Hey friends! Have you visited our new website? Just stop, right now. Hit the link. And just indulge in our new website. Sigh. It’s like a little spa of happy during your workday. That said . . . it wasn’t what I would call a spa-day to set it all up. Websites are quite an undertaking, and even more than our rebranding, the website seemed a monumental task. (Thank you, Rachael Earl Design. And she deserves her own shout-out blog on another day.)
Photo by The Waldron Photograph Company
Now, in the wedding world, social media image is captain of the ship. Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, even LinkedIn are where brides and grooms gather information and ideas. And the key to these sites? Images! So, with imagery at the center of the wedding world, websites are a curious thing.
Websites are rarely the first stop for weddings and rituals, and yet, they must exist. And they must exist well. They have to be easy to navigate, full of information (but not too full). They have to answer questions (but not too many), and drive you to contact us. The site must serve as our voice before you speak to us: who are we? what are we like? are we legitimate professionals? They must show us at work, but also peek at our play.
Words are our art, so we use our website to provide a glimpse into that craftsmanship. But, again, our wedding world is image-driven. And let me promise you – you don’t want our images, snapped in a quick second on our cell phones, all over our website (or any website)! Trust us – we are officiants, not photographers.
© Jenny DeMarco Photography www.jennydemarco.com
BUT – we know some amazing photographers. Austin is an embarrassment of riches when it comes to photography talent. When we needed photographs for our website, wow, did our friendors show up for us!
When you visit our site, your eyes will feast on imagery provided by Tony and Elena at Weddings by Tony and Elena, Stacy at SMS Photography, Jenny at Jenny Demarco Photography, Tiffany at Tiffany Hofeldt Photography, Lindsey at Lindsey Thorne Photography, Matt at Matt Montalvo Photography, Franck with Franck Boutonnet Photography, Christina with Christina Hastings Photography, Melissa with Melissa Glynn Photography, and Rusty with The Waldron Photograph Company. And that’s just some of our photographs. We received such an enthusiastic willingness to share, we will be able to rotate images on our site and show off our colleagues’ depth of talent for some time. (Let me add, too, that this is the nature of our wedding industry here in Austin. It is a friendly group who often and consistently value collegiality over competition.)
It is worth saying that we rarely get to hang out with our friendors. We rarely have the chance to say thank you in person to these folks. When we are together at weddings, well, we are working. And then, our weeks are full of preparing, editing, writing, and servicing our clients, as well as tending to that play part of our lives we let you peek into once in a while.
Photo by Tiffany Holfeldt
So, here on this blog, in this space, and for all of website eternity let me say on behalf of all of us here at Central Ceremonies: thank you! We consider ourselves lucky, privileged, honored, grateful to call these amazing photographers our colleagues. Thank you, thank you, thank you for helping us shine, and for generously sharing your talent with us and our website.
Sarah has been crafting custom weddings for couples of all kinds since 1999. Sarah is a Ravenclaw, and loves mythology, historical fiction, hot tea, and cycling of all sorts. She is an ordained minister who believes in coloring outside the lines. Sarah has been married to her best friend, Joe, since 1994. Together, their greatest treasures are their two children and the marriage they’ve worked hard to cultivate.
