Wedding Website vs Paper Invites: Which Is Right for You?
Paper invites feel like a wedding. A website is how most guests actually find the postcode. You do not have to pick one.
Most UK couples end up with both: a card that lands on the doormat, and a page that holds the details that would never fit on an insert. The useful question is which job each one is doing, and whether you pay £0 on a marketplace or £249 for a planning suite.
What paper still does better
A printed card is an object. Guests pin it to the fridge. Older relatives who will not open a link get something they can hold. For a formal day, it sets the tone before anyone has looked at a map.
It also costs. A mid-range suite for 80–100 guests — invite, RSVP card, envelope, stamp — commonly lands in the hundreds of pounds before a supplier is booked. That figure is a range, not a quote we ran this morning.
Paper RSVP cards get lost, arrive late, or do not come back. Chasing them is a weekend.
What a wedding website is for
A site is the page you send once. Where. What time. Where to park. Which hotel. Dress code. Whether the kids are invited. How to RSVP, including meal choices and dietary tags.
You edit it when the evening start time moves. You do not reprint an insert.
The guest site is the public half. The planning board, budget tracker, and table planner are for you and your partner. You do not have to put the seating plan on the open page.
You can use both
A printed save-the-date or formal invite, plus a website for RSVPs and the information that keeps changing, is the hybrid most people settle on. The card does ceremony. The site does logistics.
If twenty people already have your number, a group chat can cover it. If you only need a pretty RSVP page, look at Joy. If a free Hitched or Bridebook site already does what your guests need, keep it.
What it costs, honestly
Bridebook, Hitched, and Joy do not charge couples a monthly fee. We are not going to pretend they do. They stay free because venues pay, or because the product is a pretty RSVP page. That is a fair £0 choice. See Is Bridebook free?, Hitched alternative, and free wedding websites UK.
The useful contrast is not a fake subscription. It is marketplace versus a planning suite with no supplier ads on it. Why a one-time fee exists is the money version of that split.
Tie The Knot is the other model. £249, paid once. Lifetime access. 30-day money-back. Five templates: Modern Fresh, Romantic Classic, Boho Chic, Classic, and Luxury.
You get the guest website plus a shared planning board, a linked budget tracker, and a drag-and-drop table planner. RSVPs collect three-course meal choices, dietary tags, and plus-ones in the couple dashboard. Gift registry and cash funds. Guest photo gallery (QR, no app, no login). Multi-day timelines. Hotel and taxi info.
No supplier ads on the site or the planner. We do not replace Bridebook or Hitched for finding a barn. Find the venue there. Put the guests, the meals, and the room here. Support: hello@tietheknot.uk.
If you want those sections in one planning suite, start on tietheknot.uk — £249 once, lifetime access, 30-day money-back.
Photo: Diana Light / Unsplash.