Mrs. Penguin, Sacramento
Age and Occupation: 26, Video & TV Producer/Director/Editor
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Doctor of Physical Therapy
Engagement Date: January 29, 2007
Wedding Date: June 7, 2008
Blogging Since: September 14, 2007
Venue: Winery in the Gold Country
About Me: I'm a silly mess of a girl who, above all else in this world, LOVES the Spice Girls. I eat sushi at least 3 times a week, and feel guilty about how much it costs the other 4 days a week. I love designer jeans and cheap accessories. I don't like sweets, but I love the UCLA Bruins!
Wedding Website Exhaustion
October 31st, 2007 @ 2:56 pm by Mrs. Penguin
I’ve been posting lightly lately, because for the past few weeks, I decided that it was a fabulous idea to teach myself Dreamweaver and build our own wedding website. Let’s just say that its a vicious little program, and while I’m sure it’s 100% easier than outright learning HTML coding, it’s still pretty tough.
Anyway, while my skills as a web designer are poor, I still feel like I have a nice creative eye.
I wouldn’t know the first place to even begin a Dreamweaver tutorial, so I’ll spare you those details, but I did want to share with you what programs/materials I used, and what the final outcome was. I didn’t seek any professional web design help so I hope that some of you web-savvy brides will be inspired to build your own website, rather than pay for one.
Even if you don’t build your own website, I do think its REALLY worth it to register for your own domain name, that way you can spare your guests the lengthy free web address that sites like theknot.com and weddingchannel.com give you. It’s only around $6-$10 a year, depending on who you use, and you can easily set up that site name to forward to your free, long-named wedding website.
things like:
youandyourfiancee.com
lastnamewedding.com
are typically popular, and really easy for your guests to remember.
Here are the programs/tools used to create our website:
Dreamweaver
Photoshop
SmartFTP
Domain Name Registration from godaddy.com, 2 Years - $20
Here are the results:
Entrance Page:
Homepage:
Attendants:
17 Responses to “Wedding Website Exhaustion”
Wow, you did a great job! I love how the design ties into your invitiations and save the dates– it really creates a beautiful, cohesive theme.
I’m impressed– you’ve got skillz 
impressive, love the website. we didn’t create one but it would have been cool.
great job miss penguin. these are skills you’ll be glad you learned. i decided to register our domain name and used yahoo site builder — great easy website and it’s a free yahoo program. they had a few wedding templates that you’re able to use and you don’t need to know ANY html (but you can play with it in html if you want to learn).
i’d highly recommend yahoo site builder to any bride who doesn’t know much about website code, wants a unique domain name and likes a good project!
Your website is awesome. Ya, I’m pretty lame. Im a graphic designer but was too lazy to start designing my own. I started but quickly gave up. I prefered working on my blogs instead.
Either way, my family thinks its pretty nice, I really dont think so, but what the heck … Mr. Flamingo is happy with it … thats what counts (when non-designers think its nice, then its ok - right? )
Stunning website! It’s pretty, but it doesn’t look cluttered or difficult to navigate. I’m not sure what you do for a living, but you should consider learning some more HTML (and CSS) and making webpages on the side!
looks great - I just did mine through wedquarters and even though I put the site on my save the dates I hardly get any hits 
I put mine together with Dreamweaver, too. I tried hand coding it with HTML and it was way too difficult, especially when it came down to a nav bar, so dreamweaver was a million times better. I wish I had incorporated some motifs in, but I didn’t, and it’s kinda too late now. I dont know what to do with our site now that the wedding’s over, other than post our pics! 
I’m a web designer and I built our wedding site using the same programs. They are not easy to learn quickly. Let me know if you need any help! I feel your pain in learning it. It was difficult to get into…
I’m a web developer - and there’s no way I would create our own website - we used theknot’s template. I’ve had my own domain name for years and it just points to my blogspot blog haha. After working on projects all day at work - it’s the last thing I want to do when I get home. You did a great job with your site - I love the way it ties in with your colors and images!
I have been playing with domain ideas for us as a couple/family though. It’s in my blood to do so - even if I never build a site to go with it.
So far my fav is villalastname.com - Villa makes me think “Home of (to) the ____’s” - Kinda like this is our home on the web - come read all about our adventures That way once kids come along we won’t have to change our domain name to include everyone also!
I used an E-Z program called “make fiance learn html.” Simple!
Love your site! My FI barely passed the required into to computers course in college and I am no whiz, but my mom has her masters in communications and had her own web design company for years. I think I’ll be asking her for help!
You do have a great creative eye for design!
I did my own - and had SUCH a blast with it I’m still lacking some content, but that will come as I get some details landed.
oooh, i’ve been trying to teach myself dreamweaver for over a year now. i even bought a book on my bf’s suggestion yet all i can really do is open the program. lol.
luckily the bf is a web designer so if we do decide to have a webpage, i’m gonna ask him to handle that.
That looks great! Like you, I ended up learning Dreamweaver to build the website. Parts of it are tricky, but overall, I do think it was worth it to DIY.
That looks great! I’m just starting mine and I hope it looks as clean and unique as yours
I am using NVU (Kompozer). It’s a free dreamweaver type program. They also have some tutorials and whatnot on their webpage
Your website looks great! And it looks easy to navigate, which is always a plus. I probably won’t be making my own wedding website…I have no creative skills. None. I can barely draw stick figures.
wow, very very impressive miss penguin! that looks amazing and so professional!
we’re having one of our friends program ours…i’m designing it and showing him what i want, and he’s going to make it happen! engineers are amazing!
