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Wedding website help for Harry Potter and Star Wars themed wedding

Athena10X

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Apr 17, 2018
Messages
269
Our wedding is coming up soon, real soon and I’ve been hit by the procrastination bug!!! In any case, we’ve given our family and friends a heads up via informal calls (opposed to the traditional “save the date” postcards) as we’ve only recently settled on an actual date and finalized the deposit on the site.

The question I am posing to the wonderful and supportive folks of PriceScope is: can someone recommend a free/affordable custom website that is Harry Potter and Star Wars-themed and incorporates animations/video clips, wedding details, a registry (or link), and rsvp collection? None of the wedding websites via a preliminary google search (Weddingwire, Zola, or Wix) offer options for geeky affairs. We’d also be willing to hire a website designer as a reasonable and affordable alternative to using a pre-built site. If what I’m about to present is beyond sanely possible, I may take a stab at it myself (limited programming background but quick learner).

Design and animation elements I’m envisioning to incorporating:
Main homepage would provide date and time, location of wedding venue, and binary attendance question. Split screen allows guest to select if they are with bride (Harry Potter themed) or groom (Star Wars) themed. If select bride, a wand flashes a blue light across the screen. New screen asks guest if they wish to travel by train to Hogwarts to complete their RSVP registration, by broom to Hogsmeade, by floo powder to Diagon Alley, by portkey to the Quidditch World Cup, flying car to The Burrow, or if they wish to apparate back to the homepage. If by train, an owl drops a Hogwarts express ticket onto the screen. The guest would complete the rsvp via additional questions on the ticket (names of partners and children as well as childrens’ ages - for age appropriate themed activities). Upon completion, appear to run through brick wall at platform 9 3/4, followed by Hogwarts Express at Kings Cross Station. train departs station followed by short clip of train on bridge and finally clip of Hogwarts school. Then an abridged version of the Mauraders Map appears with Astronomy tower hyperlink to local weather, Great Hall hyperlink is to dinner reception page. Forbidden Forest will include clip of Harry’s Loved ones before he confronts Lord Voldemort. Headmaster’s Office links back to home page (via apparation).

A trip to Hogsmeade would include short clip, followed by a map with a couple of hyperlinks. The three broomsticks would link to directions, the Hogs Head to permitted alcoholic beverages, Owl Post for sending well wishes (written with a quill), and Hogsmeade station return trip to intro page

A trip to Diagon Alley will include following links: Gringotts to registry, Leaky Cauldron links to lodging accommodations, Madame Malkins to recommended attire.

A trip to the Quidditch World Cup will feature venue amenities as well as activities for extended stays since a destination wedding.

A trip to the Burrow will feature clip of Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour’s wedding. Then car will fly back to homepage.

If a guest cannot attend, can still visit all links, but trip to Hogwarts will include grateful message instead of RSVP.

Now onto the Star Wars theme:
If guest is on the groom’s side and plans to attend, lightsaber will strike across the screen and new page will ask if they wish to travel to Mos Eisley on Tatooine via speeder, Dagobah via X-Wing, Forest Moon of Endor via speeder bike, AT-AT to Hoth, Naboo via Darth Vader’s Tie Interceptor, Cloud City of Bespin via the Millennium Falcon, and Jabba the Hutt’s palace via Jabba’s Sail Barge.

The Mos Eisley Cantina will have clips of Luke, Obi Wan, C3PO, and R2D2 entering on the speeder, Luke ordering at the bar. This page will provide details on permitted alcoholic beverages at the venue. To return to the Star Wars home page, clip of millennium falcon departing Mos Eisley.

Dagobah will have clips of Luke telling C3PO to set course to Dagobah and Yoda telling Luke “Do or Do Not, there is no try”. This page will include the Star Wars RSVPs (one for RebelAlliance/Jedi and one for Empire/Sith). To return to the Star Wars homepage, clip of Yoda raising the sunken x-wing.

The Forest Moon of Endor page will have clips of Its a trap, followed by the Death Star exploding, the Ewoks celebrating and finally Han and Leia kissing. This page will provide info on lodging accommodations. To return to the Star Wars home page, hop on a speeder bike (clip of Ewok on a speeder).

The Cloud City of Bespin will include clips of entering the Cloud City. This page will include directions to the venue. The Carbon freezing scene where Leia and Han finally profess their love for one another. To return to the home page, clip of Boba Fett escaping Bespin (we know where he’s taking my beloved Han Solo).

A trip to Hoth will include clip of of dialogue between Han and Leia in tunnel. This page will include link to warm wishes to melt the ice in the cold planet. All comments will be collected and select well-wishes will be displayed at the wedding. To return to home page clip of Han riding Tauntaun.

