What is WedTexts?
We realize that you may not be aware of what Wedtexts really is, why we do what we do, and who the people behind the company are.
The point of this post is to shed some light on those questions.
We don’t want to be just another app on your phone. We want to be an integral part of your wedding planning process.
And in order to be that to you, you need to know a little more about us.
Just think of us like, oh I don’t know… your fairy godmother!!!
And luckily our magic does not expire at midnight!!
Now, where was I?
WHAT is WedTexts?
Long story short, WedTexts is an iOS and Android (and web-based) application. It enables anyone planning a wedding to effortlessly communicate with wedding guests in order to enhance the guest experience.
Brides, Grooms, Partners, and Planners input guests’ cell phone numbers, manage groups and create helpful reminders to be sent out throughout the wedding planning process.
This helps to keep everyone on the same page and stress levels to a minimum.
Now you’re probably asking yourself “So, you’re basically just group texting?”
We offer WAAAYYY more function than a group text all without the annoying threads from random friends.
To save money you could send your guests texts and group texts, without WedTexts, during your wedding weekend, but you’ll run into three issues:
- You CAN’T pre-schedule your texts, which will take away from your experience during your special celebrations.
- Your cell phone will cap the number of people you can text at 30, so you’ll need multiple group texts to include everyone.
- Your guests hate being on group texts. They won’t be able to keep track of the important details when they get buried in unnecessary text replies.
WedTexts resolves those issues and allows you to pre-schedule unlimited text messages and send unlimited real-time text reminders to your guests. And by using our Easy-Fill Templates© you will have the most commonly sent messages set up in 5 minutes or less!!
You can organize your contacts into unlimited groups and communicate with all your guests at the same time. Best of all, they don’t have to be part of a pesky group text. Instead, they will have the information they need readily available at their fingertips.
Lastly, WedTexts works for any budget!
We found that the average cost of one-time invitations + postage is $4.50/guest. Yet, the average cost of unlimited messages with WedTexts is $1.33/guest. I’d call that a major bargain!!
A user-friendly, stress-free, and affordable way to enhance your wedding guest experience.
If that’s not some bibbity-bobbity-bomb stuff, I don’t know what is.
But why did we create WedTexts? Why do we do what we do? And what is it that we as a company believe in and stand for?
The WHY behind WedTexts
Literally Every.Single.Thing.Ever. that happens in our company is filtered through our six core values.
They are the basis of our company and guide all decisions that we make from hiring team members, to customer service questions, to pushing out content.
Acceptance
At WedTexts we believe that whatever is best for the company as a whole goes. If one of us likes a blue button better than a red button, but you, our readers and users, show us that blue works better, that is what we decide on.
This also means that we accept change as it comes, as well as any mistakes that happen along the way. It is a way for us to experiment and grow on a professional and personal level.
Lastly, and most importantly, we believe Love Is Love and that all people should be accepted for who they are.
Honesty
This should really be a no brainer.
More than “don’t lie,” honesty in our business also means that we rely on facts instead of opinions. When mistakes happen, and they will, we own up to them, learn from them, and move on.
Kaizen
Kaizen is the philosophy to continuously “change for better”.
Continuous learning and improvement is extremely important to us.
We strive to optimize our work processes and be consistent in our output.
As Albert Einstein said, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.”
Integrity
Simply put, integrity is doing what you say you are going to do.
Stick to your word. Maintain good business ethics. Hold yourself accountable.
We all know that life happens and also believe in crunch time and getting things done.
Quality
At WedTexts, we want to make sure that what you, the customer, sees is quality work presented through superior customer service.
What matters most is how you receive our products and services.
With that in mind, we strive to produce high-quality work the first time, which saves us from do-overs.
Of course, mistakes happen and when they do we take them as valuable learning opportunities.
Planning
“Plans are nothing, planning is everything” – Dwight D. Eisenhower
If you take action without planning, you are taking a gamble. Instead, plan first and you will be able to avoid most mistakes ahead of time.
We also go by the 80-20 rule.
Lastly, once you’ve made the decision on an action it is time to move on from it and work towards the goal that was agreed upon.
Cool, cool, that was all very heavy and professional speak.
But now it’s time for the fun part!
