Joy’s Contact Collector tool makes gathering addresses easy through a simple, sharable online form that stores responses right in your guest list.
One of your first wedding planning tasks, after nailing down your date and location, will be to collect addresses for your wedding invitations and more. In the past, gathering and organizing wedding guests’ addresses was time consuming. Using Joy’s streamlined address collection process, gathering addresses will take just minutes, leaving you with more time to focus on the more exciting aspects of your upcoming celebration.
- Why do you need addresses?
- When should I start collecting addresses for a wedding?
- Start with a guest list
- How to collect mailing addresses from your guests: A step-by-step guide
- More Tips for Collecting Addresses for Wedding Needs
- What should I do once I’ve collected my guests’ addresses?
- Ready to create your own Contact Collector?
Why do you need addresses?
Having easy access to addresses for your wedding guests will make wedding planning go a lot smoother. Mailing addresses are essential for sending out Save the Dates, wedding invitations, thank you cards, and other wedding-related materials. By gathering this info in advance, you’ll save time and money.
You’ll need mailing addresses for:
- Engagement announcements
- Save the Dates
- Wedding invitations
- RSVP responses
- Bridal shower invitations
- Thank you notes
- Bridal party invitations and gifts
- Honeymoon postcards
Bonus: The contact information you collect for your wedding can be used in the future for items like holiday cards, party invitations, and baby announcements.
When should I start collecting addresses for a wedding?
While you’ll want tackle this task well in advance of your wedding day, the timing for gathering details from your guest list depends on the number and schedule of pre-wedding events such as engagement parties or bridal showers. We recommend collecting addresses for your wedding guests as soon as your guest list is finalized, or roughly four weeks before your first correspondence is mailed.
Having your online address book completed ahead of time will streamline the process of ordering wedding stationery and also makes it simpler to provide your wedding vendors with a more accurate estimate of the expected number of guests.
Start with a guest list
Before you request your guests’ addresses, you’ll need a list of who you plan to invite. Need help nailing down the list? Check out our guides on who to invite to your wedding:
How to collect mailing addresses from your guests: A step-by-step guide
- Sign up for a free Joy account.
- Design your personalized link, and choose from one of our beautiful designs or upload your own photo.
- Share your link wherever you connect with friends and family — text, email, social media, and messaging apps.
- Your guests click the link, fill out a quick form, and their information magically appears in your guest list.
- From there, you can access your friends and family members’ contact info anytime at withjoy.com, on the Joy app, or export your list as a CSV.
How simple is that? There’s no need to waste time copying addresses from your parent’s Rolodex. Simply share your link and watch as your wedding address book fills up in real time.
Our customizable form templates ensure that each guest’s postal address is saved correctly and validated for both U.S. and international addresses, so you can trust that your Save the Dates and wedding invitations arrive without delay.
Plus, as a Joy couple, you have access to all our free wedding planning tools: digital Save the Dates and invitations, wedding website, online RSVP, hotel room blocks, and universal wedding registry.
Your guests’ privacy is important. Joy will never contact your guests without their permission or share data with a third party. Your guest data is yours alone.
More Tips for Collecting Addresses for Wedding Needs
Share your Contact Collector link with a digital Save the Date
Digital cards are a great way to share the happy news of your upcoming wedding and collect your guests’ addresses at the same time.
Choose from Joy’s hundreds of beautiful digital cards to announce your engagement or Save the Date, and add your Contact Collector link right on the card. By the time you’re ready to send out the paper invitations, you have all your guests’ addresses ready to go.
Joy’s digital cards come with a shareable link, so even if you don’t have all your guests’ emails for automatic delivery, you can send them the eCard however you normally communicate, be it messaging apps or social media.
No email? No problem.