A trip on the Sail Barge will include clips of Luke to gifting the droids to Jabba and Leia unfreezing Han. Since you g kids may be viewing, we’re keeping it kosher here. No sexy Leia scenes, though I love the outfit, sorry. This page will link to the gift registry (no droids, or maybe).

A trip to Naboo will include a clip of Anakin’s and Padme’s wedding scene and the clip of Endor celebration with Luke looking at ghosts of Anakin, Obi Wan, and Yoda with Leia and Han in background. This page will be in memory of my fiance’s parents and his best man, who are no longer with us, but will always be in our hearts (similar commemoration will be included in the Forbidden Forest page of Harry Potter)

I think this pretty much sums it up. Think will give my creative juices a short respite. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!
 

OoohShiny

Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Apr 25, 2014
Messages
8,228
Now, I'm no expert, and please pardon my French... but that looks like a $h!tload of work... LOL :lol:

I seriously doubt you'd find a free website that can do all of that, and even if you paid a website designer, go through your list and count up the number of potential pages you are looking at, consider each would have to be designed up (not shoddily), have hand-drawn/CGId/artist-drawn backgrounds made up perhaps from scratch, have swish functionality added and then clips added... and you're looking at a website that seems larger than some companies' websites I've visited! :lol:

It's not impossible, of course, but I seriously think you could spend 4-figures on getting this designed up - which seems craaaaazy for something that will only be in existence for a short time, and which you couldn't physically put into a keepsake box at the end.


I don't want to be negative, I love the creativity :)) (and I would hope that a sorting hat would put me into Gryffindor ;-) :D) but I think you need to forward the above to a website designer or three to ask for a quote, in order to gauge accurately if it's even possible or affordable. You may well have a better budget for the wedding than I had, lol, but I think it will still be a lot of money!!

You may also need to consider that there may be some copyright issues crop up if you use anything directly copied from the films or artwork or promotional material or merchandise... ;-) lol
 

Rubymal

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Feb 27, 2019
Messages
423
Now, I'm no expert, and please pardon my French... but that looks like a $h!tload of work... LOL :lol:

I seriously doubt you'd find a free website that can do all of that, and even if you paid a website designer, go through your list and count up the number of potential pages you are looking at, consider each would have to be designed up (not shoddily), have hand-drawn/CGId/artist-drawn backgrounds made up perhaps from scratch, have swish functionality added and then clips added... and you're looking at a website that seems larger than some companies' websites I've visited! :lol:

It's not impossible, of course, but I seriously think you could spend 4-figures on getting this designed up - which seems craaaaazy for something that will only be in existence for a short time, and which you couldn't physically put into a keepsake box at the end.


I don't want to be negative, I love the creativity :)) (and I would hope that a sorting hat would put me into Gryffindor ;-) :D) but I think you need to forward the above to a website designer or three to ask for a quote, in order to gauge accurately if it's even possible or affordable. You may well have a better budget for the wedding than I had, lol, but I think it will still be a lot of money!!

You may also need to consider that there may be some copyright issues crop up if you use anything directly copied from the films or artwork or promotional material or merchandise... ;-) lol

I agree with @OoohShiny that this would be a huge undertaking. It sounds really awesome though! But I think your best bet if you are serious about it is to hire a website designer - and yes, it will cost you a pretty penny. If it's up for discussion, you could instead use those funds to really go all out on theme and decor for the actual wedding.

Also, regarding copyright- there shouldn't be any infringement issues if you are not planning on selling/distributing the material for profit. It's highly unlikely that Disney or Universal would come after you for using their music or footage for a personal wedding :)
 

Athena10X

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Apr 17, 2018
Messages
269
@OoohShiny and @Rubymal, I agree with both of you on the cost. However, I’m a believer that nothing is impossible. Soon after posting my inquiry and after a nice glass of wine, I decided to watch a few YouTube tutorials on creating a website. I then proceeded building one in html and css using online images as placeholders for our own photos. I even downloaded special fonts, etc.

Though the process was fun and I learned quite a bit in a short span of time, I quickly realized that an AI site like Wix and the few I originally mentioned may suffice if I could tweak them a bit with my newfound knowledge. Changing course, I proceeded with customizing Wix (I haven’t tried the others so I can’t speak to their capabilities). I had to make changes to some source code, but overall I’m seriously impressed and feel that I’ve come a long way since I started.

As I’m still including photos of other couples as placeholders, I don’t feel comfortable posting screen shots. We plan to take engagement photos (long overdue) this coming weekend and I anticipate finishing the website and publishing it sometime early next week. At that point, I’ll create a video to capture my screen as I navigate the website. Really excited about this!
 

OoohShiny

Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Apr 25, 2014
Messages
8,228
Kudos for self-belief and having a go! :))

I fail badly at that :( lol

Will look forward to the results! :)
 
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