We thought it would be entertaining to let our team members introduce themselves by telling you their wedding stories.
Come on, we work in the wedding industry, you already know we “love romantic dinners by candlelight and long walks on the beach”
WHO is WedTexts?
Spoiler alert: We LOVE weddings.
So, what could be better to introduce our team than to tell you OUR wedding stories!!
From the meet-cute to the proposal to the wedding planning. We are RIGHT there with you and absolutely understand what you’re going through.
And now, it is my pleasure to introduce to you:
James Roper – President and CMO
Michelle Sanders – Director of Content
James’ Story
In 2013 my idle mind became bored one night while sitting in my house hanging with my sister (my roommate at the time).
I jumped on the Match app on my iPhone 4S to check out my matches. I was saddened to see the same old options I had passed on the year before. All were the same except for two new women, only one of which I was attracted to. But that one was a smokin’ hottie! Cha-ching! 💰
I instantly showed my sister her profile telling her, “this girl is great! She’s attractive, wants to run her own bakery one day, is a manager at Target and wants a family. She also likes salsa dancing at Salsa Cabana. I love that place!” This is, of course, paraphrased because I can’t really put my full excitement over this new mystery woman into this short paragraph.
It was decided, I was going to contact her.
So, I ran back to my bedroom grabbed my credit card and made the best $50.38 purchase of my life!
The Proposal
Two years later, in late Fall of 2015, I woke up one morning and just knew that “I’m going to propose today.”
It was that spastic of a decision.
| Side note: My wife, Tori and I told each other “I love you” on the 3rd date, so it was just a matter of time until we tied the knot. |
Fortunately, that night was my business fraternity’s annual alumni Christmas party, so there was an easy place to have lots of our friends around for the big moment and for me to get it on camera!
I got the president to introduce me so I could get up and say a few words to the fraternity.
During my speech in front of the entire party, you can hear my future wife say, “You’re so embarrassing” as I told the story of our first Christmas Party together.
I stunned the crowd when I dropped to one knee and whipped out an engagement ring.
Then, Tori burst into an ugly cry 😭 and said “Yes!”
The Wedding
I married my smart, caring, and giggly wife Victoria Roper on May 6th, 2017 at Twigs Tempietto in Greenville, SC in front of 120 of our closest friends and family.
Tori and I are big-time nerds, so we chose a theme of “Classy Nerd.” We had decorations and inspirations from Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Game of Thrones, and a TON from Harry Potter!
My ring is the One Ring from LOTR, made by the maker of the world’s most famous ring, Jens Hansen used in the movies!
One of our best friends and former roommates officiated the wedding ceremony and we wrote the ceremony ourselves, so it was intimate, nerdy, and focused on love.
Our goal for our wedding was for every guest in attendance to leave our wedding saying, “That is the most love I’ve ever experienced at a wedding.”
Mission accomplished, our friends say this to us all the time!
The Planning
How did I handle wedding planning?
…I married a Type A personality who’s great at event planning, lol.
Tori started planning for our wedding on Pinterest before we were even engaged. As soon as that ring was on her finger, the gloves came off, and the color-coded binders came out!
Tori and I brainstormed the initial wedding ideas together, then she did the research and would narrow the options down to 3-5 and I would step in and make the final decision with her.
She REALLY enjoyed wedding planning. I didn’t have a lot of time for it.
My favorite part about wedding planning was the abundance of ideas during our brainstorming process. We were throwing a huge celebration of love for ourselves that we got to design from the ground up!
But the biggest struggle with all of it came from the same abundance of ideas… we paid for the vast majority of our wedding ourselves. So, we wisely set a budget and then foolishly ignored it 😅
And what about WedTexts?
Unfortunately, I didn’t know WedTexts existed when we got married, but I wish I had!
If we had used WedTexts our Wedding Brunch the following morning wouldn’t have been such a cluster f@#$!
(Editor’s note: I just KNOW that this will be a great story, so we will have that up for you all on the blog soon!!)
Caleb’s Story
Fair warning: I’m not a romantic person.
Kelly and I met at college. We were friends all throughout college and started dating the second semester of our senior year.
After dating for 5 years, it was time to take it to the next step.