Aside from email, you can share your address collector link with loved ones for gathering mailing addresses in any way that works best for you, including:
- Text message
- Group messaging on iMessage or Whatsapp
- Social media (Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Snapchat, etc)
- Via a digital Save the Date or engagement announcement
- You can even fill out the form together when you see your guests in person
The address collector form allows guests to share their email address and phone number with you as well, so you’ll always know the best way to reach them.
Personalize your address collecting form
Our address collector form templates can be easily personalized to suit your style and needs. Choose from one of Joy’s beautiful animations or upload a picture of the two of you.
Unlike Google forms or other online forms, Joy’s Contact Collector integrates seamlessly with your existing wedding website and planning tools.
The link text is yours to customize, as is the option to show or hide the event date, depending on if you’re ready to share that information with your guests.
If you have lots to share with your guests, you can add a link to your free wedding website and add additional details about the wedding, such as schedule, travel recommendations, or the story of how you met.
What about couples, plus ones, or families?
We recommend sending the address form to your primary point of contact to avoid duplicates of the same address on your guest list.
Once the primary point of contact is saved in your guest list, you can assign them plus ones or link two or more guests together as a household.
If you accidentally end up with duplicates on your guest list, simply combine them with the click of a button.
Can guests update their address later?
Yes, guests can make updates to their addresses using the same magic link. Likewise, the event host can also update addresses directly in the guest list.
What should I do once I’ve collected my guests’ addresses?
Your address collector form automatically saves your guests’ contact information to your Joy guest list, where you’ll have access to Joy’s many free wedding planning tools, like digital Save the Dates and invitations, wedding websites, and online RSVP.
Now that you’ve collected your wedding guests’ addresses in your online address book, you can get started on the next phase of wedding planning! Here are some next steps to consider, as well as helpful articles from the wedding planning experts at Joy.
Manage your wedding guest list online
Did you know Joy lets you organize your guest list with labels? Keeping track of out-of-towners, families with kids, or your bachelorette party invitees is easy with customizable tags that allow you to label each guest. These articles will walk you through the process:
- How Many Kids Meals? Answering Those Big Guest List Questions with Joy’s Labels Feature
- 6 Guest List Tools That Make Wedding Planning Easier (And How to Use Them)
Tip: Export your guest list as an excel spreadsheet at any time to share with your wedding planner, caterer, or stationery printer.
Order your Save the Dates
Browse through hundreds of beautiful Save the Date designs and matching digital cards. Need inspiration or advice? Start with our articles:
- Save the Date Wording Examples & Etiquette
- How to Address Save the Dates: Our Sweet and Simple Guide
View our top tips for wedding invitations
Wondering how best to address names on wedding invitations? Or need a reminder on the rules of wedding invitation wording? We’ve got you covered.
Set up your wedding website and online RSVP
A wedding website lets you share important information with your guests, such as weekend festivities, travel tips, and dress code. Including a link to your wedding website on your wedding invitations is an easy way to keep your guests in the know without needing to print additional cards with RSVP and travel details.
Joy’s online RSVP lets you ask as many questions as you’d like to customize your event to your guests’ needs. It’s easy to track responses and share with your wedding planner or caterer.
Check out these helpful articles:
- Do I Really Need a Wedding Website?
- 22 Creative Wedding Website Examples
- Should I Include an RSVP Link on My Wedding Website?
Start thinking about your wedding registry
Many of your guests will want to celebrate your big day by giving you a gift, and a well-thought-out wedding registry lets you (and your guests) be sure that you’re receiving gifts that fit your lifestyle. Joy’s all-in-one universal wedding registry lets you curate a blend of gifts from any store along with zero-fee cash funds, experiences, and charitable giving for those dreams that don’t quite fit in a gift box.
Build your wedding registry using these articles as a guideline:
- 10 Reasons to Create a Wedding Registry (Even if You Think You Don’t Need One)
- Here’s How Many Gifts to Have on Your Registry
- Your Perfect Wedding Registry Checklist
Ready to create your own Contact Collector?
Sign up here to get started!
