If you haven’t heard through one way or another – Jeff and I are engaged!

Being the dorky designer that I am I’m more interested in deciding on colour schemes and fonts for my wedding than anything else, but I have been looking around for venues and some of the websites out there are really just appalling. My mother insists that this is just a matter of taste, but I think with something like design that has a purpose, one that fails this purpose is simply a poor design, regardless of taste. So, although I don’t think there are many people in this industry currently reading my blog, I thought I’d offer a few suggestions.

Have a website

Most reception venues seem to have this one covered, but there’s still a few out there without a website. We’re reaching the point where you don’t look up services in a big directory book; you Google them. If you don’t show up then to people who only use this medium, you don’t exist. Word of mouth and recommendations are wonderful things, but do you really want to risk potentially losing a portion of possible clients? Specifically in the wedding industry, a large percentage of clients will be young and tech savvy people who will expect to be able to find what they need online.

Get a pro to do it

Too many of the websites I’ve looked at look like they weren’t done by a professional, and it shows. There are also some really very polished ones out there, so to compete in this digital age you really need to be up to scratch.

Get some decent photos

It doesn’t matter how nice the venue is – bad photos will make it look bad. Just like having an amateur website, having photos that were clearly taken on a compact camera in poor lighting by someone who doesn’t know anything about photography really doesn’t encourage potential clients to see your professionalism. I haven’t looked far into wedding photography yet, but if you talk to the client and their photographer you might be able to make an arrangement to use their photos for promotion. Otherwise, get a pro in to get some quality photos of your space – it will make your website and other promotional material look far more professional and enticing.

Use decent fonts

Papyrus, Comic Sans, Curlz MT and Times New Roman don’t look for anything, wedding services included. Scripty curly ‘nuptial’ fonts are often used for and associated with weddings, but don’t go nuts – people still need to be able to read it!

Have decent copy

Writing is one of those unfortunate things that everyone can do, but not many can do really well. You might be the nicest, most professional and most flexible service, but if this doesn’t come through in what is written on your website you could potentially lose people. For weddings in particular people like to feel looked after, and since viewing your website will form their first impression it’s really important that that impression is a good one – both visually and in what the website says. Once again – unless you’re a talented copywriter yourself, get a pro to do it.

All of this is very much applicable to any website of course!

Don’t forget that your clients have talents too – I know I’m going to try and trade my skills to cover as much of my wedding expense as I can, so if you need a website feel free to get in touch :)