photo of a website of two people holding hands, text: Our Story, about pages good to include in a wedding website

“How We Met” is Actually Helpful to include on your wedding website

“About” pages on weddings often felt extraneous like… a minute ago. But these days, your guests are not going to get to see you in person, and get to know the person you’re marrying, how you met, and all those other fun details that you pick up over chit chat during cocktail hour. So dig into that about page, if you feel so moved. It’s a kind of connection that we all could use right now.

Luckily, most of Squarespace’s wedding templates already include an About page, so you don’t have to worry about creating one from scratch (but if you want to, it’s easy). But if the idea of writing about yourselves feels kinda torturous, but you still kind of want to do it, then take turns telling each other versions of your life story, and then committing your partner’s story to words. Make it a date night! It’s not like you have anywhere else to go.

répondez s’il vous plaît

Most wedding websites come with RSVP software. (Squarespace is one of them.) Use. It. I used it for our anniversary party, and it is good stuff.

Tracking down RSVPs is a pain in the ass, so help your guests help you by giving them multiple points of entry to the RSVP.  You can still do traditional paper RSVPs and use the online RSVP as a backup for your slacker friends who can’t ever seem to get to a mailbox (aka most of us). And you’ll thank yourself later for being an organized badass when you’re only making a handful of “Are you definitely coming?” phone calls the month of the wedding, instead of a few dozen.

Pro tip: If you need a place to convey information about showers and other invite-only events to your wedding party (or any other special guests for that matter), Squarespace makes it easy to include that in your wedding website and keep those pages password-protected to avoid any hurt feelings (get the how-to on that right here).

Man and woman standing in front of colorful abstract floral wall, holding hands, looking at each other as background image for screen that reads "We're doing this, y'all - David & Meg - RSVP"

Safety Plans and Details

In current times, there’s simply no doubt that your guests are going to be searching for any and all information you can share about your changes of plans, and how you’ll be handling safety precautions. Simply put: gathering folx together comes with challenges that none of us could have expected a year ago. So, use the tools at your disposal, and add a page to your Squarespace site just for this information. Make it prominent, visible, easy to find, and informative (you can even make it a pop-up so no one misses it when they visit your site).

As with your whole site, you’re going to want to be overly thorough. Like… state the obvious, repeat yourself, and just be really clear about what you expect. Need guests to bring their own masks? Say so a few times. Planning to offer individually packaged meals and need clarity on folx’ dietary needs? Let the people know.

One of APW’s wonderful readers shared some wording she sent to guests of her small wedding:

As we approach our reimagined wedding day, we want to thank you for considering joining us. We recognize that any gathering outside of your household is a risk during these times, and while we value each of you being there, we respect your personal decision whether or not to attend.
In order to mitigate the risks as much as we can, and allow us to all focus on enjoying the celebration together:
– We have limited the final maximum headcount to 20 people
– We are planning on an individually packaged meal
– Our outdoor setup allows us to maintain social distancing
We ask that all guests follow our rules of engagement (we promise, we’re still fun!)
– Please get a COVID-19 test no longer than 72 hours prior to arrival at our wedding. The result must indicate that you are COVID-19 negative prior to arrival. There are many free testing sites, please reach out if you need help finding one near you.
– Please take your temperature before arriving on the day of the wedding.
– Please refrain from hugs and handshakes. Yea, this will be weird, but we can do it!
– Please keep your mask on at all times that you are not eating or drinking.
– Please stay outside, unless you are going to use the restroom briefly.
– Please monitor yourself for 14 days after the wedding, and notify us immediately if you develop any symptoms.
Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns leading up to the day. We cannot wait to celebrate our marriage with you.

If you need help with how to communicate changes of plans (like a significantly smaller guest list, or a date change), we’ve got some help for you here.

For more information about how to build an A+ wedding website using Squarespace, check out their guide and our tutorials: How To Build A Beautiful Wedding Website In Under An Hour and Our 10-Step Guide to building a wedding website (we’ve covered it all, and I promise you can make an amazing site in no time).

Now I kick it to you. What kind of information did you include in your wedding website? What kind of information do you look for as a guest?

This post was sponsored by Squarespace. Squarespace makes beautiful wedding websites happen in a matter of minutes, thanks to their user-friendly software and modern, minimal template designs. Every yearly Squarespace purchase also comes with a custom URL, and of course, their award-winning customer service (just in case you get stuck)—not to mention the endless list of features that come standard with your Squarespace website. You can even make a wedding logo for free. Click here to start a free 14-day trial and make your wedding website today. APW readers get 10% off your first Squarespace purchase when you use the code APW2020 at checkout.