escalators were right behind me), but at least it's out there.

As for Wix, I did like how you could customize everything and it wasn't too hard to learn, but there are some ticks that made the program slightly frustrating to work with. For example, menus pop up everywhere you click and you can't put more than one point of interest in an inset map.  It worked out though, once I got the hang of the program, so if you've got a smidge more patience than me you'll probably be just fine.

Did you do a wedding website at all?  Anyone else use Wix and have any secret tips for me - not that they'd matter much now?