I had a family friend who is a jeweler, make a ring. Picking up the engagement ring on a random Thursday afternoon I knew I was going to propose, but the details of when, where and how we’re all still left to be figured out.
FYI – she said yes!
The Wedding
We got married in New Orleans, which is where we met. The theme was inspired by NOLA.
We ended the night with a second line and gave out pecan pralines for gifts.
Our wedding was a full weekend of events! We welcomed everyone to New Orleans with a crawfish boil, had a large rehearsal dinner, a beautiful wedding, and wished everyone safe travels with a morning-after brunch.
The Planning
Kelly handled pretty much all of the wedding planning. She was a champ about getting all the details lined up. Our venue had an on-site coordinator and we used a day-of coordinator to keep all the venue logistics in order the day of our wedding.
Towards the end of our planning, she started asking me for my opinion on certain things. The design options for our invitations. She would show me options A and B. I’d choose A. We’d go with B.
This happened many more times and I often wondered why she asked me in the first place.
And what about WedTexts?
We did use WedTexts or rather the first version of WedTexts. It wasn’t even called WedTexts yet. It was very rudimentary. I had to manually add everyone’s numbers. We had to think through what each message should say. When they should be sent and select who they should be sent to. There was not an option to create or choose groups.
But we sent out at least one message to everyone letting them know the agenda for the day. Our wedding party and family got more than one text a day for the additional events they were supposed to attend.
Everyone loved the helpful reminders. Three of our engaged friends asked us if they could use the “texting thing” at their wedding, so we decided to turn it into a business.
| Side note: Did you know that Caleb’s wife Kelly was the one who came up with WedTexts in the first place? |
Noah’s Story
Julie and I actually met twice. The first time we met was a blurry night at a house party, but our interaction was short and very forgettable – at least, I forgot…oops.
The second time we met, a fraternity brother of mine asked her to formal. As the chapter historian, I took their photos beforehand.
Jump to about 4 years later, I was graduating from Georgia Tech, Julie and I were on the last stretch of a 2.5-year long-distance relationship.
In celebration of all the hard work we’d both put into school, Julie took the two of us on a cruise to the Bahamas.
The trip almost didn’t work out because we were scheduled to set sail two days after Hurricane Matthew (2016).
Thanks to the inclement weather, the course had to be rerouted and the Captains Dinner was moved up to the second day. Mentally, I was not prepared – I thought we had more time.
The two of us managed to get the whole crown of the ship to ourselves after dinner.
I popped the question in German (Julie’s family is from Germany), I remember practicing the line all day under my breath – “Willst du mich heiraten?” My heart was racing, my hands were shaking, but if I do say so myself, I nailed it. I opened the box and presented the $0.50, black, spider Halloween ring I swapped out for the real one about an hour prior.
The Wedding
Our wedding happened about 2 years after the proposal. We chose the Corry House in Union Point, Georgia – halfway between Atlanta and Augusta.
I wanted to get married in the fall so that it would be cool, but it was 85 degrees Fahrenheit. It actually rained briefly during our ceremony in the woods, too. We managed to get just shy of 125 people out to our middle-of-nowhere, semi-destination, wedding.
The Planning
One of the reasons we waited 23 months to get married was to have the time to plan it out ourselves.
Julie and I had agreed early on that we would pay for our own wedding, and so we wanted to do most of it DIY.
Let’s be honest, my now-wife did 95% of the planning and I would be lying if I told you differently.
Julie used a book to help coordinate things and help ensure we had all our bases covered.
My favorite part of the planning was also the sole thing I was adamant about having! I really wanted to have a choreographed first dance, so we practiced for 6 months leading up to the wedding. Big shoutout to Blue Moon Ballroom in Columbia SC.
On the wedding day itself, Julie’s parents were due to arrive with all the food that they’d been cooking for the last 48 hours. The night before, my father-in-law realized that one of his smokers wasn’t working. So at the last minute, he had to stay up all night to cook a whole ‘nother brisket.
On top of that, one of the trailer tires blew on the highway en route to the venue. They were supposed to arrive before noon because they also were bringing half of the decorations and we needed time to set up.
Luckily, they made it just in time, arriving a mere hour before the ceremony. On a large coordinated effort on behalf of the groomsmen and some bridesmaids we were able to get all the food out and ceremony site setup.
