Illustration by Moira Millman
Planning a wedding can be incredibly stressful. But it doesn’t have to be that way. We’ve collected a few Internet tools that can help lessen the burden.
One of your first steps will be to create a timeline and budget. For tracking sans the monthly fees of software like 37signals’ Basecamp, a good resource is The Knot.
“Their budgeter will divide what you intend to spend according to your number of guests and the size of your bridal party,” says bride-to-be Monica Gunner. And the site’s Facebook
application can help connect wedding-party members.
Once the guest list is set (Google Docs and Microsoft Excel are your friends on that front), the invitations present their own hurdle. We love Wedding Paper Divas, which lets you tweak color, layout options, and text online. (Of course, St. Louis has many fine invitation designers, whom we’ve covered elsewhere, although to our knowledge none offer this sort of interface for online collaboration.) For those seeking the minuscule cost (and carbon footprint) of an electronic invitation, Paperless Post is a clear winner, sending elegant invitations for the price of an electronic “stamp.”
One step of the process that’s now moved almost entirely online is gift registration. Many stores’ sites allow wedding guests to search for lists by last names, but My Wedding goes one step further, helping couples set up a template-based website linking to all of their registries, plus additional information about the wedding. For the on-the-go couple, slipping a personal website URL into the invitations will save a lot of time on the phone answering questions.
Finally, online resources can also help with life after the big day. Gift registry Honeyfund, for instance, lets couples list honeymoon staples like airfare and hotel rooms. Guests print out certificates to present to the couple with cash or a check.
“Honeyfund provided an organized way for guests to contribute to our honeymoon without being charged extra fees,” says Staff Sgt. Sarah Hart, a violist with The President’s Own U.S. Marine Chamber Orchestra. A St. Louis native, she married here in 2007. “Most of the honeymoon registries we found added a 10 to 15 percent fee to collect payment from guests,” she recalls. “Honeyfund let them write a check to us, rather than a website.”
