WeddingBeacon vs Zola: an honest comparison for UK couples

The short version

• Choose Zola if your registry is the centre of your plans, most of your guests are in the US, or you want your website and printed stationery to match as one suite.
• Choose WeddingBeacon if you're paying in pounds, want to invite guests personally on WhatsApp or email, are running a traditional ceremony and a white wedding (or several events), or have guests who'd rather read the site in French.

What each one is

Zola

Zola is a New York company. Its wedding website, guest list and RSVP tools cost nothing to use, and they sit alongside its main business: a gift registry with items from its own shop, cash funds and honeymoon funds, plus a full shop of invitations and paper designed to match its website templates. Zola says it has more than 600 website templates, and you can use a custom URL and password-protect your site.

WeddingBeacon

WeddingBeacon is a wedding website builder run by a London-based company. You pick one of 30+ designs and build one site for your story, schedule, dress code, travel and FAQs. Then you invite guests one by one: each guest gets a personal WhatsApp or email invite with their name on it, which opens their own page. Guests RSVP to the events they're invited to, and confirmed guests get a QR guest pass for the door.

Can you use Zola in the UK?

Yes, you can build a Zola wedding website from the UK, and guests anywhere can open it in a browser. The catch is that some of Zola's tools are built around the US.

The clearest example is guest texting. Zola's own help centre says its guest texting feature currently only works with US phone numbers, and suggests bulk email as the workaround for guests elsewhere. If you were hoping to message your guests in Lagos, Douala or Manchester by phone, that matters.

The registry is also centred on American retailers and US shipping, so UK couples often end up linking out to a UK gift list as well.

None of this makes Zola a bad choice. It just means a UK couple will use part of what Zola offers rather than all of it.

Pricing

Zola

Zola's website, guest list and RSVP tools have no charge. Zola earns its money through the registry and its paper shop.

WeddingBeacon

WeddingBeacon is Free to start, and you pay once when you're ready for more. There's no subscription and no per-guest charge.

Prices show in your local currency, including pounds, euros, US dollars, naira, CFA francs, Kenyan shillings and rand.

Fair point to Zola: if all you need is a basic site and you're happy with email, Zola's website costs you nothing. WeddingBeacon's paid plans are worth it if the features below solve a real problem for you.

• Plan: One-time price
• Free to start: £0
• Basic: £62
• Standard: £118
• Season (for planners, 5 weddings): £513

Inviting guests: WhatsApp and email vs a shared link

Most wedding websites work by giving you one link to share. That's fine until the link gets forwarded round the family group chat and you have no idea who's actually seen it.

With WeddingBeacon, each guest gets their own invite on WhatsApp or email, with their name on it. It opens their own page, showing only the events they're invited to. Phone numbers from your guest list are tidied up before anything is sent, which helps when your list mixes UK, Nigerian and Cameroonian numbers.

Zola gives you a website with RSVPs and bulk email, and texting for US numbers.

Multiple events: trad and white, and more

Lots of weddings aren't one day. A Nigerian or Cameroonian wedding might have an introduction, a traditional ceremony, a white wedding and a reception. Others add an engagement party or a brunch the morning after.

WeddingBeacon lets you run up to six events on one site. Each guest RSVPs to each event they're invited to, and only sees those events. So your aunties can see the traditional ceremony while your colleagues only see the reception, with no awkward explaining.

Zola also handles several events on its website, so this is less about whether it's possible and more about how the invites reach people. If you want each guest's personal invite to carry only their events, that's what WeddingBeacon is built around.

English and French guests

If half your family reads French, WeddingBeacon lets you choose English or French per household. The guest site and the invite appear in that language. It's useful for Cameroonian and francophone African families, and for couples with family in France, Belgium or Canada.

We haven't found a published equivalent of per-household language choice on Zola, so we've left that out of the comparison rather than guess.

On the day: QR passes and check-in

When a guest confirms on WeddingBeacon, they get a QR guest pass. On the day, your door team checks people in from a phone, using a Check-in role that can only see the door, not your whole guest list or budget.

Zola's strengths sit more in planning and the registry than the door on the day.

Gifts and registry

This is where Zola is clearly stronger. Its registry is its core product: items from its own shop, cash funds, honeymoon funds and links to other stores in one place. If your guests are mostly in the US and the registry matters a lot to you, Zola is hard to beat.

WeddingBeacon covers the essentials: guests can give by card to cash funds (such as a honeymoon fund), you can add a wishlist, and you can link to outside registries such as a UK department store gift list.

Help with setting up

WeddingBeacon includes Bea, a built-in AI assistant that helps you set up your site, guest list and messages. Nothing is sent or published until you confirm. Planners and family can help through team roles: Owner, Editor and Check-in.

On the Standard and Season plans you also get automatic RSVP reminders, confirmations, day-of and thank-you messages, and a floor-plan drawing for seating.

Side by side

• WeddingBeacon: Zola
• Based in: UK (London), US (New York)
• Website cost: Free to start, then one-time £62 to £513, No charge for the website
• Invites: Personal WhatsApp or email invite per guest, Shared site link, bulk email; texting for US numbers only
• Events: Up to 6, each guest sees only theirs, Multiple events supported
• Languages: English and French, per household, Not verified, so not listed
• Day of: QR guest pass and phone check-in, Not a focus
• Registry: Cash funds by card, wishlist, external links, Full registry with its own shop, cash and honeymoon funds
• Templates: 30+, 600+
• Stationery shop: No, Yes, matching paper

Which should you choose?

If your wedding is registry-led, your guests are mostly American, or you love the idea of website and paper as one matching set, go with Zola. It's very good at that.

If you're paying in pounds, want each guest invited personally on WhatsApp, are running more than one event, or have family who'd rather read in French, WeddingBeacon was built for exactly that. It's Free to start, so you can build your site and see how it feels before paying anything.

Comparing other options? Read WeddingBeacon vs Joy, WeddingBeacon vs Hitched, the best Zola alternatives for UK couples, how to collect RSVPs online, and the trad and white wedding planning checklist.

FAQ

Is Zola available in the UK?

You can build and share a Zola website from the UK. Zola's guest texting only works with US phone numbers, and its registry is centred on US retailers, so UK couples often add a UK gift list too.

Is WeddingBeacon a subscription?

No. Each plan is a one-time payment: Free to start (£0), Basic (£62), Standard (£118) or Season (£513, for planners running five weddings).

Can I send wedding invites on WhatsApp?

With WeddingBeacon, yes. Each guest gets a personal WhatsApp or email invite that opens their own page.

Can I have a traditional ceremony and a white wedding on one website?

Yes. WeddingBeacon supports up to six events on one site, and each guest only sees and RSVPs to the events they're invited to.

Can I move from Zola to WeddingBeacon?

You can import your guest list into WeddingBeacon from Excel or CSV, so if you can export your list, you can bring it across.