The new, interactive internet platform for engaged couples - www.hochzeitsplaza.de - is online. It was created to provide engaged couples with competent information and to create a market-leading wedding community. HochzeitsPlaza trusted the open source Magento shop system and the social commerce specialists of dotSource.

The new wedding page www.hochzeitsplaza.de contains important information about every aspect of wedding planning as well as helpful interactive tools. With a fresh and modern design, up-to-date information and close collaboration with many wedding experts, HochzeitsPlaza stands out from the pack of its numerous competitors. Real added value is created by including the users in the creation of a community that can share the excitement and experiences of getting married with one another.

For their ambitious project in a very competitive market, the creators of HochzeitsPlaza trusted Magento and the dotSource internet agency. The managing director of the Joni Wedding GmbH of Munich, Nikolaus Zacher has this to say: "We decided to go with Magento because this shop software optimally unifies the various facets of our complex website in a single system: the article editing section, our Germany-wide vendor directory and our soon-to-be-launched online shop. With dotSource, we found a specialist for Magento and social commerce who can apply our customised desires into the shop system with excellent quality."

For the extensive CMS area, dotSource adapted and extended the Magento Logic and connected social commerce features such as a shopping list and recommendation functions with the informational pages and advisors.

Magento regulates access control to the data in the vendor directory as well. The Germany-wide search using various categories works with the product search in the Magento shop. Using the Magento interface to Google Maps, search results from the web site are shown on an integrated Google Map view.

Locations and vendors are shown with their basic entry or the extended image, address, and contact data. The customer can then send a direct query using a contact form.

Additional community functions
Users can comment on and provide reviews of photos, vendors and locations. They can also recommend, add to notes or view their own product reviews. The integrated user forum lists questions, experience reviews, photo galleries, classified ads, congratulations etc.

Logged-in users can create a personal profile under "My wedding" and profit from useful tools and service offers. These include wedding checklists with deadline calculators, a budget calculator and forms for easily creating guest lists and table plans. In the centre of the customer area, the counter is shown which displays the number of days until the wedding.

HochzeitsPlaza allows couples to create personal wedding websites with customised designs, their own texts and photos that they can share with family and friends. Thanks to the interface with the partner Jimdo, this is available in two variants - standard and premium.

After the Magento online shop is integrated into www.hochzeitsplaza.de, the platform will be complete.

About HochzeitsPlaza:
HochzeitsPlaza supports engaged couples during wedding planning - for free! The platform offers high-quality articles, helpful planning tools, a Germany-wide vendor directory with over 1,400 entries and one of the largest wedding forums in Germany with 22,000 registered members. HochzeitsPlaza is owned and operated by Joni Wedding GmbH that was founded by Nikolaus Zacher in Munich in 2009. The platform already is one of the leading wedding portals in the German-speaking countries.

About dotSource
dotSource GmbH, based in Jena, Germany is one of the leading full-service internet agencies in Germany. In creating ambitious e-commerce and social commerce solutions, dotSource bundles competencies from web shop conception, development, hosting, design and usability, Web 2.0, online marketing and community management. With their services catalogue, dotSource actively supports the development of social commerce in Germany. dotSource is a partner of Intershop and Magento as well as a member of the Towerbyte eG e-commerce cooperative.

dotSource press contact: Sabine Eberl: pr@dotSource.de, +49 3641 573-3491