Photography: Greg Finck

1. Find a gorgeous template

Your dream wedding website begins with a beautiful template, and thankfully, it’s never been easier to find one. Below, are some of our favorite sites, and the offerings that make them truly special:

Squarespace- is ideal for the design-savvy set. If beauty matters most—and you’re willing to sacrifice a little bit of functionality—you will find your perfect fit in Squarespace’s designs. Virtually every feature on every Squarespace site is customizable, so you can create a truly bespoke site. And, if you love beautiful imagery as much as we do, you’ll be all over Squarespace’s gallery options. You won’t get a ton of wedding planning- specific tools, and the registry aspect isn’t completely intuitive. But if you’ve built a website before, you’ll find Squarespace templates approachable and beautiful.

Riley & Grey- Aleah and Nick Valley of Valley & Company Events recommend Riley & Grey for their “beautifully designed, easy-to-create websites that are layered and allow for easy [setup] with a polished and cohesive look,” And it’s true: the site offers perhaps the most aesthetically beautiful templates on the market. Because Riley & Grey is dedicated exclusively to weddings, everything has been designed with your event in mind—it’s a bit more of tailored experience than Squarespace. We love the playful ‘mad libs style’ RSVP’s that you can customize to match your event style and personal voice. From there, you can take reception song requests, meal orders, allergy info, and more guest messages. As well, Riley & Grey’s guest management system is super sophisticated and helps you approach delicate topics—like + 1 permission—in a clear-cut way. Overall, it’s a beautiful, high class wedding website that takes wedding etiquette and guest experience into consideration.

Minted- A design marketplace that sources and sells work by independent artists, Minted is the perfect choice for artists and art-lovers. An early adopter of crowdsourcing, Minted hosts monthly design challenges, which are open for both submissions and voting, and chooses the most highly-rated and beloved products. As expected, their wedding templates are thoughtful and artistic. Because the focus is all about showcasing the work of independent artists, the sites aren’t very customizable (so if you’re a designer in your own right, go with Squarespace). That said, the templates are very well done; it’s easy to see why Francesca of Pure Luxe Bride calls Minted one of her favorites, adding that it is “easy to navigate and beautiful!” Like Riley & Grey, Minted is famous for offering coordinating invitations, and it’s easy to shop your style and find the perfect design.

Joy- is a great site for brides and grooms who are after simplicity and ease. The downloadable Joy App is totally free, and the sites offer a decent amount of customization options. What makes Joy special is that it’s designed with your guests in mind; when they download the app, they’ll be able to share photos, stay up-to-date with wedding notifications, and hail an Uber or Lyft straight from the app. Joy doesn’t offer a huge variety of in-house planning options—you can’t, for instance, manage multiple events and RSVP’s (so if you’re throwing a welcome party or rehearsal dinner, you’ll need to handle that separately). You’ll also need to manually upload your registry, which can be one of the more challenging aspects of site-building. But if you are after the basics, Joy masters them all.

Zola- is a luxe registry builder that also offers free templates and wedding planning tools and multiple-event RSVP’s. Zola is really all about curating the perfect registry— if beautiful gifts are your love language, then this is the site for you. Many users note that the selections tend to be on the higher-end side, so take into account your event and registry needs before signing on.