The best wedding planning app in the UK in 2026 is The Private Wedding App: day guests and evening guests each get their own invitation link, evening guests see only the evening and skip the wedding breakfast meal choice, and every reply is counted per event and feeds the seating plan, the caterer's numbers and the budget. Pay once, lifetime access, or pick a subscription: £159 once for lifetime access, or £17.99 a month. The monthly plan starts with a 3-day free trial. Bridebook and Hitched are free and paid for by suppliers: Bridebook offers "Evening-only" invitations with no seating chart named, Hitched has menus and a seating chart with no evening RSVP described. Joy and Zola are US apps priced in dollars, with seating sold per event or as a $14.99 in-app purchase.
Most lists of the best wedding planning apps are written for American weddings: one guest list, one reception, one meal. A British wedding is shaped differently. The ceremony is at a registry office, a church or the venue itself, the wedding breakfast is for day guests, and the evening reception brings a second, bigger list who need a different invitation, a later time, no menu and their own count for the bar and the evening food. This ranking scores five apps UK couples actually use on that shape, with every competitor fact read on the company's own pages and every price in pounds where it is offered in pounds.
How the ranking works: each app was scored on the five things a British wedding needs from the guest side, in this order: separate invitations for day and evening guests, a reply counted per event, a wedding breakfast meal choice that evening guests are not asked, a seating plan fed by the replies, and a price in pounds with nothing sold on top. Every competitor fact was read on 1 November 2026 on the company's own site, support pages or App Store listing. Published by The Private Wedding App, ranked first below, so every rival fact is linked for you to check.
At a glanceSide-by-side comparison
| Feature | Bridebook | Hitched | Joy | Zola | Private Wedding App |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 1 |
| Price | Free | Free | Free, upgrades in dollars | Free, in-app purchases in dollars | £159 once (lifetime) or £17.99/mo |
| Paid for by | Suppliers | Supplier directory | Registry and upgrades | Registry and in-app purchases | Couples' plans only |
| Evening guests as their own group | "Evening-only" invitation type | Guest groups | Tags, e.g. reception-only | Private events | Own invitation link per group |
| Evening guests see only the evening | Event visibility per guest | Not stated | Yes, their events only | Private event shown at the RSVP step | Yes, with evening venue on the cover |
| Meal choice | Dietary needs; meals not stated | Menu choices | RSVP questions per event | Not stated | Per event, by course, evening guests skip it |
| Seating plan | None named; export the list | Included | Paid per event | $14.99 in-app purchase | Included, per event |
| Your own text in a second language | Not stated | Not stated | A page per language | Not stated | Up to 3 languages on one link |
Every competitor cell was checked on 1 November 2026 on that company's own homepage, help or support centre, pricing page or App Store listing; the linked sources are listed at the end of this article. Joy and Zola show prices in US dollars. "Not stated" means the product's own pages do not say either way, not that the feature is missing. Prices and features change, so check before you commit your guest list.
Review 01Bridebook
Review 02Hitched
Review 03Joy
Review 04Zola
Review 05The Private Wedding App
The invitation below is live. Click around and see exactly what your guests will experience:
VerdictWhich app should you use?
It depends on what you're optimising for:
1. The Private Wedding App, £159 once for lifetime access, or £17.99 a month: the only app here that passes all five tests at once: evening guests get their own link and their own count, skip the meal question, and only confirmed guests reach the seating plan, inside a full planner.
2. Bridebook, free and paid for by suppliers: "Evening-only" invitations and a large UK supplier search, with no seating chart named and an exact-name RSVP search.
3. Hitched, free with a Premium supplier directory: menus and a seating chart, with no separate evening RSVP described.
4. Joy, free with upgrades in dollars: each guest sees only their events, with the seating chart bought per event.
5. Zola, free with in-app purchases in dollars: private events appear only at the RSVP step, and seating is a $14.99 in-app purchase.
