Wed-site Ideas

The site should introduce both you and your fiance. Your friends know lots about you, but maybe not so much about your fiance. Give details about both of you. Keep it lively and as interesting as possible. But remember; millions of people around the world will be able to see what you write so don't give away any harmful secrets:

• "Sarah works at ABC Corporation but will quit after the wedding. She says that is NOT her reason for getting married, but her boss is such a nutter so I'm not sure."
• "Richard has finally found the girl of his dreams. Perfect in every way, he wonders why he wasted time with any of the silly fillies he dated in the past."

There is every chance that Sarah's boss and Richard's old girlfriends will see the site, so take care!

Announce the date, time, location etc. but again, beware that anyone could see this.

Is it OK if your old boyfriend/girlfriend knows every detail of your plans? Say when and where the ceremony will be held, say when and where the party will be held, but there's no need to be too specific about the time and place.

If you simply say "The ceremony will be held in Yokohama on 15th June, followed by a reception party nearby." This is all that the world needs to know. You will send precise details to the people you are inviting. You might not want all and sundry gate-crashing. If many of your guests are from out of town, you might wish to include links to other sites that show tourist information about the area and also a range of differently priced hotel accommodation.

Include a photo of you both together, making sure you include your engagement rings.

Tell your readers how you met. Relate a couple of little anecdotes, as though you are sharing a big secret. Say how the relationship developed, the ups and downs, how he (or she) proposed, when and where.

This should be the really interesting part for your readers, so use a few words and phrases you might find in a romance novel.

Think carefully before linking to your old website. By all means, put a link on your old website to your new wed-site, but consider carefully any reciprocal link.

As you are entering marriage, your message is probably 'The New Us' rather than 'The Old Me'. In any case, if your old website is not completely up to date, you might be tempted to spend time updating that, when the time could be more usefully spent on your new wed-site.

Add a guestbook, but make sure you monitor it frequently. If Richard's old girlfriend starts publishing secrets, you will want to delete them pretty quickly.

Add a guest list, giving brief details of your guests. Again, only give public information; just sufficient for guests to know a little about each other before The Day.

Say who will be helping at the wedding: maid-of-honour, best-man, ring boy etc. Make sure they don't mind their details being made public.

Tell your readers that your site will be updated frequently. And make sure it is!

You must decide how much information you wish to be public. Before you publish your website, review it and see what you should delete.

If you include your email address, phone, postal address, you are inviting junk mail. Your website is targeted to your friends; they already know how to contact you. If you want to include a 'contact us' link, consider creating a new email address, dedicated to your wedding. You can use one of the free email providers for a temporary email address such as tak_and_miho_wedding@hotmail.com.

If you include your postal address, you are telling potential thieves that the house will contain piles of expensive gifts and the house will be unoccupied during the wedding day.

Finally, before you publish your wed-site, leave your ideas on your PC for a week. Let it gather dust. Don't touch it.

Then read through it a few times. Have you noticed your spelling mistakes? Did you really want to say that? Did you really want to say that in that way? Is it fun and lively?

Don't be in a hurry to publish - "The closer you are, the less you can see" - so wait a while before you upload your pages.

So make sure you publish a dedicated email address to avoid filling your regular email account with junk mail.

Make it fun and lively.