Most "how to set up a wedding website" guides describe a platform in general terms — pick a template, add your details, invite guests — without ever naming what's actually behind the "Get Started" button. This one does, because we built the wizard we're describing: four screens, in a fixed order, each asking for one specific thing. Here's exactly what happens when you click through it on The Curated Knot, and what each screen is actually for on an Indian wedding specifically.
Before the wizard: creating your account
You can browse templates without an account, but building a website needs one. Sign up with an email address or a Google account — no credit card, no payment step. Once you're signed in, and until you have a wedding, the platform takes you straight into step one. If you leave partway through, coming back picks up exactly where you stopped — it won't start a second one from scratch.
Step 1: Your Details
The wizard opens on a form headed Wedding Details — "Tell us about the happy couple and the big day" — and it asks for less than you'd expect:
- Both partners' names. A first name for each of you is required; last names are optional. There's also a toggle for whether your first name alone should appear on the site, or a different display name — useful if you go by something other than your legal first name, or want both names to show as one couple name.
- Wedding date. Optional. You can leave it blank and add it later.
- Venue. Also optional, and if you haven't booked one yet, a Still deciding checkbox disables the field without blocking you from moving on — the venue will still show on your site once you've chosen it.
- "Let guests RSVP online." A single toggle, on by default, that decides whether the RSVP Setup step shows up later in this same wizard at all. Turn it off here and the wizard quietly skips straight to Finish after Customise — you're not asked about RSVP twice.
Nothing on this screen is final. Names, date and venue are all editable again from your dashboard after you've finished setup. The RSVP toggle works until you finish; after that, you add RSVP from your dashboard's RSVP page or the website editor's settings instead.
Step 2: Choose Template
Next is a gallery of system templates, with a Choose a template heading and a line underneath confirming "you can customise colours, fonts, and layout later" — a direct answer to the understandable worry that picking a template now locks you into its exact look. You can browse it two ways: a scannable grid with a click-to-preview popup on each card, or a split view with the list on the left and a live preview pane on the right that updates as you move down the list. The grid is the only option on a phone; the split view is a desktop convenience you can switch back to later.
Whichever template you land on, there's one more choice attached to it: whether your site reads as several separate pages (Home, Our Story, Events, RSVP, and so on) or collapses into a single scrolling page. That's a per-template setting you pick alongside the template itself, and it's the kind of decision that's genuinely easier to make with a live preview in front of you than from a description.
You still pick the template yourself. If you'd rather not write all the words, Create with AI fills the template you picked: it gives you a prompt to copy into ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude, and you approve what comes back before it goes into your site. We've written that up separately in how to create a wedding website with AI.
Step 3: Customise
This is the one step that isn't a short form — it's the full website editor, opened straight onto the template you just picked, with your actual answers from step one already dropped into the right places (your names, your date if you gave one, your venue). What you do here depends on the template, but for an Indian wedding the section that actually needs your attention is the events section — most system templates ship with one, often called something like "The Celebrations" — where each entry is a separate function, with fields like its name, date, time and venue. The exact fields vary by template: some add a short description, a dress code or a livestream link for guests who can't travel. A template built around a single-day wedding will come with one or two entries by default; replace or add to them so the section actually reflects your Mehendi, Sangeet, Haldi, the wedding itself, and your Reception as separate rows rather than one generic "The Wedding" entry standing in for all of them.
Beyond the events section, Customise is also where you set your colour theme, write your own headline, and work through whatever other sections your chosen template includes — a photo gallery, an "Our Story" page, travel notes for guests coming from out of town. None of it is destructive: you're editing a draft, and nothing reaches an actual visitor until you publish from your dashboard later.
See the actual wizard, not just the description
Four screens, your actual details carried through each one, and a live preview the whole way — free to start, no credit card.
Step 4: RSVP Setup (skippable)
If you left "Let guests RSVP online" switched on in step one, the wizard's last stop is Choose a form — a sidebar list of starter RSVP form templates, each with a live preview on the right, built for a specific kind of wedding rather than one generic version. We've covered the full set of templates and which one fits which wedding in choosing an RSVP form template for your Indian wedding; the short version is that some ask for a simple headcount while others — the ones built for multi-function weddings — add every family member by name and let each guest tick which specific functions they're attending, so a "yes to the Sangeet, no to the Reception" reply is something the form can actually capture, not something you find out by phone afterwards.
