Keeping a wedding's worth of guests informed sounds simple until you're doing it. The trouble isn't having the information: it's delivering the right answer to the right person at the moment they ask, without turning your own phone into a help desk. Here's how each common channel does, and where it leaves you.
The wedding website
The right home for the reference details: schedule, hotel block, dress code. But guests skim it once and then ask anyway; nobody scrolls a website when they have a quick question in a taxi. Keep it, but don't expect it to field questions. Here's what to put on it.
Perfect for milestones: the save-the-date, the formal invitation, the final week's details. It's one-way and easy to ignore, though, and no one emails back "what time's the shuttle?" at 10 p.m. Use it to push big updates, not to answer in the moment.
The guest group chat
Tempting, and free. And it backfires at scale. Every question and every answer pings all 200 people, the useful reply scrolls away by morning, and you end up repeating yourself. Great for the wedding party; rough as a way to answer the whole guest list. See the full comparison.
A broadcast wedding texting service
Good for one-way day-of blasts: "shuttles leave in 20 minutes." But it announces; it doesn't answer. Replies bounce back to your phone, so you're still the one fielding the questions, just by SMS now.
Give guests a number that answers.
The missing piece in every channel above is a two-way line that replies for you. That's Pearl: guests text a normal number and get an instant, personal answer about the schedule, the shuttle, the dress code, pulled from the details you gave it once. When a guest asks something new, Pearl asks you a single time, relays it, and remembers it forever for everyone after. The website stays the reference, email handles the milestones, and the in-the-moment questions stop landing on your phone.
The texts guests get across a wedding weekend.
Here is one wedding weekend for a made-up couple, as their guests would see it. The welcome, reminder, morning and escalation texts use Pearl's real templates. The names, venues and times are invented.
The welcome text
Hi! Welcome to Hale-Okafor Wedding Weekend, Jun 11 - 13, Asheville.
I'm Pearl, your AI concierge. Ask me anything: schedule, dress code, directions. Day-by-day planner: a link to the planner
The day before
Reminder: Welcome dinner in ~1 day. Fri, Jun 11 6:30 PM at Maple Inn Terrace (Cocktail attire).
The morning of the wedding
Good morning. Sat, Jun 12 in Asheville.
Today:
• 1:45 PM Ceremony shuttle @ Maple Inn lobby
• 2:30 PM Ceremony @ Riverbend Chapel
• 6:00 PM Reception @ The Grove Room
A guest asks
What time is the shuttle?
The ceremony shuttle leaves the Maple Inn lobby at 1:45 PM. The ceremony starts at 2:30 PM at Riverbend Chapel.
When Pearl doesn't know
Can we bring a stroller into the chapel?
Good question. I've asked the organizer and I'll text you as soon as I hear back.
Relayed once the couple answers
Good news: strollers are welcome, and there is space at the back.
The couple never typed that shuttle answer. Pearl read it from the schedule they texted in once. Pearl tells guests it is an AI in the first text. Every guest can reply STOP to end the texts. Replying SUPPORT reaches a person on the Pearl team, who answers in the same thread. Nobody has to download an app or make an account.
Guest communication, answered.
- What's the best way to communicate with wedding guests?
- Website for the reference, email for big milestones, and a concierge guests can text for in-the-moment questions. Don't make a guest group chat your support channel. It buries answers and pings everyone.
- Should I make a group chat for my wedding guests?
- Fine for the wedding party; rough for the whole list. Every question pings all 200 people, answers scroll away, and you repeat yourself. A concierge answers each guest privately instead.
- How do I keep guests informed without being on call all weekend?
- Give guests a number that answers for you. Pearl replies instantly from your event details and only asks you when it truly doesn't know, then remembers your answer forever.
More guides: your wedding website checklist · the weekend itinerary
