Making the decision to relaunch our existing website was far more emotional than I anticipated. Our process was more of a redesign than an actual relaunch, but changing it from what it was to what it is now was difficult for me personally.
Now that the process is complete, I am thrilled. I really like the design, the colors, the fonts, and the overall appearance. But, as in life, this journey of redesign and relaunch took a bit of fortitude, a lot of collaboration, and even more patience. Let me tell you how this process worked for us at One Precious Pearl Floral Design.
Not the First Time
In July 2016, our then website totally crashed and became a memory. Mind you, July is in the middle of our busy season. So, while working crazy hours, I added to the madness: I learned how to use WordPress, resize photos in Photoshop, and write copy. After surviving all of that, I clung tightly to the website we had through most of 2018 as a sort of badge of honor.
The thought of a redesign and relaunch was emotionally difficult for me for two reasons. I liked the website the way it was, and the challenge of changing it was overwhelming. Also, I was proud of the accomplishment of building it from scratch on my own. More appropriately stated, it was a lack of humility.
Keeping Current
Needing to keep current with the continual floral and style changes in the wedding industry is a major part of our business. Our website did not necessarily display a current look and feel, and we recognized that an update was needed.
The second reason to redesign and relaunch was to properly introduce Leah Jarona, my daughter, partner, stylist, and project manager. Leah joined me in May of 2017, and I wanted to introduce her. With Leah’s arrival, we have added event floral design and styling to our already established wedding business. It was past time to make Leah and these services more visible to potential brides and clients.
Rebrand
In October we started to do what needed to be done: a total rebrand and redesign. We began by choosing colors that reflect our floral designs and styling, which tend to be organic but convey an elegant feel. Finding coordinating greens to Illustrate the natural elements of our style, we also added a lavender and deep magenta to bring in a touch of elegance. The fonts went from elaborate script to a much easier to read and simpler choice. Our business name overlays a faint floral design, once again to reflect our work as wedding floral designers.
Rewrite
Following rebranding, the work of bringing our new services and branding into our website began with sessions directed by our copywriter, Anna Henke from The Resident Writer. We went through exercises to develop our story, discussed our clients and why we love working with them, and in the end, understood much better the “why” of our business. Anna then took that information and wrote copy for each of the pages on our new website.
Redesign
Together Leah and I selected the photos for the page titles, compliments from our brides and clients and related photos from weddings and events, and chose a platform that best said “we are floral designers and we want to make your wedding beautiful.” We determined the Divi Florist Theme from Elegant Designs would work well. This is a WordPress theme that has a drag and drop feature, which made it easier to do the redesign.
A Quick Side Note
A side note, however, is needed here. There are amazing website designers for creatives, like The Girl Brand, Ashley and Malone Design, Delilah Creative, and many others who do this work professionally. I highly recommend using one of them or another firm. This is technical work and even a small error can cause hours, if not days, of frustration trying to find a fix for it. A workable website is far too critical for the DIY route. Any fee you pay for the expertise will be well worth it.
Beautiful Place for You
While doing research, both with Anna and on our own, we realized our website needed to be a place for our brides and clients to feel at home and cared for since we don’t have a storefront. It also needed to signify we are a faith-based business. Because our name is derived from the parable in Matthew 13:45-46, we felt we needed to expand on that and how that is interwoven into our day-to-day practices. Anna (The Resident Writer) authored copy to cover this, which is on our home page.
Relaunch
So here we are, up and running and hoping you will find our website informative and beautiful. However, we don’t consider it finished, nor should it ever be. Just like the wedding and event floral design business is always changing, our website will be, too. Our goal is to give you an opportunity to meet us online and understand we love what we do. We see our floral designs as gifts to share and the opportunity to be a part of your wedding or event a privilege.
Let us know what you think of the new look!
If you’d like to contact us, click here. We’d love to hear from you!
In September of 2019 I was the owner and lead designer of a successful wedding floral design and styling business in Minnesota, and quite content with things as they were. As life would have it, however, my husband's job moved us 350 miles away. Leaving children, grandchildren, our home and my business behind, we made the move and settled in by early February 2020, just as #Covid19 started trending everywhere.
As a way to manage the upheaval of the move and the isolation of the pandemic, I turned my creativity to painting, crafting and photography. Always an entrepreneur and not yet ready to retire, I decided to start another business, One Precious Pearl...the Next Chapter.
Combining mixed media art with bookbinding, I now design and sell journals of various types. They range from vintage, modern vintage or mid century, junk, art, writing, faith or commonplace journals. I also welcome and thoroughly enjoy commissioned pieces!