For the evening side in detail, read the best wedding website for day and evening guests, and if you are marrying in Spain, Italy or Greece, getting married abroad from the UK. Then open the live demo invitation and start your own. The monthly plan starts with a 3-day free trial.
01What a UK wedding needs from a planning app
The ceremony comes first, at a registry office, a church or the venue, then the drinks reception and the wedding breakfast for day guests, speeches, and from around 7.30pm the evening reception for evening guests, with the first dance, the bar and evening food. Two guest lists, two invitations, two counts.
So the test is not whether an app has a guest list. It is whether the evening guest gets their own invitation, whether they are asked only about their evening, and whether their reply lands in a count of its own that the caterer, the bar and the venue can use. A hen or stag, a honeymoon and a dress shop are not part of the test.
- Separate invitations for day guests and evening guests
- A reply counted per event, so the evening has its own number
- A wedding breakfast meal choice evening guests are never asked
- A seating plan fed by the replies, not retyped
- A price in pounds, with nothing sold on top
02Free apps and what pays for them
Bridebook and Hitched are free for couples because wedding businesses pay. Bridebook's supplier pricing page sells plans from £20 to £99 a month excluding VAT, with couples targeting, couple activity and priority placement in couples' search. Hitched marks featured suppliers "Premium" and sits inside The Knot Worldwide, which describes its business as planning and advertising services. Joy and Zola are free and sell upgrades, registry items and in-app purchases, in dollars.
The Private Wedding App is paid for by couples only, £159 once for lifetime access, or £17.99 a month, and your guests' data is never sold or shared with advertisers. See the guest list tracker.
03Day guests and evening guests: how each app handles the split
Bridebook uses an "Evening-only" invitation type and event visibility per guest. Hitched has guest groups, with no evening RSVP described. Joy shows each tagged guest only their events. Zola hides a private event from the schedule and shows it at the RSVP step.
The Private Wedding App gives each group its own link once "This wedding has multiple events" is switched on: the evening group sees only the evening reception, the schedule moments you choose, the info sections you leave ticked and the evening venue on the cover, and its replies have their own total.
See RSVP per event.
04Meals, seating and the caterer's final numbers
Hitched and Joy collect menu choices, Bridebook collects dietary needs, and Zola's meal options are not stated on the pages checked. For seating, Hitched includes a chart, Joy sells it per event, Zola sells it at $14.99, and Bridebook names none.
The Private Wedding App asks the meal per event, by course if you want, with a severe-allergy flag; confirmed guests fill the seating plan for their event, and the caterer day sheet prints plates per dish and allergies by table.
See the seating chart.
05RSVP by post or online
Plenty of British couples post invitations to older relatives and send the link to everyone else. On The Private Wedding App the QR Print Card tab prints a 5x7 invitation and an insert card with a QR code for each guest group, replies by post or phone are set by hand on the guest's row, and reminder emails to guests who have not replied can be switched on in the RSVP Settings tab (off by default).
See QR code RSVP cards.
SourcesEvery fact on this page, with the date it was checked
The Private Wedding App, checked 1 November 2026: pricing (£159 once for lifetime access or £17.99 a month in pounds, $189 or $19.99 a month in US dollars; on Lifetime nothing expires), RSVP per event and invite groups, meals and allergies, seating chart, printable QR cards and the privacy policy (personal information not sold or rented; no advertising or analytics trackers on guest invitation pages).
Bridebook, checked 1 November 2026: UK homepage (free, "won't cost you a penny"; checklist, budget, guest list and RSVPs, wedding website; supplier search; iOS and Android app); wedding website page (100% free, optional 6-digit password, not on Google, RSVP, dietary preferences); website customisation page (events with schedules, events visible to chosen guests, gift list and cash fund link); complete guide to RSVPs and events ("All-day" and "Evening-only" invitation types, each event needs a venue, guests must be assigned to an event to appear in RSVP search, names typed exactly as on the list, guests added later may not be linked to existing events, extra details include dietary needs and song requests); guest list page (dietary requirements and plus-ones, guest list export to finalise seating, no seating chart tool named); supplier pricing page (SupplierPro Basic £20 a month and Classic £99 a month, excluding VAT; Basic lists couples targeting, couple activity and "Reveal couples' phone number"; Classic adds priority placement at the top of couples' search and contacting couples through couple activity); UK App Store listing (free; venue deals and discounts; Data Used to Track You: Contact Info and Identifiers).
