- Wedding Planning
These wedding planning websites will help make the lead-up to your big day a lot less stressful.
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Updated on 06/02/23 11:06AM
Fact checked by
Elizabeth Brownfield
Fact checked byElizabeth Brownfield
Elizabeth Brownfield is a writer, editor, and researcher who specializes in food, travel, home, and lifestyle content. She's worked on the staffs of Domino, Martha Stewart, Metropolitan Home, and Every Day with Rachael Ray magazines, and was Senior Digital Editor at Food Network.
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We independently evaluate all recommended products and services. If you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation. Learn more. Planning a wedding can be difficult but thankfully digital tools help you get a handle on all the logistics. It does not mean that you have to host tech-filled nuptials with a trendy wedding hashtag, using e-vites, and having charging booths at your wedding. Smart tech simply facilitates the complex wedding planning. And your guests can totally benefit from some new platforms as well. Whether you're just starting your wedding planning adventure or checking off the very last thing on your wedding checklist, here are our favorite digital tools (besides Brides.com) for planning the wedding you want while still maintaining a life. How to Create a Wedding Hashtag—Plus, 45 Ideas to Inspire Your Own The 18 Best Wedding Planning Websites and Apps for Every Kind of Couple The 18 Best Wedding Planning Websites and Apps for Every Kind of Couple FAQ Key Specs Why We Chose It WeddingWire is our top choice to get started because it takes the challenge out of sorting through the overwhelming number of vendors and services. It is like a wedding planning search engine that looks for local vendors and wedding professionals with reviews and pricing. Pros and Cons Pros Large searchable database of local wedding professionals Additional tools (invitations, planner) Active wedding forums with Q&As from other engaged couples Cons Search is only possible in a few large cities in each state Overview This venue and vendor database is a one-stop-shop, with more than 500,000 vendors and 5 million reviews byreal newlyweds. So if you're clueless about where to wed and whom to hire, do a quick search and narrow results by type, location, price, and diversity options. When you're done with the big-ticket items, you'll findchecklists, budget templates, and etiquette tips. Key Specs Why We Chose It From bohemian weddings to waterfront nuptials, Carats & Cake is packed with inspiration for lavish weddings of all types, and based on real weddings, that's why we picked it for the best wedding site for inspo. Pros & Cons Pros Includes a vast array of wedding styles Lists the vendor team for each wedding Searchable database of venues and vendors Lets you create a wedding website Cons High-end weddings Overview Ever see a wedding photo and think, "Who made that centerpiece?" or "I have to have those shoes!" Carats & Cake eliminates the guesswork, providing a rundown of all the vendors used in its real weddings (caterers, florists, photographers, etc.). You can even check out the vendor's portfolio on their Carats & Cake profile! The Best Bridal Subscription Boxes Key Specs Why We Chose It If you are looking for an unusual wedding venue, such as a barn or a warehouse, or a chateau in southern France, you'll get plenty of leads from The Venue Report. Although is it not exclusively a wedding venue website, we picked it because it gives you access to extraordinary destinations around the globe. Pros & Cons Pros Targeted search for curated venues around the globe Search for wedding venues by guest count Option to message venues and request tours through the Venue Report Wedding room blocks as complimentary concierge service Cons No seamless integration with the rest of wedding planning Overview With "reporters" who research the latest event spaces, this directory has the hottest hotels and party pads, plus off-the-beaten-path locales like a glamping venue in Montana that can accommodate 170 guests. The experience is seamless: Filter results by region, price, and capacity, review essentials like site fees and curfews, and contact venues directly. Key Specs Why We Chose It We chose WeddingHappy as a the best mobile wedding planner app because it's easy to use while doing everything a virtual wedding planner needs to do. Its timeline helps you to stay on track and get things done, including payments to vendors. Pros & Cons Pros Customized wedding plan Wedding countdown with completed task percentage Simple, straightforward lists for tasks, vendors, payments Free for one user Cons Sharing with additional users requires Premium plan Overview Think of this free app as your personal assistant. It's preloaded with tasks to guide you through your to-dos, and it even alerts you as you approach deadlines for things like "mail invites" or "pay deposit for the band," the same way a planner would do in real life. Share your "event" with your fiancé, parents, or hands-on maid-of-honor, so everyone has access to the same info. Key Specs Why We Chose It Colors play a huge role in wedding planning and Pantone Studio is indispensable to help you pick colors, that's why we selected it for this list. Among the many features we like in this app is that you can share color palettes with friends and family so you can get their opinion. Pros & Cons Pros Capture colors from