Building your wedding website is one of the first things you’ll do after you get engaged, because you’ll definitely want to share your engagement story, wedding logistics, registry and more on it. (Your guests will be looking for your wedding website as soon as you announce your wedding too!) Since it can be overwhelming to decide where to start, we’ve done the heavy lifting for you and rounded up the top wedding website options out there to evaluate their pros and cons. Check out our official wedding website reviews, below.
1. The Knot
Designed for: Anyone! It’s true—we may be a little impartial to our own wedding website service, but with good reason: It’s totally free and easy to use, integrated with The Knot App and planning tools, and has beautiful designs for every style.
Price: Free, but you can also purchase a custom domain for $20.
Pros:
- The Knot has a vast selection of free, professionally designed templates (over 160) complete with modern layouts and full-width imagery.
- It’s super easy to set up—within minutes, you can have yours up and running on your phone browser, computer or with our easy-to-use All-In-One Wedding Planning app.
- Your cash and experience gifts on The Knot Newlywed Fund and your retail registries will automatically sync, and your registry page will show all of your gifts to your guests at once so they don’t have to visit separate sites.
- Since The Knot has every tool and product (which all work together) that you’d ever need to help you plan your wedding, it’ll be easy for you to have everything under one roof since our wedding websites are integrated into our tools. Plus, we’re always working on making improvements and adding new designs.
- You can even manage and track RSVPs using the app (it’s number one in the app store!) and get RSVP push notifications for easy updates.
- Using your website dashboard, you can find which hotels offer discounted room blocks near your venue.
- You can message guests straight from the app via text or email.
- You can set custom privacy controls, including a password and hiding from search engines
- More perks include personalized urls, sharing features to easily share your wedding website URL and matching wedding invitations.
Cons:
- Beyond meal choices and additional questions, the RSVP isn’t customizable. (So your guests unfortunately can’t send in song requests.)
- If you want to do some major editing of your website, you’ll have to put down the app and work on a computer to fully add custom pages or personalize your colors and fonts.
So, what’s the verdict?
Not to toot our own horn, but we’re the most trusted wedding brand out there. If you want a wedding website that’s free, easy to set up and provides a large selection of designer themes, you should start here.
2. Squarespace
Designed for: The couple that cares about design and tech and wants more customization ability (it’s the closest thing to coding the site yourself).
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Price: $12 a month for 12 months (or $16 month-to-month), or you can purchase custom domain for $20.
Pros:
- It’s the most professional-looking site you’re going to get without hiring a designer to make it.
- You can customize pretty much every single element and add a password.
- You can view updates as you make them (instead of having to preview your site separately), which makes customizing super intuitive.
Cons:
- You can only use the free version for two weeks until you’re forced to upgrade and pay. You also must pay an additional $20 if you want a custom domain.
- It doesn’t have wedding specific features (aka, RSVPs won’t integrate with your guest list and there isn’t a registry tool).
- In fact, it can be challenging to add your registry to your site—you have to manually upload every image, logo and link yourself.
- You’re kind of paying for features you don’t necessarily need for a wedding website, like a blog and an e-commerce feature.
- If you keep your site for more than a few months, the cost really adds up.
- There’s no easy way to share with your guests.
So, what’s the verdict?
Given the fact that it doesn’t offer any wedding-related tools you’ll actually use, it could be a little too expensive for couples looking to save.
3. Wix
Designed for: The couple that wants a customizable site that they don’t have to build from scratch.
Price: Free, or $10 a month for premium, which includes a custom domain.
Pros:
- The photo uploader is very easy to use.
- A click-and-drag editor allows you to update in real time.
- The layouts are modern, minimalist and chic.
- You get a free custom domain when you upgrade to a paid plan.
- Your site is hidden until you publish it, and a password protects specific pages or your whole site.
Cons:
- If you opt for the free version, it has an intrusive “Wix” banner at the top of the website.
- Looking for wedding-specific features like a guest list tool? You won’t find any of that here.
- There’s no registry integration, so your registry details (like links and images) will have to be manually uploaded (and it doesn’t display gifts).
So, what’s the verdict?
The templates are fun and modern that you can easily customize with a click-and-drag editor. But if you don’t want a big ad at the top of your site, you’re going to have to pay extra.
4. Riley & Grey
Designed for: The couple who loves design and wants a luxurious feel to their wedding website.
Price: $35 a month.
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Pros:
- You’ll find that everything’s highly customizable.
- The feature set is robust—for example, your guests can curate a playlist.
- The look and feel is gorgeous and elevated.
Cons:
- There’s no easy RSVP tool.
- It takes a lot of time and effort to set up, since most of it isn’t “automatic.”
