I’ve been working with wedding professionals since 2014. My first ever client was a wedding photographer! As I’ve grown my business and learned more about the market, I see a trend over and over again that doesn’t make the most sense to me: luxury wedding vendors using a template for their website.
We’ve all been there. “It’s fast! It’s cheap!” You gotta start somewhere and I understand that. But how many professionals’ websites are a template (and most are all from the same place, we all know the place) and all of their sites just blend together? Before you’re speaking to the most high paying couples, a template helps you grow and understand your unique needs. Because let’s be honest, a template makes you fit its mold.
But your weddings do not blend in. They aren’t pulled from a shelf, the story already told with some customizations of the couple’s names and color palette. You offer bespoke, fine art results for your couples and your website should speak to that, since that’s the tool in your business that sells your services to these people you want to book.
Your website is often the first or second extension of your business that a couple or planner encounters. It’s where they are reaching out. You’re quietly sending the wrong message with a template and a custom website can solve that, bringing your unique messaging to the front and highlighting your work in a meaningful way.
What a template actually is (and isn’t)
Let me be clear: I don’t think templates are a bad thing. Like I mentioned, when you’re first starting out and unsure of your unique selling point, a template can get your business up and running so you can get your name out there quickly and stylishly.
But what is a template? A template is a pre-built structure designed to serve a wide range of users, which means its strengths are breadth and accessibility, not distinction. Unless you completely change the layouts of a template, simply changing the colors and fonts isn’t enough. You’re still trying to fit your unique experience into a box that wasn’t made for it. And what would be the point of a template if you changed it all anyway?
What a template isn’t is an immersive online experience, built with your messaging, needs, and work in mind. Standing out in a saturated market is key. Your body of work and brand can only take you so far. When people interact with those things in a new and interesting way, they remember. They want that same experience and you are the one to provide it. A custom website expresses all of that to the site visitor.
What is different about a custom website?
We’ve established that while templates can be helpful, they are created with a wide variety of users and industries in mind. At December Oak, every custom website begins with strategy.
The strategy is finalized before I ever design even a pixel of the site. We have a unique approach to our strategy phase, (to make a long story short) we not only look at your business needs, ideal clients, and positioning, but we also draw inspiration not just from other websites, but from music, film, printed material, and physical spaces. This helps us bring together everything that matters within your brand and help site visitors live in the experience much more easily. We are building a home for your business that embodies much more than just a portfolio.
Once your strategy is established, the design and development phase begins. And this is when the magic happens. Your typography, pacing, imagery, and language all work together to communicate a specific message. We build the site to speak directly to luxury clients and planners in a way that actually moves them through their decision of whether to hire you or not. The small, considered details we can incorporate on a custom site signal care to a discerning eye. And finally, the ability to evolve the website as your business grows is vital in keeping you relevant and desired rather than working around a template’s framework that is already in place.
What custom feels like to your audience
High end couples and planners have seen it all. Planners work from curated shortlists of exceptional vendors. Couples at this level have spent months absorbing beautiful work. These people recognize the difference between something considered and something assembled, even when they can’t articulate why. Your website is often a trust builder before a single email or message has been exchanged.
With a custom website, we have the opportunity to create the moments that will make them say, “wow”. That will stop their scrolling and really connect with them on a deeper level. This is more than just effective copy or branding. This is immersing them into your philosophy so they understand you more and are that much more excited to connect with you.
The quiet cost of a template
Even with all these words about how a custom website will benefit your business, I’m not saying a template can’t help you build a successful business. There are many wedding vendors that use a template and have built a life for themselves from their business. It’s not that you look unprofessional (far from it), it’s that it puts a ceiling on how your business is perceived. When a new photographer fresh in the industry serving only local clientele can have the same website as you because of the low entry for that design, that’s a problem. It could make you indistinguishable from them and, while there’s room for everyone, that could be really confusing to your potential clients. Your work and experience command premium pricing. With a website that looks like others, you can undercut the very positioning the rest of your brand has worked to build.
A real example of a custom website’s power
In the past, we worked with a wedding planner who was facing this situation. They had exceptional work and were already serving wonderful couples, but their competitor relaunched their website with their exact template. They were seeing that their own website did not reflect the quality of the work they were producing. It was time for a change.
They wanted to sit firmly in the luxury market and serve more aligned couples with high end aesthetics. When we worked together, their mission and messaging finally clicked. Through our partnership, they launched a new custom website experience. Within 3 months of their launch, they had doubled their inquiries but most importantly, it was from bigger budget clients wanting a luxury experience. Couples saw their potential and felt like they could trust this planner with their most special day.
They had been marketing the same as they always have. The key difference was that their website stopped blending in and their audience could feel the luxury details when visiting their new custom site. The people looking for their services could finally see them clearly.
A website that matches the caliber of your work
So long as your marketing has your brand, voice, and message, templates can be a huge time saver and help you work more efficiently. But your website is not a marketing asset in the traditional sense. It’s the one place you have full control over how you are presented. Social media has algorithms and character limits. Templates for websites are built for the many and may have too much or not enough for what you need.
When the caliber of a website matches the work and the messaging, that’s when you establish trust with the visitor before they even reach out. A custom website is not about ego or excess. It’s about creating a cohesive brand experience with every touchpoint that connects you to your audience. What is your current website saying?
Are you ready to have a custom website experience? We’re booking and can’t wait to hear your story. Check out our signature service or you can use our investment calculator and build-your-own website choosing whatever pages you need.
