The Indian wedding website checklist: what to put on it, what to leave out

A wedding website is read on a phone, in WhatsApp, by a guest who has one question: “where do I need to be, and when?” Everything on this checklist is there to answer that question faster, and the things we tell you to leave out are the things that get in its way.

1. The hero: names, date, city, one button

• Both names, in the order your families use.
• The main wedding date and the city, the two facts people screenshot.
• A hashtag if you have one (optional).
• One button: RSVP. Not three.

2. Events: the section that matters most

Every function on its own card, in order: mehendi, haldi, sangeet, wedding/muhurtham, reception (and anything custom, a pooja, a cocktail night). For each:

• Date and start time (and the time the rasam actually begins, if different from “doors open”).
• Venue name and full address, with a Google Maps link guests can tap.
• Dress code in four words or fewer: “Indian formal”, “yellows for haldi”, “silks & veshtis welcome”.
• One line of description: what happens, how long it runs.

3. Your story: keep it short

Two paragraphs and one photo. How you met, and one line about the wedding. Guests skim it; relatives read every word; neither wants a thousand of them.

4. Families

Parents’ names on both sides, and grandparents if you want the blessing on the page. Elders look for this, and it settles the “whose wedding is this?” question for the wider circle.

5. Gallery

Five to twelve photos. Pre-wedding shoot, engagement, candids: crop them to fit (Shaadify lets you adjust each photo after upload). More than that and mobile data starts to hurt.

6. Travel & stay

• Nearest airport and railway station, with rough time to the venue.
• Where out-of-town guests stay: hotel name, booking code or “tell us and we’ll arrange it”.
• Pickups and shuttles, if any.
• Parking and local transport at the venue.

7. Good to know (FAQ)

The five questions you will otherwise answer fifty times: dress code by event, whether kids are welcome, parking, food (veg/Jain/non-veg), and timing of the muhurtham or pheras. Keep each answer to a sentence.

8. Gifts & blessings

A gentle line (“your presence is the gift”) and a UPI ID if you want to offer one. Shaadify’s Gifts & Blessings section shows the UPI ID in a card. Skip registries your guests cannot use.

9. RSVP: per event, with a deadline

The RSVP should ask per event (yes/no/maybe), for plus-ones, and for meal preference, and it should say the deadline and why (“by 1 November so we can plan food and seating”). On Shaadify every guest RSVPs on their personal link and you see responses per event in the dashboard, with a CSV export for the caterer.

What to leave out

• Long essays: nobody reads them on a phone.
• Music that autoplays.
• PDF invitation scans as the only information: they are unreadable on mobile and go stale the moment a timing changes.
• Anything you are not sure of yet. Publish what you know; the site updates in a minute when the rest is fixed.

When to publish

1. Save-the-date message 2–3 months out: names, date, city, “invitation to follow”.
2. Publish the site and send personal WhatsApp invites 3–4 weeks before the first function.
3. Reminder one week out to anyone who has not RSVP’d (Shaadify’s guest list shows who).
4. Day-of updates, a changed timing or gate number, go on the site; everyone who has the link sees them.