Help & frequently asked questions
Everything couples (and vendors) ask us most — and if your question isn't here, email us at support@sharedbeginning.com. A real person reads every message.
For every couple
- We're not a traditional couple — does Shared Beginning work for us?
- Absolutely — that's exactly why we built it. Shared Beginning was created by a queer couple who couldn't find a wedding platform that felt made for them. Nothing in the platform assumes a bride and a groom: every partner chooses how they're introduced and referred to, and the whole experience — your website, emails, printables — uses your words.
- Can we use titles like bride & bride, groom & groom, or partner & partner?
- Yes. Each partner sets their own title — Bride, Groom, Partner, Spouse, or anything else you type — independently of everyone else. Bride & bride, groom & groom, bride & groom, partner & partner, or your own wording: it's your wedding, your words.
- Can each partner set their own pronouns?
- Yes. Every partner has their own name, title, and pronouns, and they appear wherever partners are introduced — like the About section of your wedding site.
- What if there are more than two of us?
- That works too. Shared Beginning supports more than two partners on a wedding — add as many as your celebration includes, order them however you like, and each one gets their own name, title, pronouns, and bio.
Your wedding website
- Is Shared Beginning really free to start?
- Yes. The free plan lets you build your wedding site, manage your guest list, and collect RSVPs. Paid plans unlock more planning tools, design options, and features — and they are one-time purchases, never subscriptions.
- Can we use our own custom domain?
- Yes — you can buy a custom domain (like yournames.love) right inside Shared Beginning, and it becomes your wedding site's real address. Your site is served directly at your domain with HTTPS included, so guests see yournames.love in their browser the whole time — it's not a redirect or a forward to some longer link, which is how many other builders do it. Every site also gets a free sharedbeginning.com address.
- Do we have to set up DNS or a registrar account for our domain?
- No. We register the domain for you, connect it, and handle the certificates and renewals through your account — there's nothing technical to configure and no separate registrar account to manage.
- Can we keep our wedding site private?
- Yes. You can password-protect your site so only guests with the password can view it, and wedding sites are kept out of search engines by default.
- What if we change our wedding date or venue?
- Just update it — your site, RSVP details, countdowns, and printables all follow. Nothing needs to be re-purchased, and your plan and add-ons stay exactly as they are.
- What happens to our site after the wedding?
- Your site stays online for your full hosting term — every plan includes at least a year. Add-ons can keep your guest photo gallery and upload link live for a year after the big day, so the memories keep arriving.
Planning together & tools
- Can I invite my partner or a helper to plan with us?
- Yes — invite your partner(s), a parent, or your maid of honour to the wedding with their own login and a role that controls what they can edit. Planning is better together.
- Can AI help us write our vows?
- Yes. The Vow Centre helps you brainstorm, draft, and polish your vows with AI assistance — you bring the memories, it helps with the words, and every version is saved as you refine. Your vows stay private to you until the big moment.
- Is there a seating chart tool?
- Yes — build your seating plan visually, assign guests to tables, and print the finished chart and matching place cards straight from the app.
- Can we plan our wedding-day timeline?
- Yes. The run sheet lets you plan the day minute by minute — ceremony, photos, speeches, dances — and print a packet for your wedding party and vendors so everyone knows where to be.
- Is there a budget tracker and checklist?
- Yes. Track your budget against real spending by category, and work through a wedding checklist with due dates and attachments — both built in, no spreadsheets required.
- Can we store important documents like our marriage licence?
- Yes. The document vault keeps vendor contracts, insurance policies, and your marriage licence in one place — and it reminds you before time-sensitive ones (like the licence or an insurance policy) expire.
- Does Shared Beginning help with the honeymoon too?
- It does. Plan trips with itineraries, packing lists, budgets, and travel documents — and add your flights so we track them live and alert you to gate changes and delays automatically.
Guests & RSVPs
- How do our guests RSVP?
- Guests visit your wedding site and RSVP by finding their name or entering their private invite code — no accounts, no app to download. You can add your own RSVP questions (meals, song requests, anything), and responses land in your dashboard with confirmation emails to guests.
- Can we text our guests updates?
- Yes — with SMS credit packs you can text day-of reminders and updates to guests who opted in. Guests can opt out any time by replying STOP, and we honour that automatically.
- Do guest text messages work in my country?
- SMS updates can be sent to guests in a broad list of supported countries across North America, Europe, Oceania, and beyond. Guests in a region we can't text still get every update by email — nobody is left out.
- Can guests share their photos with us?
- Yes. Your site has a private photo-share link (with a printable QR code) where guests upload their photos straight into your gallery — every candid from every phone, in one album you can download in full.
Trusted Partners (vendors)
- What is the Trusted Partner directory?
- A curated directory of wedding vendors — photographers, planners, caterers, florists, and more — who commit to welcoming every couple. We cap how many partners are listed per category in each city, so it stays a genuine shortlist rather than an endless ad wall.
- Does it cost anything to contact a Trusted Partner?
- No. Browsing the directory and sending inquiries is free for couples — your message goes straight to the vendor, and their reply comes straight back to your email.
- We're a wedding vendor — how do we join?
- Apply through our vendor registration page. Applications are reviewed by a human, listings are an annual flat-fee membership (no commissions, no pay-per-lead), and if your application is not approved you are refunded in full automatically.
Pricing & plans
- Are there subscriptions or recurring fees?
- No subscriptions. Plans are one-time purchases in your currency (CAD, USD, GBP, EUR, AUD, NZD, or ZAR). The only annually renewing items are the ones that genuinely renew — like a custom domain registration.
- Can we upgrade later without losing anything?
- Yes. Start free, upgrade whenever you're ready, and you only pay the difference between what you've already spent and the new plan. Everything you've built comes with you.
- What payment methods do you accept?
- Payments are processed securely by Stripe, which supports all major credit and debit cards. We never see or store your card number.
- What's your refund policy?
- The full details live in our Terms of Service, but the short version: if something's wrong, email us and a real person will make it right. Trusted Partner applications that aren't approved are always refunded in full, automatically.
Privacy & security
- Is our guests' information safe?
- Yes — and this matters to us. Shared Beginning is hosted in Canada, we never sell data, we show no ads, and your guests are never tracked or profiled. Guest details exist for one purpose: helping you run your wedding. Photos live in private storage, and wedding sites are kept out of search engines by default.
- How is our account protected?
- Your account supports passkeys (Face ID, Touch ID, security keys) and two-factor authentication by authenticator app or SMS. Payments are handled by Stripe, so card numbers never touch our servers.
Support
- How do we get help?
- Email us at support@sharedbeginning.com — a real person reads every message. Signed-in couples can also send a support request from inside the app. We're a small Canadian team and we genuinely love hearing from you.
Still have a question?
We'd love to help — and honestly, we love the excuse to talk weddings.