Making planning easier with a wedding website

One of the helpful tools for couples today is a wedding website. A wedding website is a place online where you can put all the details of your wedding: from budgeting to the chosen suppliers. You can also put a variety of media there, probably images of your wedding, or a map to your location, or music that inspires you and your partner. It's a tool where you can share to your family and friends -- and to the rest of the world -- about your wedding plans and even details of the after-party.

If you search Google for wedding websites, you will see tons of wedding website providers. Some of them free and some that come with an annual charge. Most wedding websites have features that are really helpful for brides- and grooms-to-be such as budget tools, RSVPs, and audio and photo/video tools. You can also list down your chosen vendors, post your own inspiration boards, or even write about your love story in your wedding website. Wedding websites also come with cute templates, and there are a lot to choose from that match your wedding style.

Here are a few of the well-known free wedding website providers you can check out:

1) WeddingAnnouncer.com - During my own wedding preps, this was one of the sites used by most of the b2b's I encountered in a local forum. Tools included are wedding event information, gift registry information, maps, and RSVP.

2) MyWedding.com - It's also free and comes with the useful wedding tools. What I like about this site is that they have beautiful templates. The templates also come with matching invitations from companies like Wedding Paper Divas and Papeterie.

3) WeddingWire.com - Reminders, checklists, and even a drag-and-drop seating arrangement tool are just some of its features. They also have designer templates you could choose from, like those from Martha Stewart Weddings or the site's original designs.

4) eWedding.com - They have features like polls, quizzes, and bridal registries. But if you upgrade to a paid subscription, you can use their online media, download feature, email support, and even have a custom domain name.

Wedding websites help make planning easier for you. And it's also a good place to let everyone know about what you're going to do, what they need to know, and what they just missed. It's easy to put up one so go get started now.

Photo credit: Laptop user 2 by channah from sxc.hu.

Free fonts for your DIY invitations

If you're doing DIY projects for your wedding, such as invitations, thank you cards, place cards, and the like, then the Font Squirrel will surely be a big help to you.

Font Squirrel is a site that offers free font downloads for commercial use. It has loads of fonts ranging from sans serifs to calligraphy. It also has some dingbats, decorative fonts that can be used as images.

There are some fonts there you could use on your wedding projects. The ever-famous Scriptina is on the list, but you could also use Beautiful ES (which hubby used for our DIY invitation), Chopin Script, or Windsong. Dingbats like IM Fell Flowers and Kfon are great decorations for your cards as well.

I tried to make a mock-up of a monogram using the downloaded fonts in Font Squirrel. It was a quick one, so I didn't get to change the colors. I used Renaissance as the font for the initials, and Kfon (birds) and Nymphette (curls) as decorations:
If you want to have free fonts you could use for your DIY wedding projects, you can visit the Font Squirrel website.

Create your own inspiration board with Dessy's Pantone Wedding

Want to create your own inspiration board? Thinking of great color combinations you could use for your wedding? The Dessy Group has teamed up with Pantone to build the Pantone Wedding, a site where you can choose from Dessy's dresses and accessories according to your favorite colors.

I tried out the site, and it's pretty easy. All you have to do is create an account and you're ready to go!

Before creating your inspiration board, you must choose the color combinations you like from the swatches on the top right. After picking your colors, an array of dresses and accessories will show on the right side. Just click and drag the ones you like on the board. You can also write a note on it. It's that simple.

If you're done with your inspiration board, you can easily save it in your account for future viewing. And if you like to share it with others, perhaps with the members of your entourage, you have the option to post it in your blog or email the board's link.

What I like about this wedding tool is that, first of all, it's free and it instantly gives you a preview of how your entourage will look like wearing those dresses in the color motif you want. It's also easy to use, because you can easily create an inspiration board by just clicking and dragging. You can also adjust the size of the items so they could fit on the board. And if you want to remove a picture, you just have to press delete.

The downside, though, is the limitations in terms of the selections. It features mostly bridesmaid dresses, a few flowergirl dresses, and fewer accessories. I hope Dessy would feature more of their collections here, which will also include wedding dresses and a lot more accessories for men and women.

Here's a sample inspiration board I made using Pantone Weddings:


Overall, this wedding tool is fun and easy to use. The Pantone Weddings is very helpful, especially if you need to visualize how your colors will blend. Try it!

Dress ideas for guests from Looklet.com

I found this very interesting site called Looklet.com. It's a site where you feel you're playing dress-up with a virtual Barbie. Though it doesn't have real wedding dresses in its selections, it's a nice site to find inspiration for what to wear if you're invited to a wedding.

At Looklet.com, you can mix and match looks. It has tops, bottoms, dresses, bags, accessories and more. You can create casual, corporate or formal looks. I tried making some looks and found myself addicted to it. :D

The only issue I have are the limitations in terms of the colors of the clothes and the choices for shoes and accessories. But otherwise, Looklet.com is a fun website.

Here are two of my creations which I would say can be worn by guests of weddings or special occasions:


If you want to save your creations, you can simply register at Looklet.com. It's free, so there aren't much hassles.

I'm telling you, it's a great site, especially if you want to satisfy the fashionista in you. Go get addicted to it like I am!