WEDDING WEBSITE, LATTE STYLE

I love wedding websites. I love to read about the couple's story, learn about their wedding plans and look through their pictures. I will often check back for updates and send emails to the couple. I even let the wedding song on the site run over and over again in a loop...and will not press pause or stop. I realize that I am probably (definitely) in the minority. I think I especially love wedding websites because they give you an idea of the couple's style and provides you with a glimpse into their relationship. I couldn't wait to get the Latte wedding website up and running.

I naturally thought that Mr. Latte would jump all over the idea of becoming the "webmaster" for our site. He was an IT Consultant in his past life, and could probably survive for weeks just off of water and the internet. So I asked him to create the website...without a plan. What kind of a plan, you ask?

See, I've had to devise numerous plans in the past to "gently guide" him into agreeing to help out with some wedding related tasks. Remember that lame excuse I used to get him to research and book our hotel blocks? That was all part of the plan. And that time I used the free food and gift trick to get him to come with me to the Crate & Barrel event? Yup, all planned out ahead of time. But I thought I had this one in the bag.

He said that he wasn't interested in making our website and I was caught off guard. Blind sided. Shocked. I had nothing to respond with. So I said OK, sucked it up and did it myself. I did some research on different sites and like Miss Piglet and a whole hive of other bees, quickly fell in love with Wedding Window. I thought that making a website would be the hardest thing in the world, and it probably is, but Wedding Window is SO user-friendly! And there are so many options that make it incredibly customizable.

I spent a lot of time creating a unique template, choosing font sizes and matching up our wedding colors using the six-digit hex #s I found when we finalized our wedding colors. I also worked hard to have it reflect our "couple style" by giving each page a fun and playful feel. I'm happy with the way it came out and am excited to share it with you!

Now, I realize that most of you are probably not excited to see every single page of our fabulous wedding website, so I'll spare your finger the torture of having to scroll down past them and will instead give you a sneak peek at some of my favorite pages:

"Welcome" Page

This opening page was fun to make because Wedding Window has a ton of templates and picture options to choose from. There are city skylines, beaches, flowers and you can even upload your own photo!

"Our Story" Page

We've all seen this page done in the "He Said, She Said" format. My recently married friend changed hers up a bit and told her story month by month. I wanted to do something different and interactive, so we wrote our story as if we were having a conversation with each other and the reader. It was fun to write and many people have commented that they can really see our personalities on this page.

"NYC" Page
We tried to personalize this page as much as possible because it's no fun to just list out restaurants and local attractions. So we added in things like "There is where we had our first date" and "Mr. Latte's drink of choice at this restaurant it the Papaya."

"Photos" Page

I so enjoy looking through a couple's online photo album. But don't you always look for a picture of yourself with the bride and/or groom??? We unfortunately didn't have (appropriate) pictures of all of our guests, so we came up with the idea to have our guests fill our photo albums! We made it into a contest and called it an "old-school East Coast vs West Coast throwdown." We asked our guests to send us pictures to add to either my East Coast or Mr. L's West Coast album.

Pop-Up Window

One of Wedding Window's fun features is the ability to create a pop-up window that opens up with the welcome page. We created a window to direct our guests to our photos page. We hope that this will not only get our friends excited and stir up some friendly rivalry for our wedding, but that it'll get them to come back to check our website more often. And it looks like there's a VERY clear front runner right now. Thats right...East Coast pride, baby.

And our looped song? "The Way I Am" by Ingrid Michaelson. It's cute, light and fun. I would publish a link to her music video but it honestly scares and disturbs me. So I will leave you with the lyrics instead:

If you were falling, then I would catch you
You need a light, I'd find a match

Cuz I love the way you say good morning
And you take me the way I am

If you are chilly, here take my sweater
Your head is aching; I'll make it better

Cuz I love the way you call me baby
And you take me the way I am

I'd buy you Rogaine when you start losing your hair
Sew on patches to all you tear

Cuz I love you more than I could ever promise
And you take me the way I am
You take me the way I am
You take me the way I am

Did you do anything to make your wedding website unique? How does it reflect your "couple style" and relationship?