any photo to build your color palette Test colors on 3D materials and designs Free tools, features, and content 1-week or 1-month free trial for subscription Cons Monthly subscription required to use all Pantone colors Overview Did a particular teal paint color strike your fancy? Fire up Pantone Studio (from $4.99/month), snap a photo, and the app will identify the exact color. For anyone struggling to pick a color palette or thinking of letting their wedding party choose their own looks ("as long as they're seafoam green"), this is a must. Wedding Décor Inspiration Key Specs Why We Chose It Zola offers a bunch of wedding planning services but we made it our first choice for its wedding registry because of the wide array of products and services, including cash funds for your honeymoon or a charity. Another feature that caught our attention is the group gifting option. Pros & Cons Pros 100,000+ products from over 1000 top brands Cash funds Registry checklist Free returns 20% post-wedding discount for six months after wedding day Cons 2.5% credit card processing fee for cash gifts Overview We love a blender as much as any smoothie-obsessed to-be-wed. For house essentials and all that standard department store stuff, Zola has it all, from Matouk bedding to Waterford-crystal stemware. But you can also request specialty goods, like a Sonos sound system or a BioLite camp stove, or even set up a honeymoon orcharity cash fund. Bonuses: Guests can easily go in on pricier items together with group gifting, and you also get 20% off remaining gifts on your registry for six months after your wedding day. Key Specs Why We Chose It For wedding invitations, Minted was our top choice because the stylish high-end invites don’t look like they come from a template. We also like the budget-savvy all-in-one formats that do not require an envelope but include a perforated RSVP postcard. Pros & Cons Pros Style quiz to find your design Customized templates Range of cultural invitations Budget-friendly formats Up to 10 free samples Cons Pricey Overview Minted works with indie artists and graphic designers to offer chic, ready-made invites, save-the-dates, ceremony programs, and escort cards. Templates can also be customized—down to the card size and paper stock. On a tight budget? Print your suite at home or take the file to a local copy shop. Minted also offers a bespoke invitation design in case you don't have an illustrator on speed dial but still want a hand-drawn map of Nantucket or a watercolor rendering of you and your fiancé. Key Specs Why We Chose It With wedding websites becoming every more popular, you don’t want a website that looks like any run-of-the-mill type. With its constantly expanded repertoire of limited-edition templates, Riley & Grey is our top pick. What also convinced us was that the websites are stylish yet very easy to navigate. Pros & Cons Pros Limited edition wedding website templates Designs are free until you publish your website Changes can be made after website is live Wedding websites are hidden from search engines Cons No ability to add music to website Overview Riley & Grey is where design-minded couples go to create their wedding hubs ($35 per month). Modern templates are added every few months, so you won't accidentally use the same one as your BFF, who's getting married six weeks after you. Your site will be not only gorgeous but also user-friendly, with zero clicks required. Scroll down to toggle between tabs like "People" for wedding party bios and "Place" for tips on where to stay, eat, and drink near your wedding venue. You can even embed links to Kayak for flight bookings and Google Maps for directions. Key Specs Why We Chose It Including a budgeting tool in this list was a must and the popular personal finance app Mint is our top choice because it lets you create a custom budget for your wedding, which keeps track of your spending and notifies you before you go over the allocated amounts. You can create as many categories as you like, which is especially useful for wedding planning with its vast variety of expenses. Pros & Cons Pros Budgeting features Bill payment tracker Alerts for due balances High security standards Free Cons Setting it up and learning how to use it takes time Overview While not explicitly made with weddings in mind, Mint is a popular free money management site for a reason: It's easy to use, syncing with your bank account and credit cards so you can monitor your spending as needed. (And it probably will be required.) Create a wedding budget and stay on track, thanks to weekly email summaries and text reminders when payments are due. Wedding Cost Checklist: Here's How to Allocate Your Entire Wedding Budget Key Specs Why We Chose It It does not come with any wedding bells and whistles, but you cannot beat Google Drive when it comes to staying organized, even for your wedding planning. Another plus is that because it's a familiar interface, the people you share docs, sheets, etc, with can easily find their way around. Pros & Cons Pros Accessible from any device No app download required Familiar interface for Gmail account holders Free Cons Requires manual setup and entry of information Overview Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PDFs, photos—anything and everything can be uploaded, stored, and shared in Drive for seamless viewing and editing by anyone with a Gmail account. Want to pull up your guest list, budget, vendor contacts, or décor inspo during a venue walk-through? The mobile