A videographer website that plays well on a phone and books the date
Couples and clients want to watch your work, compare packages and find out whether you're free on their date, usually on a phone. A videographer website should get them to a film in one tap and make the date check one form away. Anticode can't embed a YouTube or Vimeo player on a published page, so you present the work as stills that link to the films, which shapes how the site is built.
Showing films when you can't embed a player
Most videographers host their films on Vimeo or YouTube and embed the player. Anticode's published pages block embedded frames and scripts for security, so a player can't sit on the page, and a page-based Anticode site doesn't play video files either. That's a real constraint for this trade, and it's worth planning around rather than discovering at launch.
- A strong still for every film. Pick the frame that sums up the day or project, add a title and one line, and make the whole card a link to the film on Vimeo or YouTube. Viewers watch there with full controls and quality.
- One showreel, front and centre. A single link to a two-minute reel on the homepage gets watched; a grid of thirty thumbnails doesn't.
- Stills that move the story. A short sequence of frames from one film (arrival, vows, first dance, the last wave) shows your colour and pacing without a player.
If you want clips to play on your own site, Anticode's app builds can use video files you add to the build, inside their own sandbox. That's a different kind of project from a page-based site, so it suits a single interactive showreel rather than the whole business site. Either way, keep files short and compressed: a heavy file on a phone over a weak connection is the commonest reason a videography site feels slow.
Films as stories, not just thumbnails
Hold your work in a CMS collection called films, one entry per project: couple or client, venue or location, the package, the format (highlight film, full ceremony, documentary edit, social cut), music licensing approach and a paragraph on what made it. Each film gets its own page at /films/<slug> with a sequence of stills and the link to the full film. Wedding couples search by venue, so naming the venue on each page helps them find you when they've just booked theirs.
Packages people can compare
Videography packages are hard to compare between studios because the same words mean different things. Spell out:
| Item | Be specific about |
|---|---|
| Coverage | Hours on the day, start and finish points, one or two shooters. |
| Deliverables | Highlight film length, full ceremony and speeches, teaser, raw footage or not. |
| Audio | Microphones on the officiant and speakers, how speeches are recorded. |
| Drone | Whether you fly, your permissions, and that venue rules and weather decide on the day. |
| Delivery | Weeks to the teaser and to the final films, and how they're delivered. |
| Revisions | How many rounds of changes are included. |
Give a starting price per package. Couples usually set the videography budget after photography and want to know quickly whether you're within reach.
The date enquiry form
A wedding videographer has one date to sell per day, and the first question is always whether it's free. A custom form in Anticode can ask for the date, venue, ceremony and reception locations, guest count, package of interest, how they found you and anything special about the day, up to 30 plain-text fields. Its site function runs when the form is sent, and the thank-you page shows your own message, such as how soon you'll reply. Send each enquiry to your phone through a Telegram or Slack connector so you can answer the same evening. For commercial work, the same form can ask for budget, deadline and where the video will be used.
Securing the date with a retainer
Most videographers hold a date once a contract is signed and a retainer paid. Anticode doesn't take payments on the site, so create a payment link for the retainer with Stripe Payment Links, PayPal or Gumroad and send it once you've confirmed availability, rather than putting a public pay button on the page. The payment links page shows how buttons point to a provider's checkout.
Limits
- No embedded players from YouTube, Vimeo or anywhere else; link to full films.
- No private client delivery. Published pages are public, so deliver films through a password-protected hosting or delivery service.
- No contracts or e-signatures, and forms don't take file uploads.
- No live availability calendar for your wedding dates; dates are checked by enquiry.
Questions people ask
Can I embed my Vimeo or YouTube films on an Anticode site?
No. Published pages block embedded players, so link to each film and lead with strong stills on the page.
Can my site play my own video files?
Not on a page-based site. App builds can play video files added to the build, inside their sandbox; for the main site, link to films hosted on Vimeo or YouTube.
How do couples check whether my date is free?
Through a date enquiry form. You reply with availability and send a retainer link to secure the date.