How to create online wedding invitations using Eventbrite

Disclaimer: I was not paid for this blog post. I just like Eventbrite!

Wedding invitations ain't cheap. They're beautiful, but when £10+ per invite starts hitting home, the reality is that many of us just can't afford to splash out on that sweet, sweet stationary.

Luckily, we live in the future, where the internet buzzes around our heads and our relatives from all over the world are easily reachable by Whatsapp. So why not use that to your advantage? If you've got a really restrictive budget, or you're looking at using your stationary budget in another way at your wedding - menus and table settings, perhaps - taking your invites online might be the solution you are looking for.

Plus - think of all the paper you'll save! Now that's what I call eco-friendly.

What is Eventbrite?

Eventbrite is an online events planning and ticketing service with free-to-use options. It's trusted by big companies as well as small ones and although venues use it to sell tickets to gigs and companies use it to promote their networking events, it's possible to use Eventbrite to create private events to share with family and friends.

This post will show you the basics - how to sign up, and how to set up a basic event. Please feel free to find me on Twitter @bridezilcho for any questions you have!

Do I need an account?

Yes, you do need to sign up for an Eventbrite account to create an event, but it's free and you don't need to use any of the other features of the site if you don't want to. I often use Eventbrite's local event search to seek out business networking events in my local area though - so if you think that sort of thing might be useful to you, there's a little tip!

Here's how to set up your account - just click "sign in" and follow the instructions. You'll then need to look out for an email that'll verify you. You're in!

How to create an event using Eventbrite

The thing you need to remember while creating your wedding invitation event on Eventbrite is that this website was built to sell tickets for events, and to promote them on its own platform. The easiest way to get your head around this is to think of your wedding as a VIP, ticket-only event, and your invites or save-the-dates as the ultra-sought-after tickets. One you've got your event-planner hat on, you'll find it much easier to feel your way around the user interface.

For example:

Here's what the first part of the event creation form looks like.

Your event title can be anything you like, but may I suggest something your guests will recognise when they use your link to visit? For example - "Katie and Bianca Del Rio's Wedding Ceremony - Ceremony and Night Do".

The location is a great addition to the event page, because it shows your guests exactly where they need to arrive on your big day - so no calls on the wedding morning from relatives asking for the postcode to the registry office!

You might have seen that there's a start time and an end-time. Choose the times that suit your wedding plans.

What if I have more than one set of timings for my wedding?

You lucky thing!

There is a way to create more than one "ticket" for your wedding, should you have more than one parts to your day to invite guests to. For example - you might want to offer the ceremony and the reception separately, or you might have a pre-wedding dinner organised that you'd like to invite your guests to. Not a problem. Simply click the "Schedule multiple events" link under the "starts" date box and this form pops up from underneath:

Using this form, choose "custom" under "how often does this event occur and you can add as many dates and times as your heart desires, enabling your invited guests to RSVP by stating the times they want to RSVP to in their "order".

Don't worry if this seems a little complicated - there's a description box which you can use to explain it all to your invitees:

There's also an FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) section you can create, to really give your guests all the info they need (and stop them from ringing you to ask you where the reception is.) 

Click the boxes next to the questions you'd like to display on your Eventbrite wedding invitation page and you'll be given the option to create your own answer which will also be displayed in the event description.

Unfortunately, this is where Eventbrite's Free Version has some limitations. With the free version, you can only create one ticket - great if you have one full day of activities to invite guests to. Not so great if you want to split it out.

What you could do to work around this, is ask individuals to RSVP fully with the parts of the day they'd like to attend.

Another option would be to create more than one event - perfect if you have guests you'd like to invite to the ceremony and the reception and another group of guests you'd like to invite to the reception.

Another, easier option would be to only use your Eventbrite wedding invitation for the ceremony and wedding breakfast part of your day, enabling you to keep a handle on guest numbers on the part of the day where this could really make a difference to your overall budget (and stress levels.)

I have not paid for Eventbrite, so I can't review the upgraded account to show you what the next stage of creating tickets looks like, however if it's anything like the rest of the site, it'll be very straightforward and easy to use.

How can I stop randomers from RSVPing?

Thankfully there is a way to make your event private on Eventbrite!

Just tick the relevant boxes and if you like, create a password that you can send to your guests.

Make your event easy to find!

Change your event URL to something your guests will be able to find easily.

Yes, you can do that!

Here's how:

1. Click "manage" on the top of your event dashboard.

2. Scroll right down to the bottom of the page and find "your event URL". It's a mess, isn't it?

3. Click "edit" and a box pops up. Add in your personalised online wedding invitation name and click "save".

4. That's better! Now you can share this URL with your guests in an email, or on your save the dates.

Wouldn't a tutorial on how to batch send a great-looking email be great and really useful? Maybe I'll do that next.

You might also like to know that Eventbrite is linked to Facebook.

This means that you can easily link your Eventbrite wedding invitiation to a Facebook event and - get this - the people who click "attending" on the event will get counted as ticketholders in your Eventbrite wedding event.

How clever is that?

You might find that some of your friends and family prefer to use the Facebook event rather than the Eventbrite, which is great because it all links up seamlessly. All you need to do is gently remind them that posting on the event wall does not mean they've formally RSVPd!

I hope this tutorial-type post was useful - I'm going to look at the analytics side of Eventbrite next time to show you how to count your RSVPs (ticket sales) and download them so you can use the information in the rest of your planning spreadsheets.

We all use spreadsheets, don't be shy!

If you have any other useful Eventbrite tips or hacks, please let me know, I'd love to learn more about this useful event management tool.

Katie