Quick answer
Put the occasion, date and place in the first screen with the RSVP button right there. Then answer the questions guests would otherwise have to ask: what time, where exactly, what to wear, what about children, how do I get there.
Design for two completely different visits
Guests visit your page twice, for different reasons. The first visit is to decide and reply — they need the occasion, the date, the place and a button. The second is on the morning of the event, standing outside somewhere with one bar of signal, wanting the address and the start time immediately.
A page that serves both is a page where the practical details are never more than one scroll away.
The first screen
- Whose event it is, in words a guest recognises
- The date, written out — not only in an image
- The place, at least by name
- The RSVP button, visible without scrolling
A large photograph with the details underneath looks lovely on a laptop and pushes everything below the fold on a phone. Most of your guests are on a phone.
Sections that earn their place
Every additional section is another thing to scroll past. These usually justify themselves; anything else should be argued for:
- Schedule — especially when the event has several parts
- Travel and parking — the single most-asked practical question
- Accommodation — if guests are travelling in
- Dress code — vague guidance generates messages, so be specific
- FAQ — the place for children, gifts, timings and anything you have been asked twice
Write the FAQ from your actual messages
The best FAQ section is not invented — it is assembled from the questions guests have already sent you. Every one you add there is a message you do not have to answer individually for the next forty people.
Be careful with the address
If your event is at a private home, think about who can see the page. Publishing the venue name openly while revealing the full address only to invited guests is a sensible default, and it is a setting rather than a compromise — invited guests still see everything they need.
Test it the way guests will use it
Open your own page on a phone, on mobile data, and try to find the start time in five seconds. Then hand the phone to someone who was not involved in planning. Whatever they cannot find is the thing you will be texted about on the day.