June 2005
The modern digital wedding
You don’t have to be a computer programmer to reap the benefits of researching and planning your wedding, and providing your guests with information, online. You can take full advantage of the newest Web technology for a truly modern digital wedding. Whether it’s finding the right planner, vendors, or officiants; purchasing wedding-related items; creating gift registries; or building your own wedding Web site, you have many options, and help if you need it.
Among the numerous wedding-planning portals to choose from, we took a look at The Knot, Organic Weddings, WeddingChannel.com, Admired Wedding, The Wedding Tracker, eWedding.com, and The Wedding Window. We also examined several of the latest trends in online wedding planning.
What's new
Current trends in online wedding planning include individual wedding Web sites, personalization and customization of your wedding, and charitable giving.
Individual wedding Web sites and wedding-planning portals. Although they are not new, individual wedding Web sites continue to grow in popularity, and in the variety of information they offer. A Web site with information for your guests about you and your intended, along with all the wedding details you care to include--supplemented with photos, maps, and Flash animation--is becoming the must-have wedding accessory. Web sites that allow couples to create these sites themselves emphasize that no technical experience is necessary--no HTML or coding is needed.
These sites give you a choice of many professional-looking designs, layouts, and colors, along with the option of adding your own text, photos, and maps. Five of the sites we looked at--The Wedding Tracker, eWedding.com, WeddingChannel.com, The Wedding Window, and Admired Wedding--offer Flash animation, at least for the introductory screen of your site.
Online RSVPs, an increasingly used feature, give guests the option of replying to your wedding invitation electronically. Some of the Web sites offering an RSVP option also keep track of who’s coming and who’s not. The Wedding Tracker, The Knot, Wedding Channel.com, eWedding.com, Admired Wedding, and The Wedding Window all offer a version of online RSVPs. WeddingChannel.com and Admired Wedding even let guests make meal choices online.
Personalized and customized. You can now personalize every aspect of your wedding--bridal gown, attendants’ gifts, table settings--whether you create the design or pay someone to do it. Couples can also put their names or initials on just about every wedding item purchased. (The Knot and WeddingChannel.com have a particularly extensive number of wedding items that can be customized this way.)
Charitable giving. Another new trend: Requesting that your guests donate to a favorite charity instead of or in addition to buying wedding gifts. WeddingChannel.com is the only wedding-planning portal of those we looked at that offers this feature electronically for more than 100 charities. The wedding couple or guests can donate to a specific charity via credit card.
You don’t have to be a computer programmer to reap the benefits of researching and planning your wedding, and providing your guests with information, online. You can take full advantage of the newest Web technology for a truly modern digital wedding. Whether it’s finding the right planner, vendors, or officiants; purchasing wedding-related items; creating gift registries; or building your own wedding Web site, you have many options, and help if you need it.
Among the numerous wedding-planning portals to choose from, we took a look at The Knot, Organic Weddings, WeddingChannel.com, Admired Wedding, The Wedding Tracker, eWedding.com, and The Wedding Window. We also examined several of the latest trends in online wedding planning.
What's new
Current trends in online wedding planning include individual wedding Web sites, personalization and customization of your wedding, and charitable giving.
Individual wedding Web sites and wedding-planning portals. Although they are not new, individual wedding Web sites continue to grow in popularity, and in the variety of information they offer. A Web site with information for your guests about you and your intended, along with all the wedding details you care to include--supplemented with photos, maps, and Flash animation--is becoming the must-have wedding accessory. Web sites that allow couples to create these sites themselves emphasize that no technical experience is necessary--no HTML or coding is needed.
These sites give you a choice of many professional-looking designs, layouts, and colors, along with the option of adding your own text, photos, and maps. Five of the sites we looked at--The Wedding Tracker, eWedding.com, WeddingChannel.com, The Wedding Window, and Admired Wedding--offer Flash animation, at least for the introductory screen of your site.
Online RSVPs, an increasingly used feature, give guests the option of replying to your wedding invitation electronically. Some of the Web sites offering an RSVP option also keep track of who’s coming and who’s not. The Wedding Tracker, The Knot, Wedding Channel.com, eWedding.com, Admired Wedding, and The Wedding Window all offer a version of online RSVPs. WeddingChannel.com and Admired Wedding even let guests make meal choices online.
Personalized and customized. You can now personalize every aspect of your wedding--bridal gown, attendants’ gifts, table settings--whether you create the design or pay someone to do it. Couples can also put their names or initials on just about every wedding item purchased. (The Knot and WeddingChannel.com have a particularly extensive number of wedding items that can be customized this way.)
Charitable giving. Another new trend: Requesting that your guests donate to a favorite charity instead of or in addition to buying wedding gifts. WeddingChannel.com is the only wedding-planning portal of those we looked at that offers this feature electronically for more than 100 charities. The wedding couple or guests can donate to a specific charity via credit card.