So, what’s the verdict?
It’s good for a couple who wants to invest in design and have a nontraditional website that stands out from the pack.
5. WeddingWire
Designed for: Couples who want a free wedding website that comes with other planning tools.
Price: Free, or you can purchase a custom domain for $12.99.
Pros:
- They have over 400 templates to choose from.
- Besides all of the aforementioned templates, they also offer a custom background photo template.
- It automatically integrates with other digital planning tools.
- WeddingWire offers easy hotel integration that recommends nearby hotels for guests that you can display on your site and lets you book room blocks.
- You can easily hide pages on the site, password protect it, or hide it from search engines.
Cons:
- If you’re easily overwhelmed by lots of choices, 400 templates could be an information overload.
- The templates are a little cookie-cutter and plain.
- You can’t use the WeddingWire app to create or edit your website.
- There are no matching invitation options.
- The website builder isn’t as intuitive or user-friendly as some of the newer wedding website platforms.
So, what’s the verdict?
It’s a no-frills option that offers just the essentials.
6. Appy Couple
Designed for: The couple who wants a wedding app.
Price: $49 for the “boutique” option, or $149 for the “luxury” option.
Pros:
- The designs are modern and classy.
- The features are very interactive.
- You’ll have the option of RSVP alerts and guest messaging.
- You can send digital save-the-dates that coordinate with your theme.
- You’ll have the option of only inviting certain guests to specific prewedding events.
Cons:
- For its features to be fully functional, your guests have to download the app as well.
- It’s pricey, and doesn’t offer many other benefits or features that other sites don’t.
So, what’s the verdict?
It’s great if you want to do most of your guest communication digitally, and don’t mind asking them to download the app for you.
7. Minted
Designed for: The couple who’s stylish, quality-conscious and cares about coordinating their wedding website design with their stationery.
Price: You can get it for free with limited features, or upgrade to premium for a one-time fee of $20.
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Pros:
- The designs are super unique, curated from a community of independent designers.
- It’s easy to use, with a clear and quick start guide.
- You can “shop your website style” to find invites and décor that match.
Cons:
- Most of the key features are only available with premium (aka, privacy settings, photos and so on).
- You’ll need to manually link registry, and gifts don’t show.
- It’s not very customizable, so you have to like what the designer has created.
So, what’s the verdict?
It’s great for a couple looking for something with a unique feel, and who cares that their website matches their invites and décor. But if you want practical features like being able to RSVP, a photo album and privacy controls, it’s not your best option.
8. Zola
Designed for: Trendy millennial couples who are interested in registering for higher-end gifts.
Price: Free, or you can purchase a custom domain for $14.95.
Pros:
- There’s a robust guest list feature.
- It’s easy to set up, with tips and guidance along the way.
- You have the capability to make certain events private and only visible to guests who are invited (aka, only certain guests will be able to RSVP to things like the rehearsal dinner).
Cons:
- There’s a limited number of templates (only 30), and only a few have matching invites.
- It’s limiting if you don’t want the Zola registry (which tends to be higher end, and not right for every couple). Otherwise, you have to manually add external gifts.
- It lacks integrations to let you add accomodation details to your site, like finding hotel room blocks or nearby hotels.
So, what’s the verdict?
If you want to have a registry curated by Zola, then go for it. Otherwise, the templates and tools are pretty limiting.
9. Joy
Designed for: Couples who want to try something new and value having a personal wedding website app for guests.
Price: Free.
Pros:
- You can send a broadcast announcements to guests.
- You can have a “moments” timeline where guests can upload photos and comments. (You can even stream at your wedding for a real-time slideshow.)
- You can send digital save-the-dates, invitations and RSVP reminders to your guests.
Cons:
- There’s a lack of template variety—the designs are primarily rustic and floral-forward, and there’s only one layout option.
- You can’t access all features on the mobile web and app (like RSVP tracking)—so even though there’s a reminder and messaging tool, you need to be on a computer to use it.
- There’s no wedding planning ecosystem if you want all your planning tools in one place (including vendor lists), and their guest list management features could leave you with limited options, especially if you want to collect RSVP for multiple events.
- Your guests will need an event code to join the app.
- You’ll have to manually add registry links (and individual gifts don’t show on the site).
- There’s no custom domain purchase option (but they do have the capabilities to forward your Joy URL to a custom URL elsewhere, if you’ve purchased one).
So, what’s the verdict?
If you want a free version with a lot of extra features (like the photo-streaming timeline and guest messaging), then it’s a good choice. But your layout options are extremely limited.
Want to see more? Other wedding website options to check out include DestinationWeddings.com, Zankyou, WeddingWoo and WeddingJojo.
