Some of you may be aware that I ran my own graphic and web design business for 10 years, prior to working full time on Smashing The Glass. That explains why I get super excited about gorgeous designs and beautiful graphics and really know a brilliant creative product when I see one, and ‘the one’ that I’m thoroughly obsessed with right now is Riley & Grey.
Their wedding websites are by far the prettiest, and most alluring ones out there, and can be completely customised to your specifications. When I was planning my own wedding I hunted high and low for a cool and stylish wedding website and eventually binned the idea when I couldn’t find one to reflect my tastes. What a shame that Riley & Grey weren’t around then as I would have, without question, used their services.
The best online tool for you and your guests
A wedding website (or ‘wed-site’ as you might have heard them referred to) is a great tool for collecting guest addresses, managing RSVPs and dietary requirements, and informing your guests about your gift list. They’re also eco-friendly, and can incorporate all sorts of extra information and photo and video galleries in a beautifully stylish way.
You can introduce your bridal party, tell everyone the story of how you met, explain directions, and if you’re having a destination or weekend-long wedding, incorporate the full schedule of events, and see who’s coming to what and when. You can also advise your guests on nearby hotels, attractions,and all the relevant transport links in a beautiful, orderly way. And if any specifics change, unlike print, you can instantly update the details in a flash!
Smashing The Glass readers love Riley & Grey
Being such a huge fan of Riley & Grey, I mentioned them in my talk last year at Brides The Show as one of the best online tools for planning your wedding. Then, a few weeks later, I couldn’t help but mention them again in this blog post about online wedding resources every bride-to-be should know about. Soon after that post was published, I was thrilled to receive emails from readers like this one ( actually from a groom-to-be!):
Hi Karen,
Just wanted to let you know that we have organised a wedding website through Riley & Grey after seeing it on your blog. Totally amazing!
Best wishes,
David
So you can imagine how delighted I am to tell you that I have secured a fantastic discount code for you from the very generous peeps at Riley & Grey. Check out the details at the bottom of the post for a whopping 50% discount for the first 100 readers to sign up!
super beautiful designs that are really easy to work with
So it goes without saying that the thing I love most about Riley & Grey are their limited-edition designs and I’ve singled out some of my favourites on this page. I’d go as far as saying you could design an entire wedding around one of these beauties! Their designs are inspired by fashion, art, interior design, home decor, typography, illustration, and scenery, and they’re most definitely the luxury option on the market. That of course goes hand in hand with top-notch customer service — they’ll even walk you through the set up of your site if you so desire.
Having said that, every Riley & Grey design is really easy to work with, so in my opinion, even the most technophobic brides and grooms will have no trouble creating the wed-site of their dreams.
Two more details that I must mention are that all the designs include a custom domain, and a seamless mobile version that mimics the experience of an app (without making your guests download anything!). It’s so important in this day and age when most of us are checking the internet out on our phones rather than our computers.
“a little less Martha, a little more Vogue”
Co-founder Marissa Gibbons, one of the site’s co-founders, says the idea for Riley & Grey came about when she was planning her own wedding. She told me, “we started the company because we felt for such a big, fragmented industry, everything in the wedding space seemed to look the same. There was one pretty narrow aesthetic that seemed to permeate everything. When I planned my wedding in 2011 there just didn’t seem to be much out there for me or someone who might lean even a little on the edgier side of things. I usually describe it as a little less Martha, a little more Vogue. Not that Martha doesn’t do some very lovely things. It just wasn’t our aesthetic and we wanted our wedding to really reflect who we were in our every day lives.”
“We didn’t want to adopt a whole new style just because that’s what the wedding industry offered. Two years later (2013), I looked around and nothing had changed! And it was especially painful and obvious when you looked at wedding websites. The same three templates were still getting used at every wedding I went to and the user experience was very web 1.0. We knew we could make that experience so much more beautiful, useful, and enjoyable for couples and their guests. So we built Riley & Grey“
Riley & Grey also have a really cool blog with loads of lovely wedding inspiration and there’s plenty more creativity and imagination on their Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter pages too!
Exclusive 50% off reader discount
Riley & Grey are offering the first 100 Smashing The Glass readers who sign up a 50% off voucher code! Just enter the code SMASH to redeem your discount. What are you waiting for? Head over to Riley & Grey and get creating now!
