Wedding websites

Being fairly technologically savvy- (Well, Calvin is, seeing as he works in IT; me, well, I've taken Introduction to Java, and have taught myself basic html using this excellent tutorial- really, it is, if you ignore the blinking things and really bright colors)- one of the first things that we talked about was a wedding website. We knew that we wanted one, and absolutely didn't want to use a premade template.

Now, if you are looking to take the path of least resistance, MyWedding.com and WeddingAnnouncer.com both offer free wedding websites. If you register with Bed Bath & Beyond, you can get a free website from them as well.

But like I said, the easy way is not the way for us.

To gather ideas, I dug around in places like google and indiebride for websites that I liked. And I did find some that really stood out to us:

Thryn and Gabe

Nice, simple homepage, although there is no link to it at the top.

The flower motif carries throughout the site.

Kelly and Aaron have a nice, simple site.

Again, the clean, simple homepage

Pictures!

And Alec and Katie have a very awesome, design oriented site.

I love the way the motif is used

Again, continuity with the flourish.

So, using these favorite websites, we considered their common elements:
-consistent use of color
-horizontal navigation bar
-use of one motif throughout

We also noted that the style really does seem to reflect the atmosphere of the wedding. So we have a start for the design of our site. What about the content?

All of the sites shown above have brief biographies of the bride and groom, information about the wedding and reception, information for the out of town guests and registry information. Two (Thryn and Gabe and Alec and Katie) also have guestbooks. All of them have photographs. Two (Alec and Katie and Kelly and Aaron) have information about the bridal party.

Calvin and I are planning on having information about the wedding and reception, info for the out of town guests, and the registry information. How much biographical information is good? Will guests want to sign a guestbook? Or know more about the bridal party? Is there anything else that is useful to include?

What suggestions do you have for our wedding website?