One of the most exciting parts of getting married is enjoying all the celebrations that come before the big day. A favorite pre-wedding celebration for many couples is the wedding shower. This event allows you to gather your nearest and dearest and revel in the joy of the monumental event that’s just around the corner. It’s an amazing time to eat, drink, and think about the magic of getting married.
To help ensure your wedding shower is everything you dream of and more, Joy provides all the tools you need to easily plan this special party, send invitations, and make sure guests have the information they need. Here’s how to plan your wedding shower with Joy in five easy steps.
1. Sign up with Joy and create a wedding website
The first step in using Joy to plan your wedding shower is to sign up for an account and create a wedding website. Some couples choose to just create a wedding website and include information about their wedding shower. Others make a second website dedicated exclusively to the wedding shower. You can personalize the website(s) to emulate the style of your celebration, post all the important details, send invites, track RSVPs, provide FAQs, and more.
For your wedding shower website or section, it’s wise to include information about the location, date, time, attire, and theme (optional). If you’re hosting a virtual wedding shower, you’ll also include instructions for how to tune in to the event. It’s ideal to get these details up a few months before the wedding, as wedding showers often occur three weeks to two months before the big day.
2. Add your wedding shower to your event schedule
After sharing key information about your wedding shower on your wedding website, the next step is to add it to your event schedule. As a bonus, you also get to decide who can see the event. This feature helps to avoid confusion, preventing guests who are not invited to the wedding shower from seeing it and wondering if it’s an event they should attend.
3. Create your wedding shower guest list
Now that your wedding shower is planned and on your wedding website, it’s time to create the guest list. While you can invite whomever you like, most couples choose to only invite their wedding party and close friends and family.
Because most of your wedding shower invitees have likely been invited to the wedding, and you’ve already collected their emails, home addresses, phone numbers, and other information, you can use Joy’s guest list manager to easily create a sub-list for wedding shower guests. All you have to do is tag guests from your main list who are invited to the wedding shower.
4. Send wedding shower e-cards or print invitations
Four to six weeks before your wedding shower, you’ll want to send the invitations to ensure guests save the date and have time to find the perfect gift and party outfit. Joy makes it easy to send e-cards for free or print invitations for a reasonable rate. When creating these invitations, you can select a template that matches your wedding website theme, or choose from a wide variety of other themes.
To send e-cards, go to your guest list, select the guests you wish to invite and click “Send Invites & Messages.” You’ll then be directed to customize the invitations and send them.
5. Track wedding shower RSVPs
As an important aspect of planning a wedding shower is getting an accurate headcount, Joy’s RSVP tracking feature is invaluable. The feature enables guests to RSVP through your wedding website; this way, you can always access an up-to-date headcount. And you get to eliminate the serious headache of tracking RSVPs manually.
In addition to collecting digital RSVPs, you can provide answers to custom RSVP questions on your wedding website, minimizing the chance that guests will flood you with questions days before the event.
