Would you pay to go to a wedding?

Idiophreak

Torry_Quine wrote: »

Any wedding I've been to has had the ceremony then the photos and then the meal. In the evening about 10pm there is some kind of buffet. I would always have lunch if a wedding were mid-afternoon.

Genuine question, why do people need a web-site?

We had a website to include a lot of extra information that we didn't want to include in the invite - places to stay, places to hire boats (don't ask ), camping arrangements, timings, gifts, directions, taxi arrangements. It also gave us a gallery so guests could upload photos of the day, which was nice.

Wouldn't say I "needed" the site, though...

Person_one

I think the websites are a trend that's come over from the US, they pretty ubiquitous over there.

(Do I mean ubiquitous? It doesn't sound right...)

Idiophreak

Person_one wrote: »

I think the websites are a trend that's come over from the US, they pretty ubiquitous over there.

(Do I mean ubiquitous? It doesn't sound right...)

Don't know if trend's the right word....I don't view it as a fad particularly...It's just the net's a great place to share information to save printing it out over and over and posting it to 150 different people...I can't see wedding sites passing, but getting more ubiquitous (that *is* the right word ) as time goes on.

Torry_Quine

Person_one wrote: »

I think the websites are a trend that's come over from the US, they pretty ubiquitous over there.

(Do I mean ubiquitous? It doesn't sound right...)

I agree. How on earth did people manage before?

Idiophreak

Torry_Quine wrote: »

I agree. How on earth did people manage before?

People managed to buy all their shopping from the high street in the past. They managed to buy all their music on CDs. They managed to apply for loans in banks, to get quotes for insurance on the phone and learn things from library books.

How people "managed" before the Internet doesn't really effect whether it's a good idea to use it now it's here...?

Torry_Quine

Idiophreak wrote: »

People managed to buy all their shopping from the high street in the past. They managed to buy all their music on CDs. They managed to apply for loans in banks, to get quotes for insurance on the phone and learn things from library books.

How people "managed" before the Internet doesn't really effect whether it's a good idea to use it now it's here...?

The point is that guests didn't need to be told all that information, do they really need to be given details of taxi firms, hotels, directions etc? I certainly felt no responsibility for giving my guests this information which they could find for themself.

I still buy CDs and get my insurance over the phone though!

daisiegg

Our wedding website meant the only thing we had to send out with the invitations was the invitation. Not even RSVP cards or anything as people could RSVP on the website. The website also has direct links to hotel booking pages etc, directions and even a page where you can put in your postcode and get driving directions. It is incredibly useful particularly when we have people coming from very far away. It was free and took hardly any time to create, saved paper and is extremely convenient - I don't see why anyone would think they are a bad thing.

Has nobody noticed that people become completely clueless when it comes to arranging travel and accommodation for weddings? I had seen people mentioning this on the weddings board and thought 'nonsense, that won't happen to my family and friends' - but no, I have been shocked by the number of guests who are seasoned travellers getting in touch asking us where to stay and how to get around etc etc. Being able to point them to the wedding website has saved lots of time sending emails and information and so on.

Idiophreak

Torry_Quine wrote: »

The point is that guests didn't need to be told all that information, do they really need to be given details of taxi firms, hotels, directions etc? I certainly felt no responsibility for giving my guests this information which they could find for themself.

I'm glad you felt no responsibility to get your guests the best prices, or not waste their time - but a lot of people do.

I negotiated with a local taxi firm to give my guests a lower, fixed price if I made them our exclusive taxi firm.

I got married on a farm in the middle of nowhere. It would have taken people a good 10 minutes to find it from the postcode etc.

Likewise, a lot of people say "this hotel's just round the corner, but it's really minging, you're better off going to..." which is always appreciated and is the kind of local knowledge people can't just find for themselves...

Like you said, if you want your guests to just "manage", that's fine...but if you want to help your guests save time and money, more information can help.

Torry_Quine wrote: »

I still buy CDs and get my insurance over the phone though!

You're missing out on cuddly meerkats

daisiegg

Torry_Quine wrote: »

The point is that guests didn't need to be told all that information, do they really need to be given details of taxi firms, hotels, directions etc? I certainly felt no responsibility for giving my guests this information which they could find for themself.

They really do though! Particularly if they are travelling from far away. We went to a wedding in Scotland recently and without having been told I wouldn't have had a clue which of the local taxi firms I found via google was the one that charged you £10 from the airport and which was the one that ripped you off and charged £29. I wouldn't have known without being told that the Travelodge that had the name of a different town was actually closer to the wedding venue than the one that's name indicated it was in the same town as the wedding venue.

Also, see my above post about people suddenly becoming super reliant and clueless when it comes to travelling for a wedding....I wouldn't have believed it myself either until I saw it! Even one of OH's friends who travels around the world for work most weeks, commutes between two countries and arranges all his own travel got in touch and asked us to book him a hotel!

Torry_Quine

daisiegg wrote: »

Our wedding website meant the only thing we had to send out with the invitations was the invitation. Not even RSVP cards or anything as people could RSVP on the website. The website also has direct links to hotel booking pages etc, directions and even a page where you can put in your postcode and get driving directions. It is incredibly useful particularly when we have people coming from very far away. It was free and took hardly any time to create, saved paper and is extremely convenient - I don't see why anyone would think they are a bad thing.

Has nobody noticed that people become completely clueless when it comes to arranging travel and accommodation for weddings? I had seen people mentioning this on the weddings board and thought 'nonsense, that won't happen to my family and friends' - but no, I have been shocked by the number of guests who are seasoned travellers getting in touch asking us where to stay and how to get around etc etc. Being able to point them to the wedding website has saved lots of time sending emails and information and so on.

I really don't see why you need to put an RSVP in though. If I get an invite I'm quite capable of getting a card and sending it back.

It does surprise me that people feel it necessary to get in touch for directions etc though.