Kate B.

I never expected to get married, much less plan a formal wedding, so it wasn't long after the engagement ring went on that I started to sweat. I knew we needed a photographer, some food, and some kind of ceremony, but beyond that? Total mystery.

Thank god for WeddingWire.

I didn't take advantage of every service, but the wedding checklist and budget tool were a godsend in the midst of all those wedding unknowns. (Brides-to-be: Know that there will be an overwhelming floral interrogation at some point.) It was also nice to be able to drop things from the checklist that we weren't going to have: flower girls, prayers, etc.

One thing I wasn't too impressed by were the wedding sites templates. The designs are a bit dated and flat, and none of them really fit the "personality" of our wedding. I ended up modifying a SquareSpace template and hosting it on my personal domain instead.

Also: No short bridal hair styles? I won't dock points, since this isn't a problem exclusive to WeddingWire, but it's a little disheartening to see long hair in every lookbook. The "Photos" section was pretty useful otherwise, though I found Pinterest to be a more nimble planning tool.

In summary, come for the budget and checklist tools. Stay for the pretty pictures. Plan your bizarre succulent/dahlia hybrid bouquet on Pinterest. (And come back again for WeddingWire's name change packets.)