A spreadsheet can run a wedding pool.
It just makes you the one running it.
Someone still has to build the tabs, type in forty guesses, and fix the formula your cousin broke. Wedding Parlay does the parts a spreadsheet can't: guests enter their own picks, scoring happens on its own, and nothing gets overwritten.
Head to head
Same idea. Nobody has to maintain it.
| Category | A spreadsheet | Wedding Parlay◆ This one |
|---|---|---|
| Setting it up | A blank spreadsheet, a header row for every question, and an evening spent formatting it before anyone can use it. | A link. Guests write their own picks in under two minutes, from their phone. |
| Collecting the picks | Texting forty guesses to whoever's typing them in, or hoping nobody breaks a formula filling in their own row. | Guests enter their own picks directly — nothing for you to type in by hand. |
| Keeping score | A formula that worked fine until someone added a row, and now half the totals are off. | Auto-scored the second you mark the real answer. No formulas to maintain. |
| Who can edit it | Anyone with the link can edit anyone's row — on purpose or by accident. | Guests can only lock in their own picks. Nobody can touch another guest's row. |
| Tracking who paid | A column you update by hand every time a Venmo notification comes in, if you remember to. | Reconcile payments as they arrive; only paid sheets count toward the pot. |
| Filling it out at the reception | Good luck filling in a spreadsheet from a phone at the reception. | Built for a phone from the start — a link or a printable QR card at the table. |
| When someone disputes a call | Checking the edit history to see who changed what, and when — if version history is even turned on. | Picks lock before the ceremony and stamp themselves with the time. No rewriting history after. |
| What's left afterward | A spreadsheet nobody opens again, buried in a shared drive. | A leaderboard, a winner, and a keepsake page you can pull up again next anniversary. |
The short version
Why couples switch
No formulas to maintain
Auto-scored the moment you mark the real answer — no SUMIFs, no broken cell references.
Guests enter their own picks
Nobody types forty guesses in by hand, and nobody can edit a row that isn't theirs.
Built for a phone, not a laptop
A link or a printable QR card — spreadsheets were never meant to be filled out from a reception table.
Ready when you are
Skip the spreadsheet.
Start yoursFree to start. $40 when you go live, with a full refund within 14 days if you haven't opened entries.
Good to know
Common questions
Can't I just run this in a spreadsheet?
You can, and plenty of people do. The tradeoff is that you're the one building it, typing in everyone's guesses, and maintaining the formulas — and fixing it when someone overwrites a cell. Wedding Parlay does those parts for you: guests enter their own picks, scoring happens automatically, and nothing gets overwritten.
What if I already have a spreadsheet template for this?
Bring the questions, not the spreadsheet. Whatever you'd planned to ask — who cries first, how long the speeches run — takes about the same couple of minutes to set up in Wedding Parlay, and guests answer it themselves instead of texting you their picks.
Is it harder to set up than a spreadsheet?
It's faster. Write a question, guests answer from a link — no header rows, no formulas, and no sharing permissions to configure.
How does scoring work without formulas?
You mark the real answer as it happens and the leaderboard scores itself instantly. There is nothing to calculate and nothing to double-check.
Can guests fill it out from their phone at the reception?
That's the default, not an afterthought. A link or a printable QR card works from any phone — no squinting at a spreadsheet on a six-inch screen.