Tap Customise this form on whichever card fits, and you move into the same kind of editor as step three, but scoped to this one form: every question, its wording, and whether it's required are yours to change before your first guest ever sees it. The preview here shows your form standalone, in its own colours — on the published site, it picks up your website's theme instead, which is worth knowing so the colours you see here aren't a surprise later.
Changed your mind partway through and want a different template instead? Picking a new one asks you to confirm first, since starting a different template replaces whatever you've already built on this one.
If you turned RSVP off in step one, you don't see this screen at all — Customise becomes the last step, and its Continue button reads Finish instead.
What happens when you click Finish
Finish does exactly what it sounds like: it marks the last step done and sends you to your dashboard. It does not publish your website, and it does not touch your guest list — both of those are separate, deliberate actions you take afterwards, not something that happens as a side effect of finishing the wizard.
From your dashboard, two things are genuinely still ahead of you:
Publishing. The website editor always has a Publish button. Outside the editor it appears when there's something to publish: in the top bar, and as the next step on your dashboard. Nothing goes live until you press it, so you can keep editing in private for as long as you need.
Your guest list. Onboarding never asks for a single guest name — that's intentional, since adding guests, importing an existing spreadsheet, and sending out personal links are all dashboard actions you can do whenever you're ready, in whatever order suits you. If you already have a guest list in a spreadsheet, we've written up importing it from Excel or Google Sheets without anything getting overwritten by accident. Once guests are added, each one gets their own personal link you can send on WhatsApp directly from their row in the list — the same link doubles as their RSVP link if you've set one up, so there's no second link to keep track of.
The real order, start to finish
Put together, the actual sequence looks like this:
- Create your account — email or Google, no payment info.
- Your Details — both names, optionally a date and venue, and whether RSVP is on.
- Choose Template — browse, preview, pick a page structure.
- Customise — the real editor: your events, your photos, your colours, your words.
- RSVP Setup (skippable) — pick a form built for your kind of wedding, then edit its questions.
- Finish — lands you on your dashboard, nothing published yet.
- Publish, and add your guests — two separate dashboard actions, on your own timeline.
Nothing in that list requires a credit card, and nothing in it is a one-way door — every screen you went through in the wizard has a matching editor in your dashboard that you can return to for as long as your wedding website exists.
Reading about the wizard and clicking through it are two different things. The Curated Knot walks you through the same four steps described here, with your own details and your own template, free to start. Try it free →
Frequently Asked Questions
How many steps does it take to set up an Indian wedding website on The Curated Knot?
Four, after you create your account: Your Details, Choose Template, Customise, and RSVP Setup, in that order. RSVP Setup is skippable — if you turn off "Let guests RSVP online" in the first step, the wizard ends at Customise instead and the last button reads Finish. Publishing the site and adding your guest list both happen afterwards, from your dashboard, not inside the wizard.
What information do I need before I start setting up my wedding website?
Just both partners' names. The wedding date and venue are optional on the Your Details step — there's a "Still deciding" checkbox for the venue if you haven't booked one yet — and everything you enter, including the date and venue, can be changed later from your dashboard. Nothing here is a one-time decision.
Can I skip the RSVP step when setting up my wedding website?
Yes. Turn off "Let guests RSVP online" on the Your Details step and the RSVP Setup step disappears from the wizard entirely — you finish at Customise instead. Change your mind before you finish and you can switch it back on in Your Details, and RSVP Setup reappears. After you've finished, add RSVP from your dashboard's RSVP page or the website editor's settings, which open the same form picker.
Do I need to add my guest list before I can publish my wedding website?
No. The onboarding wizard only builds the website and, if you've enabled it, the RSVP form — it doesn't touch your guest list at all. Guests are added afterwards, in your dashboard's Guests section, and publishing the site is a separate step too. You can publish with zero guests added and bring them in afterwards, in any order.
Can I change my template or RSVP form after I finish the setup wizard?
Yes. Your dashboard has its own website editor and its own RSVP editor, so nothing from onboarding is locked in. Switching your RSVP form to a different template after you've already started one does ask you to confirm first, since it replaces your current draft form.
Is it free to set up an Indian wedding website on The Curated Knot?
Yes. The website builder and the RSVP forms are free to start, with no credit card required at signup. Paid tiers are planned for later but aren't needed to go through the setup wizard and publish today.
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Wedding RSVP Form Template: Match It to Your Wedding
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Create a Wedding Website With AI: 5 Steps, Free
Chat with ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude and have your Indian wedding website written for you — you approve every change before it goes in.