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We’ve all been there. You just got engaged and you’re on top of the world, and then the actual wedding planning starts. With all the wedding planning books and sites out there telling you what your day should look like — not to mention all the unsolicited advice from your friends and family — it is harder than ever to stay focused on what you and your partner really want to get out of your wedding day. And with all this time you’re probably spending inside these days, wouldn’t it be magical if there was a non-judgmental and inclusive tool that could help you plan your wedding from your couch?

Enter Joy, a newly launched wedding planning site and app that is free to use and is truly dedicated to inclusivity. Joy allows you to create a free wedding website, manage your guest list, create a gift registry, and help you stay on top of all of the details for the day.

Sure, there are other sites out there you could choose from, but the following five features are why Joy is our absolute top choice for wedding planning tools:

1. Sharing Updates about Your Wedding Is Easier than Ever

Send custom messages to your guests reminding them of important details like bringing sandals to a beach wedding

If the coronavirus pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that you can’t always plan ahead. We know so many folks are struggling to reschedule their weddings or pick a date in the future with the hopes that no other changes will be needed.

Since the start of the pandemic, the team at Joy has been working to add new functionality to their platform to help couples who need to reschedule their wedding. These features allow you to send custom messages to your entire guest list or just your wedding party, send digital ‘change the dates’ if your wedding plans change, hide the date from your wedding website if your plans are in flux, and you can even add announcement banners to your wedding website and app so all your guests stay up to date on any changes, especially if travel is involved.

And if you and your partner decided to elope or opt for a virtual wedding during this time, great news! Joy allows you to livestream your wedding to all your loved ones using their platform, and even has launched a live photo album feature, so you can instantly share photos from your day with those who can’t be with you in person.

Want to know more about how Joy is supporting couples during the COVID-19 pandemic? View their complete list of coronavirus wedding resources.

2. You’ll Reduce Your Wedding’s Carbon Footprint and Simplify Your RSVPs

Y’all, it’s time for us to really think hard about how much waste we create with weddings. While we’re huge fans of high quality paper goods, printing and shipping hundreds of save the dates and wedding invitations might not be the best idea if you know your guests are likely to toss them in the bin. If you know printed invites are not the most important thing to you and your partner, then it’s time to go digital and reduce your wedding’s carbon footprint.

Joy offers digital save the dates and wedding invitations made to coordinate with your wedding website design, as well as online RSVP options that are about to make your life so much easier. Those days of spreadsheets and numbered RSVP cards are gone. No more wondering who sent that RSVP card back without putting their name or it or indicating a meal preference. No more calling all your aunts to track down whether or not your cousin is actually making an appearance at your reception.

Push notifications are possible with Joy. This one reads “Michael, we have not received your RSVP yet. Just a friendly reminder to fill it out soon!

Create custom RSVP questions for certain guests to collect extra information before the wedding

Joy’s online RSVP and guest list tracking tools include incredibly useful features, like the ability to text your guests and remind them to respond or to add custom RSVP questions that you can ask of specific guests. Think of it as a magical customizable form that actually gets your guests to share the important details you need to know for your wedding day, like when are the members of your wedding party getting into town and did they actually book a place to stay. No one wants a situation where your future brother-in-law ends up crashing on your couch or your wedding night.

Joy’s wedding guest list manager makes it easy to keep track of RSVP and groups of guests

Finally, Joy’s wedding guest manager and customizable Guest Labels make it easy to curate which guests should fall in which group, so you can send custom messages to parents, out-of-town guests, your wedding party, or, you know, just keep an eye on that one friend who is a total hot mess and will need constant reminders or else they will just flake on the whole thing.

Joy allows you to apply labels to each of your guests, so you can keep track of who is part of your wedding party or should be invited to special events

3. Printed Wedding Invitations and Paper Goods Are Still Available

Feeling a little torn about not having any printed wedding invitations or know your grandparents are not going to be able to figure out a digital RSVP? Joy has partnered with Paperlust to provide printed wedding invitations and other wedding stationery to match your digital website and invite designs.

The Garden Willow invitation suite from Paperlust pairs perfectly with Joy’s wedding website options

Going all digital for invites, but want day-of paper goods that match your overall wedding style? Joy and Paperlust offer items like programs, table numbers, seating charts, and menus created by the same folks who designed Joy’s suite of wedding websites and digital invites. Don’t want to skimp on the day-of paper goods? Letterpress options are even available, and again, all can be picked out and designed from the comfort of your couch.

4. Joy Is Truly Inclusive of All Couples — No Assumption of Gender Roles Here

Wedding website for LGBTQ couple Dan & Jose built on the Joy platform

In case we didn’t love Joy enough already, their dedication to inclusivity has turned us into superfans. The team at Joy knows the wedding industry is already overwhelmed with outdated gender roles and expectations, and that’s why they’ve intentionally designed a wedding planning tool that doesn’t assume every couple has a bride and a groom. All of their settings, questions, and labels are customizable or gender neutral, and with custom RSVP questions, you can easily ask your guests about things like pronouns, allergies, food restrictions, or accessibility accommodations.

Wedding website for Myra and Victors South Asian Hindu wedding build on the Joy platform

Joy also doesn’t assume that all Western couples are having traditional Christian ceremonies, which is often the case with most mainstream wedding resources. Joy allows you to create multi-day wedding schedules and whatever events you choose to include as part of your celebration, as well as making it easy to manage who on your guest list is invited to or will be attending each event.

5. Your Wedding Will Be More Accessible to Your Guests

One major reason to use Joy to plan your wedding is that their entire system is created so that communication with your guests is simpler than ever. While you can add any content to your wedding website, Joy encourages you and your partner to share a wedding Q&A to keep your guests in the loop.

Again, everything can be edited, but Joy offers important default questions that we don’t always see from other platforms, such as whether or not the venue is wheelchair accessible and if kids are permitted to attend. They also encourage you to share a contact person for guest questions, and remember, this probably shouldn’t be you or your partner. Establish a friend or family member who can be the main point of contact for questions so you don’t become overwhelmed.