Pingg! Your Invite is Here!

I know we are all planning or helping to plan quite a few parties in addition to the reception- bridesmaids get togethers, bachelor/ette parties, showers, rehearsal dinners, etc. Getting married is like taking a crash course in event planning. Parties = invitations, and I am a fan of using the internets to spread the word. I was kind of getting frustrated with Evite and since Mr. Peacock is an internet insider I asked him to find me something better. To make your life easier, too, may I present Pingg.

My girlfriends from high school and I get together once a month for brunch and we usually use Evite to collect RSVPs. I thought the March brunch sounded like a great excuse to test Pingg out. I will share my long list of why Pingg rocks Evite, but I think the best part is the look of the invitation. There are some really beautiful but simple designs, or you can create your own with a photo or other favorite image.

Here is how the invite looked when it arrived in my inbox:
Below the image- built right into the email (no need to click through to another site)- was the RSVP options as well as a link to the invite site. I did not take full advantage of the invite options, but you can include more details in this image so that your guests can get all the deets right within the email. If you do click through, you can invite guests (and easily forward the invite on to them), review news on the event (which the hostess creates), leave comments, get directions, add to your Google/Yahoo/iCal/Outlook calendar and subscribe to the RSS feed for the event.

As a host, here is my list of pros-

• Collect funds (I host a lot of fundraisers)
  
• Add event to Facebook
• Import contacts from your email system and search within that list
• Decide whether or not guests can bring other guests
• Make it private or only view "yes" responses
• Decide on the frequency of updates
• Include a gift registry (yay for showers!)
  
• Print/export guest list
• Review who has opened your invite
• Ads are either non-existent or very well hidden
  

My only real con, which may just be user ignorance, was that I wasn't sure how to select specific guests to send a message. I added a new guest and only wanted to send the invite to her, but I ended up sending it to all. I could also foresee wanting to respond directly to a guest's comment, but I would have to skip Pingg and go right to email.

Here are two more of my favorite designs:


Has anyone else tried out Pingg or would like to recommend another online invitation site?