Eight pages, in the order a couple visits them
A couple arrives from Instagram or a search, looks at the work, checks the price, checks the date, and, if they are still there, reads about you and what other couples said. A creative business website needs eight pages, and they map onto that sequence. Here is each one, what it must contain, and how to build in stages.
1. Home
Above the fold on a phone: who you are and what you do in one line ("Wedding photographer, Somerset and beyond"), one image that loads immediately, and two buttons: Check my date and Book a session, or whichever applies. Then: a strip of the portfolio by type, the three packages with from-prices, a line on how booking works, three reviews with reserved space, a photo of you, and the buttons again. No slider, no autoplaying reel, no background video. The home page's job is to get the couple to the portfolio and the prices in two taps.
2. Portfolio
Organised by type: weddings, engagements, portraits, commercial, or for a florist by style and season, for a commercial photographer by industry and use, for a venue a page per space with capacities and floor plans. Within each type, one or two full stories and a curated highlights set. Every image compressed and sized automatically, lazy-loaded, in a lightbox that ends in Check my date. For videographers and DJs and bands, video and audio embedded with posters, never autoplaying. Fewer galleries than you think.
3. Packages and prices
Three packages per service, each a record with a from-price, the price basis, inclusions, what is not included and turnaround, rendered in the same layout and editable by you. A "most couples choose" marker on the middle one. A short "How booking works" section. Every card ends in the right button: Check my date for the event, Book a session for fixed-price work. The same prices as your Instagram and your proposals.
4. Check my date
The date-check form: date, venue, guest count, budget range, then name, email, phone and an optional message, with the package pre-filled from wherever they tapped. Landing in HoneyBook, Studio Ninja, Dubsado, Tave or Light Blue as a lead, with a notification to your phone. A thank-you that states the reply time. For a wedding planner, the service level asked; for a caterer, dietary needs and budget per head; for a videographer, a separate commercial brief route.
5. Book a session
Where you have fixed-price work: the scheduler embed for portrait, engagement and mini sessions, consultations, tastings or viewings, through Acuity, Studio Ninja, HoneyBook or Session, with the fee or deposit taken at booking. Linked from the session pages with the type pre-selected. A portrait studio makes this page the centre of the site; a wedding photographer keeps it for engagement sessions. Skip it if nothing you do is bookable without a quote.
6. About
The person. Couples are choosing who to spend the most photographed day of their life beside, or who will stand with them at the ceremony, so the About page carries a real photo, a real voice, how you work and why, how long you have done it, and where you are based and travel to. For a celebrant this is the page that does the most work, and video belongs on it. Vetting and insurance for a children's entertainer go here and on the home page. Awards and features if genuine, in a line.
7. Reviews
Real reviews from real clients, named where they have given permission, with the event type and the year, pulled from Google where you collect them there. Placed as a page and, more importantly, as excerpts beside the Check my date button on the packages page and the portfolio. Not a testimonials page nobody visits. Ask every client at gallery delivery, with the permission question built in.
8. FAQ and Contact
The FAQ answers what couples ask before enquiring: how booking works, deposit and balance, what happens if the date moves, how far you travel, turnaround, how many images, whether you have insurance, what you need on the day. Marked up so search engines can show it. The Contact page carries email, phone, base and travel area, the client portal login, and the legal pages linked from the footer: privacy notice covering the date-check form, terms, company details, accessibility statement, and for caterers the allergen and dietary page.
Optional
- A page per service, where you offer several: weddings, portraits, commercial, each with its own galleries, packages and enquiry route.
- Real weddings or case studies, with the couple's permission and supplier credits, which a planner needs and a photographer benefits from.
- Seasonality, for a florist, explaining what is available when.
- Mini session events, with dates and instant booking, promoted before each season.
- A blog, if someone will write it: venue guides, planning advice and "how much does X cost" pieces rank and feed the packages page.
Leave off
A splash page. A separate Investment page that says "from £3,000" and nothing else. A Press page with two logos. A PDF price guide. Full client galleries on the public site. Anything that autoplays.
Building in stages
Stage 1, launch: Home, Portfolio with the best two stories and highlights, Packages and prices, Check my date wired to your tool, About, Reviews, FAQ and Contact. Fast, priced, enquirable.
Stage 2, first season: Book a session, service pages, real weddings, seasonality or mini session pages as they apply.
Stage 3, ongoing: a new story to the portfolio each season, prices updated once a year, reviews added at every gallery delivery.
The image processing, the tool wiring, the speed work and the tracking are in from stage 1.
Where this sits
These eight pages are the page list for every photography and events website we build, at the fixed package prices we publish. A solo photographer fits on Essentials; a venue with a page per space or a studio with several services needs Complete. Either way, the sequence is the same: show the work fast, state the price, take the date, and let your studio tool finish the booking.