Joy, Zola, The Knot or WedSites for an Indian wedding: what works, what breaks, and what to use instead
US wedding website builders for an Indian wedding: several functions, a reply for each, WhatsApp, Hindi, how long the link lasts and cost. When Joy is enough.
All four handle several events with a reply for each and can keep an event from guests who are not invited. Joy, Zola and The Knot are free; WedSites costs $39 to $199. Where they fall short: none sends on WhatsApp for you, Joy's and Zola's texts reach only North America, Hindi is text you type in, and The Knot takes the site down a year after the wedding. For a mostly US guest list, Joy or Zola is enough.
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Couples abroad often start with the American wedding website builders: Joy, Zola, The Knot and WedSites. They are polished, mostly free, and very good at what an American wedding needs. An Indian wedding asks for some different things: five functions with different guests, relatives who get their invitations on WhatsApp rather than by email, elders who read Hindi, and a link that is still there after the wedding.
We make Invifest, and we make invitations for families abroad as well as in India, so weigh our view with that in mind. Every fact about Joy, Zola, The Knot and WedSites below is from their own pages and help centres, checked on 27 October 2026.
What an Indian wedding asks of a wedding website
- Several functions, each with its own guests. The haldi for close family, the sangeet for friends, the reception for everyone, and a reply for each.
- WhatsApp. Relatives in India receive their invitations on WhatsApp; an emailed invitation is the exception.
- Elders and Hindi. A shloka, the family names or the whole invitation in Devanagari for the grandparents, English for friends.
- A link that lasts. Some builders take the site down a year after the wedding. Ask before you build.
Joy, Zola, The Knot and WedSites, side by side
| Joy | Zola | The Knot | WedSites | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free | Free | $39, $99 or $199, one time |
| Several events, a reply for each | Yes, with questions for each event | Yes, with meal choices and questions for each event | Yes, replies managed for each event | Yes, from the $99 plan |
| Keep an event from guests not invited | Yes, by guest tags; on a shared link guests type their name to see their events | Yes: a private event shows only to its invited guests when they reply | Yes: a private event shows only in the reply pop-up of its invited guests | Yes: events limited to invited guests on the reply form |
| How invitations go out | Email through Joy; paid texts to US and Canadian numbers only; WhatsApp by pasting the link yourself | Email; guest texting to US numbers only | Email or text message | |
| Hindi | Write Hindi pages yourself; menus in English, German, Spanish, French, Italian and Japanese | No translation; add a second language by hand | Most text can be changed "using a standard English keyboard"; some, such as the RSVP page, cannot | Multilingual sites on the $199 plan |
| How long it stays up | Not stated | Never expires while you keep it visible | One year after the wedding date | 6, 12 or 24 months by plan, then offline unless you buy more hosting |
| Custom domain | About $19.99 a year | From $17.99 | $19.99 a year | Connect your own |
Each builder, for an Indian wedding
Joy
Joy is free: a website, a guest list, online RSVP, unlimited guests and several editor accounts. It earns from its registry and from optional upgrades such as custom domains, text messaging and premium cards. Its help centre is the most thorough of the four on several events: you tag guests by group, choose which events and questions each tag sees, and each guest sees only the events they are invited to. When a site has private events, a guest types their first and last name to see their own schedule; if you send the invitations through Joy, each one carries a personal link instead.
- Good for: a guest list mostly in the US, a registry, and a modern design.
- Keep in mind: invitations go by email; texts are a paid add-on that reaches only US and Canadian numbers, with no refund once bought. On WhatsApp you paste the link yourself, and a guest on a shared link who types a name differently from your list ("Mike" for "Michael", in Joy's own example) sees only the public schedule. Hindi pages are ones you write yourself.
Zola
Zola says it made itself "entirely FREE". You create the events in your guest list, tick the events each guest is invited to, and choose for each event whether it is public on the website and whether guests reply online; a private event appears only to its invited guests when they reply. Replies export to a CSV or Excel file, and Zola says your website "will never expire" as long as you keep it visible.
- Good for: a free site that stays up, for a couple whose guests are mostly in the US.
- Keep in mind: guest texting works only with US numbers, its addressing tool is formatted for US addresses, its registry ships only within the US, and cash funds need a US bank account. There is no automatic translation; a second language is typed in again by hand.
The Knot
The Knot's help centre says its wedding websites are "completely free to use", with optional paid upgrades such as a custom domain at $19.99 a year. You add each event with its time, place and reply options, and a private event never shows on the website: it appears only in the reply pop-up of the guests invited to it, with its name, time, place, description and attire. The Knot's own article on the website after the wedding says the site stays up for one year after your wedding date.
- Good for: a wedding in the US with a registry.
- Keep in mind: its help centre describes The Knot as "a US-based website", "specifically tailored to US systems and regulations", and says guests in other countries may not be able to view the site, reply on it or buy from the registry, for reasons it lists from geo-blocking to firewalls. Text can be changed to another language "using a standard English keyboard", except special characters, and some text, such as the RSVP page, cannot be changed.