Hitched, checked 1 November 2026: homepage (free planning tools, over 34,000 wedding suppliers, featured suppliers marked PREMIUM, supplier deals); wedding website page (free templates, RSVPs synced with the guest list, guests choose menus, Welcome Form or password under Settings, personalised domain, drag-and-drop seating chart, all planning tools free); guest list manager page (groups by category, menu choices and dietary restrictions such as children's menu, RSVP tracking, table types, download or print; no RSVP per event described); UK App Store listing (free, seller Hitched Limited; Data Used to Track You: Contact Info, User Content, Identifiers, Usage Data, Diagnostics; Third-Party Advertising listed as a purpose); The Knot Worldwide brand page (Hitched is part of The Knot Worldwide, which provides wedding planning and advertising services).
Joy, checked 1 November 2026: pricing page (free to use, prices in dollars; custom domains, text messaging and premium designs as upgrades with no prices shown); help article on multiple events (each guest sees only the events they are invited to, tags such as "reception-only", RSVP questions per event); seating chart help article (one-time purchase per event, AI seating, meal choices pulled in); help article on languages (only Joy's own menus and buttons translate; your own text needs a page per language; RSVP, Registry and Schedule pages cannot be duplicated).
Zola, checked 1 November 2026: FAQ on private events (a private event is hidden from the Schedule page and shown to invited guests on the RSVP page; Zola does not let you show an event on the Schedule page to only some guests); US App Store listing (free with in-app purchases: Seating Chart $14.99, Premium SMS $59.99 and $79.99; prices in dollars).
Spotted a fact that has changed? Tell us through the contact page and it will be re-checked and re-dated.
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Try the full planner →What is the best wedding planning app in the UK?
The Private Wedding App, £159 once for lifetime access, or £17.99 a month: day guests and evening guests each get their own invitation link, replies are counted per event, evening guests skip the wedding breakfast meal choice, and confirmed guests fill the seating plan and the caterer's numbers. Bridebook and Hitched are free and paid for by suppliers, with no seating chart named on Bridebook's pages and no evening RSVP described on Hitched's. Joy and Zola are US apps priced in dollars.
Is Bridebook or Hitched better?
They cover different parts. Bridebook offers "Evening-only" invitations with no seating chart named; Hitched includes menus and a seating chart with no separate evening RSVP described. Both are free and paid for by suppliers. The Private Wedding App does both parts in one planner, for £159 once for lifetime access, or £17.99 a month.
How do I invite evening guests separately?
On The Private Wedding App, switch on "This wedding has multiple events", add the evening reception, and create an evening group on the Guests page. Its link shows only the evening, with the evening venue and start time on the cover and no meal question. Send it on the same day and in the same design as the day invitations.
Is there a UK wedding app you pay once for?
Yes. The Private Wedding App costs £159 once for lifetime access: the invitation stays online and the planner stays open with no time limit, and nothing renews. You can also pick the monthly plan at £17.99. The monthly plan starts with a 3-day free trial.
Can guests RSVP by post and online in the same app?
Yes. On The Private Wedding App, posted guests get a printed QR card for their group, and replies that arrive by post or phone are set by hand on the guest's row, with their meal and allergy, so every count stays in one list.
Do evening guests have to choose a meal?
No. On The Private Wedding App, untick "Ask the meal choice for this event" on the evening reception and evening-only guests skip it, while day guests still choose their wedding breakfast.