How to Collect Addresses for a Wedding

Figuring out how to collect addresses for your wedding can be a daunting task. If you're in the midst of planning your wedding and need to gather addresses for your guest list, don't panic! Fortunately in 2024, theres plenty of ways to collect addresses for your wedding and stay on track with your wedding invitation timeline

Best Way to Collect Addresses for Wedding

The best way to collect addresses from your wedding guests is via an online form. This is the case for 3 major reasons:

1. Forms are easy for your guests to quickly fill out
2. Your data will make it into some type of database. No need to manually transfer them from text messages or emails to your database.
3. Some forms have address validation

Text My Wedding

Text My Wedding includes a free address collection form for wedding guests. It includes the collection of the following:

• Phone
• Address
• Email

As a bonus, it includes an address verification field! This way you ensure your save the dates, invitations, and thank you notes make it to the recipient. It is also incredibly easy to use and set up. You simply add your contacts and send a mass text with a link to your individual address form. It's designed specifically for weddings, which means it's perfect for collecting addresses from your wedding guests.

Pros:

• Free to try
• Tailored towards weddings
• Address verification
• Easily send mass individual texts to guest before you send invitations or save the dates for them to update their address if it’s changed.

Cons:

• Not as customizable as google forms (customization coming soon!)

Cost: Free

Google Forms

Google forms are a mainstay in the forms world - the tried and true like that old Honda you drove in high school. They are a free customizable service you can use to collect almost any wedding guest data you want included.

Pros:

• Free to use
• Customizable fields

Cons:

• Not tailored towards weddings or very pretty looking

Cost: Free

Creating a Google Form for Wedding Addresses

To create a Google Form for collecting wedding addresses, start by logging into your Google account and navigating to Google Forms. Create a new form and choose a template or start from scratch. Customize the form by adding fields for guests to enter their name, address, email, and any other relevant information. You can also include dropdown menus for guests to indicate their meal preferences or RSVP status.

Once the form is set up, you can customize the theme and design to match your wedding aesthetic, making it a seamless part of your overall wedding planning process.

After creating the form, you can easily share it with your guests. Simply click on the "Send" button in the top-right corner of the form editor and choose how you want to share the form. You can send it via email, share the link on social media, or embed it on your wedding website. You might also consider using a mass text message service to distribute your form. Guests can then fill out the form at their convenience, and their responses will be automatically collected in a Google Sheets spreadsheet for easy access and organization.

Utilizing Online Wedding Tools

There are several online tools and websites that can help you collect addresses from your guests. You might also consider using a wedding website or app that allows guests to input their own information. This can save you time and effort, and ensure that you have all the necessary details in one convenient location.

Some popular online tools for collecting addresses include:

• The Knot
• Zola
• WeddingWire

Each of tehse wedding tools typically will give you an address collector to collect missing information for your wedding; however, you still need to find a way to distribute this link to your guests!

How do I distribute my guest address collection form?

Text (SMS)

Texting is the most widely used medium to collect wedding guests' addresses. You go into the contacts on your phone and send a text to each person asking for their address. They send it back to you but now what? You have a miss formatted address sitting in your texts! Now you need to go and manually type it into your wedding database which leaves room for error. There is a solution though…

The solution is to combine texting and online forms. This makes it easy to quickly shoot off texts to all your guests with a link to a form they can fill out. You get peace of mind that the data will be correct and automatically make it into your wedding database.

Pros:

• Free. Well, except for that large cellphone bill you (or your parents 😉) pay for each month
• Great experience when combined with an address collection form

Cons:

• High likelihood of address errors if not combined with a form

The quickest and easiest way to ask your wedding guests for their address is to distribute your address collection form with a service like Text My Wedding. We specialize in bulk SMS for weddings, making it the perfect tool to collect the addresses of your wedding guests.

Email

Email is another way to collect guests' addresses. Similar to texting, you send out an email asking for addresses. Again, this is best combined with a form from above. Some of the downsides are that you need to have everyone's email address and ensure they read their email.

Pros:

• Free unless using a bulk marketing email service

Cons:

• Guests may not read email
• Emails may go to spam or promotions folders

Private Facebook Group

Facebook may be a relic of the past but is a great way to distribute your address collection form. You get to invite everyone to the group, post the form once, and viola! While this does sound easy and great, there are some downsides. Not everyone may have a Facebook account or check theirs regularly.

Pros:

• Free

Cons:

• Guests may not have Facebook
• Guests may not regularly check their Facebook

Those are the easiest ways to collect addresses for your wedding with a combo of online forms and texting to be our pick. You’ll want to pick one that works best for both you and your guests. You can now rest easy that you’ll have everyone's addresses and can go back to worrying about the fun parts like the top things you need to throw a great reception.