A wedding or event-planner website should help someone understand the service, assess relevant work and ask about the next step. A couple exploring full planning, a client needing coordination and a business arranging a corporate event can have different questions. The site should make the offer clear without pretending an enquiry is a confirmed booking.
This agency-authored guide from Auckland-based No Brainer Creative is a practical website brief. It does not rank platforms, establish a five-field conversion rule or prescribe a rebuild when a planner reaches a certain number of events.
Explain the service before the visitor enquires
Describe the actual scope of each service. Full planning, coordination, styling and supplier support are not interchangeable labels. State what the planner provides, what the client or other suppliers handle and how the first conversation works.
Use owner-approved pricing information where published, or explain what is needed for a scoped proposal. Avoid inventing a package, a minimum spend or a response deadline. If dates or venues need checking, make that dependency visible before someone expects confirmation.
Show portfolio work with useful context
A gallery can help demonstrate style and experience, but the surrounding information matters. For each selected project, explain the planner’s role and the parts delivered by collaborators. Distinguish a completed client event from a styled shoot, design concept or illustrative image.
Confirm the right to publish photographs and any required credits. Keep private client, guest and venue-access details out of public case studies. Genuine feedback should describe the actual experience without turning one event into a promise about every future project.
Agree how the team will add and maintain portfolio content. Choose images that explain the work, prepare suitable sizes and check their appearance on a phone. There is no universal gallery loading time that proves a visitor will enquire.
Design the initial enquiry around the decision
List what the planner needs to determine whether the request is suitable. Event type, an approximate date, location, expected scale, required service and a contact route may help. A date or venue may still be undecided, so decide how the form handles “to be confirmed” rather than forcing an inaccurate answer.
W3C’s accessible forms guidance recommends asking for information needed for the process, with clear labels, instructions and feedback. It does not establish a fixed five-field rule for event planners. Explain required questions and collect further briefing detail at the appropriate stage.
Test the form with keyboard input and on phone and desktop. Check readable labels, validation messages and a useful confirmation. Offer an appropriate contact alternative for a visitor who needs to ask a question first.
Keep date enquiries separate from reservations
Decide what happens after submission: who checks the date, who assesses the scope and who responds if the usual contact is unavailable. Acknowledging an enquiry is not the same as holding a date, accepting a proposal or confirming an event.
Use confirmation wording that reflects the actual process. Consultation booking, event availability and payment may use different systems. If a calendar or payment provider is included, agree the status each step creates and who handles exceptions. Do not invent contractual terms or change a payment account as part of a website edit.
Our Auckland website design service can be scoped around the content and enquiry journey required. Wider CRM and follow-up automation should have its own agreed workflow and verification.
Choose a platform from actual requirements
Compare the current site, a suitable template and custom work against editing, portfolio presentation, accessibility, integrations, maintenance and budget. Neither the platform name nor an annual event count establishes whether a rebuild is needed.
For a redesign, inventory useful existing URLs and content before changing them. Plan relevant redirects where addresses change, then check navigation, internal links and index settings. Do not promise that a new design will automatically improve rankings or pay for itself.
Explain genuine coverage and any travel arrangements. Create a location page only when it answers a distinct question with information the business can support. Repeating place names across otherwise identical pages is not a useful service description.
Agree launch checks and a handover
Review the published portfolio, service information and contact routes in their actual context. A visual approval in the editor does not establish that the public page or notifications work.
- Check the intended service and enquiry destination on phone and desktop.
- Verify that date and venue uncertainty can be expressed accurately.
- For authorised controlled tests, confirm the intended record and notification receipt.
- Check what the final message promises and who owns follow-up.
- Exclude tests from enquiry and booking reports.
- Record any step that could not be verified.
Include content training, file handover, support responsibilities and ongoing platform or software costs in the proposal. Agree how later portfolio additions and service changes will be reviewed.
Measure suitable enquiries and confirmed work separately
Keep portfolio views, contact clicks, submitted enquiries, suitable opportunities, consultations and confirmed events distinct where the systems support it. A visitor’s interest does not establish a booking, and internal tests are not demand.
Use dated evidence to choose the next improvement. An unclear service, unsuitable enquiry or failed notification needs different work. Bring the current website, selected portfolio and known gaps to a scope discussion with No Brainer.
Frequently asked questions
How many fields should an event enquiry form have?
Ask for the information needed to assess and route the initial enquiry. Event type, an approximate date, location, scale and contact details may be useful, but there is no universal five-field optimum. Make required and optional questions clear.
Does a date enquiry reserve an event?
Not unless the actual business process confirms that reservation. Explain whether the visitor has requested availability, arranged a consultation or reached a confirmed booking, and state the agreed next step.
When should an event planner replace a template website?
Review actual limitations in content editing, portfolio presentation, enquiries, accessibility and maintenance. A number of annual bookings alone does not establish a need to rebuild or prove a payback.
What should an event portfolio explain?
Show work the business has permission to publish, describe its actual role and credit collaborators where appropriate. Distinguish a completed client event from a styled shoot, concept or illustrative image.
Should every event location have a separate page?
Only where a page has a distinct purpose and useful, accurate information. Explain genuine coverage, travel arrangements and service differences rather than creating near-identical suburb pages.
Is Instagram enough for an event-planning business?
Decide from the customer journey. Social content can support discovery, while a website can explain services, portfolio context and enquiries. Neither a website nor a social profile automatically proves better conversion.
What should the website quote include?
Agree the pages, portfolio content, image preparation, forms, integrations, migration, testing and handover. Clarify ongoing hosting, platform, software and support costs. This guide does not prescribe a price or launch date.
What should we test before launch?
Check the real portfolio and enquiry routes on phone and desktop. For an authorised controlled submission, verify the intended record, notification receipt and follow-up owner. A success message alone does not prove delivery or a confirmed event.