WedSites
WedSites charges once: Basic $39 (a website, 6 months online), Standard $99 (guest list, online replies and several events with a reply for each, 12 months) and Pro $199 (planning tools and a multilingual site, 24 months), with a 14-day money-back guarantee. Events can be limited to the guests invited to them, and sections and pages shown or hidden by event or group. It says it works wherever you are and shows prices in seven currencies, though not in rupees.
- Good for: a couple abroad who wants detailed guest management and will pay for it.
- Keep in mind: when the hosting period ends, the site goes offline and the account is deleted within 12 months unless you buy more hosting. Invitations go by email, and its pages we read do not mention WhatsApp.
Where they work well
If most of your guests live in the US or Canada, read English and expect an email and a registry, any of the four works, and Joy, Zola and The Knot cost nothing.
Be fair to them on events, too: all four handle several events with a reply for each, and all four can keep an event from guests who are not invited to it. On functions alone, they are not the problem.
Where they break for an Indian wedding
- WhatsApp. None of the four describes sending invitations on WhatsApp for you on the pages we read. Joy's help pages suggest pasting the link into WhatsApp yourself; Zola's texts reach only US numbers and Joy's only US and Canadian ones. For 300 relatives in India, that means sending each link by hand.
- Names that do not match. On a shared link, Joy finds a guest's private events by the name they type. An aunt who types her full name where your list says "Sunita Bua" may not find them, and after a few tries she sees only the public schedule. Personal links avoid the problem.
- Hindi and the elders. Hindi lines are text you type into pages whose menus and buttons stay in English or another supported language, and The Knot expects a standard English keyboard.
- After the wedding. The Knot takes the site down a year after the wedding date, and WedSites when your hosting ends. Our guide to how long each service keeps a link covers the Indian services too.
What couples abroad use instead
Two kinds of service are built around Indian weddings. Indian builders such as The Curated Knot and Mangalyam are free, take a reply for each function and give you links to share on WhatsApp, and you build the site yourself, as you would on Joy. Or a designer makes it for you, which is what we do at Invifest. Our guide to multi-event wedding websites compares those builders, function by function.
From the invitations we have made for families abroad, the details that matter most are small: the weather in Celsius and Fahrenheit, an English view that stays English down to the weekdays, an outfit guide sent only to the international guests, and times nobody can misread across time zones. Our guide for NRI guests covers them all, and sending invitations on WhatsApp covers 300 guests from your own phone.
You can order an Invifest invitation from anywhere: everything happens on WhatsApp and by email, prices are in rupees, and a card from abroad pays through Razorpay. With Aangan, every guest gets a personal link that shows only their functions, sent from your own WhatsApp, and your invitation's main link has no expiry date.
Invitation designs
6 designs you can personalise. Open any one to see it full size, with a live demo.
Questions people ask
Does Joy work for an Indian wedding?
For the website, mostly yes: it is free, handles several events with a reply for each, and shows each guest only the events they are invited to. What it does not do is send on WhatsApp: invitations go by email, texts reach only US and Canadian numbers, and you paste the link into WhatsApp yourself.
Can Zola handle mehndi, sangeet and reception RSVPs?
Yes. You create each function as an event, tick which guests are invited, and guests reply to each event they are invited to; a private event shows only to its invited guests when they reply. Zola's guest texting works only with US phone numbers.
Is The Knot's wedding website free in India?
The Knot says its websites are free, but its own help centre describes it as a US-based site tailored to US systems, says guests in other countries may not be able to view it or reply, and its article on the website after the wedding says the site stays up for one year after the wedding date.
Which US wedding website lets guests see only the events they are invited to?
All four we checked can keep an event from guests who are not invited: Joy by guest tags, with a name lookup or a personal link, Zola and The Knot with private events shown only when invited guests reply, and WedSites by limiting events to invited guests on the reply form.
Can these wedding websites be in Hindi?
You can type Hindi into your own pages on Joy and Zola, and WedSites offers multilingual sites on its $199 plan. Joy's menus and buttons come in English, German, Spanish, French, Italian and Japanese, not Hindi. The Knot's help centre says text can be changed using a standard English keyboard, except special characters.
How long do these wedding websites stay online?
Zola says yours never expires while you keep it visible. The Knot keeps it for one year after the wedding date. WedSites hosts it for 6, 12 or 24 months by plan, then takes it offline unless you buy more hosting. Joy's pages we read do not say.
What should NRI couples use for an Indian wedding website?
If most guests are abroad and read English, Joy or Zola is enough. If most of the family is in India, a service built for Indian weddings fits better, with a reply for each function and links made for WhatsApp: an Indian builder such as The Curated Knot or Mangalyam, or a designer-made invitation website such as Invifest, which is ours.
