From Instagram messages to a site that takes booking requests
PKCine is a wedding videographer in Ontario. I built his site from the ground up: hosting and domain, a custom theme, a portfolio plugin and the booking form.
Before
- Clients messaged him on Instagram
- Every reply written by hand
- No site of his own for his films
After
- A site with his films, packages and services
- A booking form that emails him each request
- Email on his own domain
The starting point
He already had an Instagram page, and that is where he talked to clients. Every enquiry meant a reply written by hand.
He wanted a site of his own, to show his films and let couples book him.
He first tried to make one with AI website tools, following tutorials. That experience made him choose a proven approach instead.
Foundation: hosting, domain and theme
Hosting
I helped him choose a plan with servers in Canada, close to his Canadian audience, and the best fit for what he was spending.
Domain
I helped him choose a domain registrar, again to get the most for his money.
Theme
I built the site from the bare bones. I started from the default WordPress theme as a baseline and made a custom block theme on top of it.
Every film gets its own page
Most portfolio plugins are galleries. I wanted every project to have a page of its own, so each film can be found in search by itself. So I wrote a custom plugin, Wedding Portfolio Manager.
- Each wedding is a page with its own address.
- Four ways to sort them: portfolio type, wedding type, style and location.
- Widescreen films, vertical shorts and photo galleries, each video with its own heading.
- Blocks and a shortcode to show them in a grid, with filters and load more.
Search setup
The pages are set up for search engines from the start.
On every page.
On the main pages.
LocalBusiness and WebSite markup across the site.
Lists the pages and every portfolio item.
Email and booking
I set up email on his own domain and connected the site to Brevo and FluentSMTP for sending mail.
Then I built the Book Appointment form. It asks for name, wedding date, venue, the person’s role, the package they want and how to reach them, and it emails him each request.
What he has now
- A site with Films, Packages, Services, Testimonials and Book Appointment pages.
- Each film on its own page, with its own address in the sitemap.
- Booking requests that arrive by email with the date, venue and package already filled in.
- Email on his own domain.
- A plugin he can use to add new weddings without a developer.
WordPress, a custom block theme, the Wedding Portfolio Manager plugin, Slim SEO, Everest Forms, Brevo and FluentSMTP.
Another case study: The Brave, from a static Canva page to a booking travel site.
Need a site built around how your business takes bookings?
Send me your site and I will tell you what I find.