app is there in a pinch. Need to share important dates with your fiancé, parents, and planner? The hub links directly to Google Calendar, so no one can complain about being left out of the loop. Key Specs Why We Chose It Trello was designed as a work management tool but it works just as well for planning a wedding. We liked the way how boards and cards let you keep track visually of who’s doing what and what needs to get done for your wedding. Pros & Cons Pros Accessible from desktop computers and mobile devices Lists for things to-do, doing, or done Boards and tasks to visualize workflows Free Cons Requires manual setup and entry of information Overview Forget that massive notebook—organize your entire wedding on Trello's virtual pinboard. Line up each "card" in a column (select category names like Venue or Photography) and drag and drop as the task is completed or pushed back. Key Specs Why We Chose It Amazon is our top choice for an easy registry because it's the gateway to virtually anything you'd ever want as a wedding gift, and it makes shopping convenient for your guests because most already have an Amazon account. Pros & Cons Pros Hugs range of products List of 100 most popular items and other curated lists for inspiration Lower prices for some products Easy access for guests with Amazon account Cons Less personalized feel than other wedding registries Overview If you've been saving items to anAmazon Wish List, it will be easier than ever to get started on the mega e-tailer's registry site. You can expect to see familiar houseware staples (KitchenAid appliances, Le Creuset cookware), plus spruced-up sections like a list of the top 100 most popular items, curated lifestyle collections (such as the coastal boho vibes edit), and "boutiques" for products by sellers, such as Jonathan Adler. It's also a gift for your guests since most just have to log in to shop. Key Specs Why We Chose It Allseated deserves a spot on this list because its tool lets you work remotely to create a wedding reception layout while collaborating with others. The option to include vendors in the event planning ensures that all parties involved are on the same page. Pros & Cons Pros Tools to lay out wedding table and floorplan to-scale 2D and 3D view Wedding reception layout ideas Shareable with vendors Free for a limited number of events Cons Creating a wedding floor yourself plan can be challenging Overview Having trouble visualizing how toorganize tables at your reception? Send Allseated a photo of your venue, and it will deliver a 3D rendering of the space so you can digitally arrange tables, chairs, bars, and other furniture and assign place settings as your RSVPs confirm. Share the graphic with your vendors (caterer, rental company, DJ) to make sure the room is set up right—because there's always that one cousin who shouldn't be within arm's length of the bar. Why We Chose It The convenience of a one-stop shop for thank-you notes, from printing, stuffing, stamps, addressing, and mailing, made us select Postable as a top choice. We liked that the company also gives you the option to utilize their handwritten "smart fonts," which mirror the look of real handwriting. Pros & Cons Pros Entire handling of thank-you notes Wide range of card designs 100% recycled paper Collection of realistic handwriting fonts Compilation of mailing addresses via link Cons Not as personal as handwritten cards Overview You're back from the honeymoon, convinced the stresses of planning are behind you. Not so fast. It's time for thank-you notes. If you just can'teven, try Postable: Choose a design, type a heartfelt message, and add the recipient's address (manually or imported from a spreadsheet), and the site prints a card, puts it in an envelope and mails it (1-19 cards are $3.99 each, plus postage; 20 or more cards are $3.29 each, plus postage). Will guests know you cheated? Likely not; Postable uses "smart fonts," so repeat letters are slightly different from one another. Handwritten cards are ideal, but our etiquette experts sign off as long as each note is personalized. Key Specs Why We Chose It The economics and reliability of UberEVENTS convinced us to make it a top choice for all your wedding transportation needs, as UberX rides are cheaper than using taxis, valets, or parking. Including guest transportation in your wedding planning is already very thoughtful but we also like that you can take it a step further and set a transportation budget for vouchers based on how much you are willing to chip in. Pros & Cons Pros Covers all wedding transportation needs Cheaper than taxi or shuttle Flexible schedule Fixed budget for vouchers Cons Rides may not be available in your location Overview Uber is here to maketransportation for your wedding guests—from ceremony to reception to the after-party—a cinch. UberEVENTS lets you manage how, when, and where guests ride through a promo code. Plus, you’ll pay for only the rides used, and the bride and groom can set a budget for how much they would like to cover. It will put you at ease knowing that none of your wedding guests will need to hitchhike or risk driving inebriated. Plus, guests don’t have to feel restricted by a shuttle schedule. FYI: The UberX option is up to 30 percent cheaper than taxis and significantly less than shuttles, valets, or parking. Key Specs Why We Chose It For a wedding in which you want to include all your loved ones no matter where they live, we selected WebWed because it goes beyond the mere technical streaming