And what about WedTexts?
I happily used WedTexts at our wedding! It was my main way of communicating with my groomsmen.
It was great because I could remind them to do things like to get measured and pick up their tuxes. I was able to coordinate showers day-of and ensure that the groomsmen who scattered all over knew when it was time to eat. I sent a message to all my guests with the location and time to make sure everyone could find it okay and, maybe more importantly, not have an excuse to be late.
WedTexts really is an amazing tool because communication is so important for any event.
If you’ve put so much time and effort into your wedding, don’t leave communication up to chance!
Michelle’s Story
Nick and I met on my first day at Armstrong State University in Savannah, Georgia. Little did I know then that he would become my best friend over the years.
After dating many (well, not THAT many) other guys and even trying to set Nick up with some of my friends, we FINALLY realized that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together.
Nick proposed on June 13th, 2017, but more on that later!!
My wedding was quite far from what I had pictured when I was little. I always thought I would have a big wedding with everyone I have ever met in attendance as I walk down the aisle in a big white Cinderella dress and long veil. But life had other plans for me.
In the early summer of 2017, we had just lost Nick’s father to his battle with cancer. Nick had decided to enlist in the US Navy. And with my family some four-and-a-half-thousand miles away in Germany, it was highly unlikely for them all to travel to the US.
The Wedding
So instead, Nick and I got married at Pearl’s Saltwater Grille in Savannah, Georgia, in front of 13 of our very best friends.
One of Nick’s closest friends acted as our officiant. And Noah, whom you’ve met as our lead developer, was our photographer. And my flowers as well as Nick’s boutonniere were provided by my sweet friend Holleigh.
My best friend, Jessica, made sure I had everything I needed throughout the hair and make-up marathon at 40 Volume Salon & Spa. Maybe most importantly, we made it a point to stop at Starland Cafe for a fun and relaxing lunch.
How lucky are we to have friends like these!!
The Planning
So far so good. But here’s the REAL kicker about my wedding:
I planned it BEFORE we got engaged…
If you know me at all, this would be no surprise to you.
I am a total type-A planner/ organizer!! Nick, on the other hand, takes things as they come. So, true to my character, I created our budget, shopped for our outfits, and coordinated with our guests.
Finally, I showed Nick the venue I picked and we put down a deposit. On the way home, we drove by our favorite spot by the marsh and he FINALLY popped the question.
We were on a very short timeline and small budget (we spent less than $1,300 on EVERYTHING). My main research resource was Pinterest. I kept track of my checklist and budget in Excel!
My favorite thing about planning my wedding was the thought of getting married to my best friend. Sounds cheesy, I know!! But knowing that a life with him is waiting on the other side of the planning stress made it all worth it!
Throughout the planning process, I really struggled with the idea of having a small wedding vs the one I had always dreamed of.
Not having my mom and dad walk me down the aisle and the rest of my family there was very hard for me. I still struggle with that same thought from time to time. I am grateful for the memories we made because the alternative would have been an even smaller courthouse wedding.
And what about WedTexts?
At the time of my wedding, I was unaware of WedTexts. Even with my very small wedding, it would have been extremely helpful. Especially because we skipped printed invitations, I would have loved to use WedTexts to send details to everyone.
Things to inform my guests about include things like the date, time, and location – and of course about the after-party 😉
| Side note: I called our friends first to make sure the day we picked worked for most, then sent out invitations I created online by email. That way, we were able to save on cost but still send it to our family all across the world to have as a keepsake. |
Though my wedding was different from how I had pictured it growing up, it was the best day of my life surrounded by the best of friends.
Still want to plan your wedding all by yourself?
Naturally, we are biased and think that WedTexts is the best thing since sliced bread.
But in all seriousness, we hope that you feel a bit closer to us now than you did before.
And we hope you have a better idea of how WedTexts can help you in your wedding planning process.
Did I mention it’s free to get started??
And you can use it entirely for free for up to 15 guests. So you really have nothing to lose if you want to check it out for yourself!
Now grab your mice friends and pumpkin carriage and off to the ball you go!!
Thanks for the comment :-D
Will you please help us reach more people with our content by sharing this post with your friends?