A wedding is one of the biggest and grandest ceremonies couples who choose to have it can experience. More often than not, engaged couples - or even romantic singles, would try to picture how magical their nuptials would look in different locations and how they’d translate into pictures and videos.
Even in movies, there’s almost always one half of a couple that’s probably planned their dream wedding down to the tiniest detail. That character has choreographed each move since the engagement - the theme and scheme, the reception location, the romantic music playlist - all a part of their vision, waiting to be placed on paper and eventually in action. But also in these movies, they encounter a problem that would ruin what was supposedly a perfect day, but the couple will be saved by their loyal and resourceful friends and will resort to a totally different yet beautiful union.
It’s every couple’s wish to have an amazing wedding. Regardless if it is intimate or grand, the goal is to have a smooth-sailing wedding experience. Picking a lifetime partner is one thing, but choosing the people who will carry out someone’s dream wedding is volatile and crucial. A well executed wedding is a result of thorough wedding planning tools, attention to detail and a cost-effective backup strategy. Enter the wedding planner.
If every business has to have a website these days and so should you as an expert in your field. With many couples finding it more convenient to do their searches for wedding related products and services on the internet, you have to build a wedding planner website so these couples can find and book you. Having an online presence allows you to reach a wider clientele in the most cost effective way possible. If you already have social media pages for your events planning or even business, creating a wedding planner website brings all these pages together to produce a more cohesive brand on the internet - and a one stop shop to show off your skills.
But if you don’t have a wedding planner website, then you’re in good hands. Here we’ll walk you through on how to start building your own event planner website in a few easy steps.
Plan the pages you will have on the website
You have done this before. You have organized a couple wedding ideas and made it come to life. Now, we need your vision and your wedding organizing skills and experiences expressed on your wedding planner website.
- Have clear objectives
Your website and design will depend on your objectives. Think of the products and services you offer and let these guide you on building your very own site. Some events organizers create wedding planner websites that are meant to work as an online brochure for their service packages, others use it as an online appointment tool where potential clients can book meetings with them - or better yet, you can do both. Take a look at Waitomo Weddings and see how they tailored their services to their advantage.
Identify the functions you want your website to have and use a website builder’s integrated app store like what Strikingly has.
- Select a template
Start with a free template and narrow down your search to wedding plan templates - you can pick and choose what seems to work for your business and are easily modified to your desired outcome. Strikingly is very user-friendly where people with zero coding skills can definitely come up with fully functional websites right away.
Once you have selected an event or wedding planner website template, the next step is putting your branding assets on it: specifically your business name and logo. This will start to look and feel like yours very soon.
- Add your pages
Have a list of the pages your wedding planner website should have then plan out the content that will appear on each one. Make it concise, but not vague. It is important to put your content on a page that says what it is, but it’s also crucial not to add too many pages. It will affect your website’s performance and your potential clients’ interests.
Add your personal story
As a wedding planner, you are expected to provide personalized services to couples who are trying to organize their special day. Make your website more appealing to your target client’s emotion by adding your personal story through the About section.
Couples want to know more about the person or team arranging their wedding. Tell them about how passionate you are about wedding planning and the experience you have in the industry. Include some true to life examples to make your clients feel that you really care about them and they are not just part of your success story.
Add your portfolio
The best wedding planning websites have a dedicated page or section for photos and videos. Give couples a glimpse of your world. As a professional portfolio, allow your users to see what kinds of events you have worked on in the past. With the help and permission of your clients and collaborators, gather outputs of the weddings you have organized and arrange it neatly on your website.
- A gallery
Add a gallery section to your Strikingly website. Since a gallery is mostly static, make it visually appealing. Give them variety and show how flexible you are in arranging events. May it be a church wedding, a beach wedding, or anything different and interesting, gather those visuals. Collate a few of each distinct event photos and add them in your gallery.
- Sliding Images
You might want to consider a sliding gallery. With this, each of your photos will be viewed individually and you don’t have to think about how to make your gallery very cohesive. Make sure your slides still tell a story, though.
- Video Presentation
You can opt to place a video about you and your business. An interview style that ties with clips of you working on live events would set your website apart from other wedding planners websites. This lets your audience “experience” the services you offer through your presentation.
If you don’t have this yet, you can place a video highlight on your recent or best project and the rest would be linked from that section.
- Social Media Platforms
Add social media icons that are linked to your social media accounts. Make sure to have a separate one for your work, but still personalize it. Find photos of you from your clients’ professional photographers and add them to your timeline.
Social proof is important
Couples usually engage with wedding planners websites that come highly recommended. Let your previous clients do the talking by adding testimonials and reviews to your website. Request feedback from couples you have worked with in the past. This can be in a form of a text, a video, or an article.
Your clients might leave you messages appreciating your work. You can opt to take a screenshot of them, but a simple text beside the couple’s photo on their wedding day would look more professional and visually appealing for your website. If you are going for the screenshot, always ask for the couple’s permissions and preferences before publishing them.
If your clients are up for it, you can even collect their videos. Messages are best expressed verbally. Your potential clients will see how satisfied and grateful they are of your service. As long as it’s not slowing your website performance, you should post it. Also, always add your branding and contact information at the end of your videos.
Some newly-wed couples, other website owners, and event bloggers write articles about occasions especially if there are bigger personalities involved. If your work is praised on those articles, make sure to feature them on your website. This is a win-win for all parties. Everyone gets their credit and exposures.
As a bonus recommendation, if you’re very comfortable with creating websites - especially after learning how easy it is to do it here on Strikingly, you can even create event websites for each client! Encourage them with other wedding website examples of real couples who have opted to immortalize their big day with a wedding website. These domains can even be treated as wedding planning websites where wedding planners like yourself, make it easy to disseminate information to the guests by having it all prepared in one space. This way, you’re giving couples something they can visit on their anniversary, and also be a space of opportunity to demonstrate your wedding planning tools and link your wedding planner web site for other interested parties who were there to experience your handiwork - multiple birds with one stone!
Call to Action Buttons
Finally, you want to make sure that your wedding planner website contains your contact information. Ideally your email address should have your business name either on the username or the web domain name part to keep it professional. Your mobile address should be there, and if you have a physical office, make sure to put the correct address and pin it on a map app or link so guests can easily locate you.
- An inquiry form is the most common way to reach you. This will not require your potential clients to go to their email or phones to send their questions.
- Your other clients might be pressed on time so a call to action button with texts like “Book an Appointment Now” or “Contact Us Now” would be beneficial for them
- Some wedding plan templates would even have an instant chat feature that would allow you to reply to your clients real-time.
Building a website has never been more fun and easy. Strikingly is continuously innovating website building experience. Check out their blogs for your reference and guide. Set up your events planning company for online success by gaining access to a wide range of wedding planner website templates. The framework is already prepared and designed to be mobile responsive. All you need to do is focus on creating great content and add features to make your website appealing to your target customers.