but also handles the entire online wedding process for you. Pros & Cons Pros Domestic and international weddings Handling of the wedding license process Ceremony preview Wedding video downloadable for 30 days Cons Starting fee $599 for basic package without ceremony Overview If you didn't stream your wedding online, did it really happen? For those of your loved ones who can't make the ceremony, consider a cross-platform mobile app like WebWed to provide guests with a 360-degree view of your big day from the convenience of their mobile device. In fact, WebWed promises to handle the entire wedding process—from obtaining the marriage license and scheduling a wedding officiant to posting a video of your ceremony through its app or website. You can even send out invites to all your guests. Once the wedding video is finished, it's archived for 30 days for download. (If you just want the video streaming option, it is available without committing to their wedding license and officiant services.) Key Specs Why We Chose It Recommendations from Facebook friends are often the best when you look for something specific. Keeping track of those leads, however, is another matter. Therefore we picked the Recommendations tool on Facebook as our top choice to find all those hidden local gems for your wedding planning. Pros & Cons Pros Recommendations from friends are real and usually reliable Saves recommendations from friends in one place Lets you find things in your neighborhood Free Cons Getting recommendations is a question of luck Overview Yes, Facebook has been around for what seems like forever, but with its Recommendations tool, guests can tap their network of friends to find cool stuff to do in your wedding location. When you write a Facebook post looking for advice on local places or services, you'll have the option to turn on "Recommendations." Your friends can comment with suggestions, and you'll see all of them mapped out for easy access and saved in one place. Best of all, you're getting recommendations you trust. For example, if you're looking for things to do while inNapa—simply ask your friends! It's likely your friends will recommend places likethe Model Bakeryfor the best English muffins or theCarneros Resortfor a place to stay. Key Specs Why We Chose It Planning a wedding means lots of communication and using your regular phone number for all those texts and calls can be quite disruptive. We picked Burner as a second phone number app that lets you manage the flood. Pros & Cons Pros Frees up your regular phone number Area code of your choice Can be used for RSVPs No contract Cons Monthly fee Overview The Burner app is a great way to collect all of yourwedding photosfrom guests and organize your RSVP list sans paperwork. The app creates a temporary phone number that guests can text to accept or decline the invite or even leave a sweet audio greeting. Plus, guests can also send questions here, as the app acts similar to a chatbot. A wedding website can serve two purposes. It helps you to keep track of the planning in one place, and it creates a platform where you can share anything wedding-related with others. Wedding websites are an economical and efficient way of planning your wedding. Any sensitive personal information such as personal phone numbers, email addresses, or physical addresses should not be included. Keep in mind that a wedding website is public information. Also don't include any information on pre-weddingevents with a limited number of guests such as bridal showers and bachelor/bachelorette parties. That depends on two things: the size of the wedding and your bandwidth. Even if you are well-organized and have a good amount of free time, planning a large wedding yourself can be very challenging. If your wedding planning needs to fit into an already busy work schedule, hiring a wedding planner makes sense even if you don't have a huge guest list. The professionalism of a wedding planner will give you peace of mind regardless of the size of your wedding. Count to spend between 5% and 15% of your total wedding budget for a wedding planner. If you toy with the idea of hiring a wedding planner, do it as early as possible, at least ten months before the wedding. This is important so the entire planning is as efficient as possible from the very start. Also, keep in mind that reputable wedding planners are booked much in advance.18 Best Wedding Planning Websites and Apps of 2023
For the couple who doesn't know where to start : WeddingWire
For inspo you can actually use : Carats & Cake
For finding a Versailles-like French castle : The Venue Report
For planning without the planner : WeddingHappy
For color coordination : Pantone Studio
For registering for what you really want : Zola
For fab invitations that won't break the bank : Minted
For a wedding website that looks totally different : Riley & Grey
For tracking your wedding (and life) budget : Mint
For keeping your planning crew always updated : Google Drive
For anyone who loves a to-do list more than life itself : Trello
For a registry that's as easy for guests as it is for you : Amazon
For nailing your venue layout : Allseated
For painless thank-yous : Postable
Key Specs
For an alternative to shuttle busses : UberEVENTS
For including guests who couldn't make it : WebWed
For finding hidden gems : Facebook Recommendations
For easy communication and sharing : Burner
Frequently Asked Questions
Is It Worth Having a Wedding Website?
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