You already know your wedding business needs a website, but the options out there might be a little bit overwhelming. Specializing in Wedding Industry Web Design, we understand that you work in an industry that is all about bringing people together. But does your website effectively invite visitors to come together with you?

You need a stunning website that showcases your work. Most people start their hunt for vendors online these days, especially if they are not hiring a professional wedding planner (only 27% of couples do!). And your website needs to pretty much yell what you do from the rooftops…without becoming a cliché. Following best practices helps you convert clients through your wedding website.

Creating A Welcoming Digital Storefront

First impressions matter in wedding industry web design. You are working with people who are doing something very important (and very stressful), so make sure your site feels open and welcoming. This is also where you define your identity.

Highlighting Your Unique Brand

If you have a specialty, such as LGBT weddings or themed weddings, put it front and center. Your brand should also be right there. This might be as simple as color choices, or you might have a logo, even a font that you feel speaks to what you do. Generally, weddings in the west are associated with white, off white, and light colors in general, so consider focusing on those colors so that people immediately know you do weddings. Keep that color scheme simple and avoid “eye bleeding” combinations.

Even if you aren’t a photographer, use high quality photos. If you are a venue, consider hiring one of the photographers you know to take high quality pictures of your location. Make good use of white space so your site is not crowded.

Ensuring Accessibility and Usability

Don’t forget accessibility. If your website is not accessible then you are putting off a significant number of customers and may even find yourself facing a lawsuit. Avoid things like providing information only through color, large videos that can’t be paused, and buttons or images for links with no text alternative. Provide alt text for all images.

Make your site intuitive and logical to navigate. Then provide clear, compelling CTAs. You should have easy links to your pricing, contact form, list of services, etc. Make sure that your site naturally takes visitors to your CTAs. Make sure to follow Squarespace or Showit SEO tips so that people can find your site in the first place.

Telling Your Unique Story

What makes you different from every other wedding flower arranger? Your About Us page is where you can tell that story. Show visitors your passion, your journey, and the why of what you do. If you don’t have a mission statement, come up with one.

At the same time, it’s very easy to fall into the trap of making it all about you. Your business is important, but people don’t really need to know all about your dog named Rex. They want to know how your services will make their wedding better.

Couples are looking to see if you are the right fit, with a personality they can work with, and providing the services they need. They are also, likely, looking for shared values, so communicating your values, beliefs, and passions is important to attract the right clients.

Linking your about page to your testimonials can be really helpful here.

Showcasing Your Services

Your website should make it very clear what you do. For example, on I Do Design’s website, the first thing visitors see is the phrase “luxury branding + web design” right above a button to view our services.

Your site might look slightly different, but this naturally leads interested people to click on the button and be taken straight to the services page. When you look at our services page, it shows what we do clearly, with additional navigation to find out more about the specific services we offer. You’ll notice that we have our most straightforward and basic service at the top. Most people are going to look at that and then think about whether they want to commit to more.

Make sure that your services page too focuses on results for your client. “I do photography” isn’t as compelling as “Preserve your memories of your big day with high quality photos.” Drill down to why people hire you and then why they should hire you not the photographer down the street.

Include pricing information. There are often multiple schools of thought on this, but you don’t want to waste time with a client who can’t afford you. This is particularly true if your prices are effectively fixed, such as venues. Clients should have some idea of how much they will be paying…combined with why they should be happy to pay it! Website design for wedding venues specifically should highlight your venue’s amenities, location, and why it’s an amazing place.

Your visitors should come away knowing what you do, why they need it, and why they should choose you over the competition.

Demonstrating Your Expertise and Success

Unless you’re just starting out, your biggest advertisement is your past satisfied customers. Include testimonials on the site, and clearly collect them in one place. You can also consider embedding or linking to online review sites. If you do this, make sure you’re comfortable with the site’s review policies and have some way to make sure you aren’t embedding your one star reviews from that time the bride decided to ride in on a horse, the horse bucked her off and proceeded to eat a good chunk of the wedding cake, and somehow you got the blame for the entire shenanigans.

(Or maybe you do want to embed that one…)

If you are a photographer, you need a well organized portfolio of relevant photos. Your travel shots might be great, but shouldn’t be included unless they are particularly romantic or wedding-related. The same goes for hair stylists, makeup artists, flower arrangers, dress designers, etc. Make sure that you curate your best work into your portfolio and that it is easy to find and navigate. Ideally, split your portfolio into easy-to-distinguish sections, perhaps by venue, type of wedding, etc. This helps you have good SEO for photographers.

For venues, testimonials from past happy couples, with pictures, are your bread and butter.  Include situations where something went wrong and you fixed it as well as the days that just went smoothly.

Remember that most people do read reviews and it’s a good idea to track your reviews and, in some cases, respond to them, with thanks or an offer to make things right.

Engaging and Educating With Your Blog

The Importance of Blogging

Blogging isn’t dead! Having an active blog serves quite a few purposes. First of all, it enhances SEO. Search engines favor sites that are frequently updated (so your blog should be on your website, not a third party platform) and sites people spend time on. A well-written blog encourages people to stick around, engages your readers, and hopefully turns some of them into customers. Blogs are a bit of a long term thing. Somebody might notice your blog right as they propose, and then come back to you months or even years later.

Creating Connections Through Content

To build these connections, your blog needs to be fun and educational. Case studies and testimonials are great! Showcase successful weddings you worked on. Also provide information about your needs.

Finding Fresh Content Ideas

One great way to find content ideas for your blog is to look through questions clients and prospects ask and find ones that can be expanded upon at length into a good blog post. Also consider posting about trends. For example, if you are a hair stylist, you might want to occasionally post about current fashions, as well as educational posts about the kind of styles that make certain face types look good.

Stand Out with Unique Content

Your blog should not be the same generic content everyone else posts…take a look at mine! Rather, you should choose topics that make you stand out and show your personality.

Overall Thoughts

You need a beautiful website to get the clients of your dreams. Too many wedding vendors, though, try to DIY your site, or piece together a logo and colors in an app on their phone. Remember the old Geocities sites from the 90s? That’s what your DIY efforts are likely to end up as, if they aren’t actively driving people off by, say, not actually working on your phone. It’s very tempting to do your own Showit website design because it looks easy, but it’s really not.

As a wedding professional myself, I know you need a strong digital presence. Your goal is to create a site that allows visitors to put themselves in your venue, or in your stylists’ chair, or in front of your lens. That tells them what you can do for them, and how you can make their wedding truly special.

Hiring a professional designer is the way to do this. Think about all the professionals that come together to make a wedding work. You wouldn’t have your photographer cut your hair, right? I can make your site shine as a beacon to draw people in. Contact I Do Design Studio to discuss your site or take a look at our website in a week service.