A wedding website saves you asking a hundred people individually: but keep a paper route for the elders

A wedding website is free, takes half an hour to build, and saves far more work than that half hour. Common platforms: The Knot, Zola, Joy, Minted (mostly free).

Two fields the RSVP form must have

Meal choice and allergies.

Without them, you'll be phoning a hundred people individually before the headcount deadline to ask who's vegetarian and who's allergic to what. And that tally is exactly what catering wants (see items 30 and 38 of the checklist).

Other fields worth adding:

• Attending the rehearsal dinner (if they're invited)
• Needing a shuttle (see item 97 of the checklist)
• The name of any guest they're bringing (so nobody quietly adds one)

Elders may not use the internet

Something a Chinese wedding has to handle: keep a paper reply card or a phone option open.

With online RSVP only, you'll hit:

• Elders who simply never reply (not because they aren't coming, but because they can't use it)
• Relatives in Taiwan who can't open it (some platforms load slowly or are blocked there)
• Someone who asked a child to fill it in, and it was filled in wrong

How: put the URL on the invitation along with a phone number or a paper reply envelope. Include a paper reply card in the batch going to elders.

And when chasing non-responders, call the elders rather than messaging them (see the chasing window in item 37 of the checklist).

What to put on it

• Time, place and a mapWrite out the full address and remember to include a Google Maps link.
• Accommodation and transportThings like the room block and shuttle times (see items 96 and 97 of the checklist).
• Dress code
• Meal choice and allergy fields
• RegistryYou can just put this here instead of on the invitation (see item 115 of the checklist).
• Bilingual information

How to handle two languages

Most platforms can't do real language switching. In practice:

• Both languages in each sectionThis is the simplest approach, though the page gets a bit long.
• Two pagesYou can put two entry points directly on the homepage (中文 / English).

What matters most is that the address, the times and the dress code exist in ChineseThat's what relatives in Taiwan actually need to understand.

When to have it ready

Before the Save the Dates go out (8 months before the wedding, see item 36 of the checklist), because the URL goes on them.

The first version can be minimal: date, city, and "more information to follow." Fill it in gradually.

Useful afterwards too

You can use it to share photos and write your thanks. But mind the retention question with online galleries (see item 127 of the checklist). The site itself may vanish when the subscription lapses, so don't keep anything important only there.

In one line

Add meal choice and allergy fields to the RSVP form, and leave the elders a route that doesn't require the internet.

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