How to choose a wedding website designer in South Africa

Choosing a wedding website designer in South Africa comes down to five checks before you pay a deposit: live websites you can open on your phone, a written list of what's included, how many rounds of changes you get, what hosting costs after the first year, and who looks after your guests' details. Ask all five, get the answers in writing, and compare them side by side.

We build custom wedding websites for South African couples, so you know where we stand. This guide gives you the questions we'd ask if we were hiring someone else, what a good answer sounds like, and at the end, our own answers to every one of them.

Start with work you can open

A designer's best argument is a website you can open. Not a screenshot, not a mood board, not a sample PDF. Ask for two or three live wedding websites they've built, and open them on your phone, because that's where your guests will.

Then look at three things:

• Does each one look like a different wedding, or the same layout with new names?
• Does it open quickly on mobile data, not only on Wi-Fi?
• Can you find the date, the venue, and the RSVP without hunting?

Ask for live websites you can open on your phone, not only screenshots. Our work is all live, and every example opens on a phone.

Custom, or a template with your names in it?

Wedding website designers work in one of two ways. Some start every wedding from a blank page. Others take a layout they've built before and change the names, the photos, and the colours. Both are fair offers at the right price. The problem is paying for the first and getting the second.

Words we've heard from our clients:

It's the right question. Ask it the same way, then open two of their websites side by side. If the layouts match, you have your answer. If you're still weighing a free builder against a designer, our guide to free vs custom wedding websites covers that decision first.

Get what's included in writing

A price means nothing until you know what it buys. Ask for the list, in writing, before you pay anything. The questions that matter most:

• Who writes the words? Your story, the FAQs, the directions. Writing is the part most couples dread, so ask whether it's included.
• How many photos? And can they help if the only good ones are from your engagement weekend?
• Is RSVP included? And does it collect dietary requirements and guest questions, or only a yes and a no?
• Can they design matching invitations? One look from the invitation to the website feels like one wedding.
• Is the price including VAT? If a price is listed before VAT, the amount you pay is higher than the number you saw.
• Are the domain and hosting included? If not, what do they cost?

The last two are where quotes that look the same stop being the same. For the sections a wedding website needs in the first place, see our checklist of what to include on your wedding website.

What wedding website designers charge in 2026

Custom done-for-you wedding websites in South Africa generally cost roughly R2,000 to R8,000 in 2026. Our wedding website cost guide covers every price level, from free builders up. Whatever the number, ask what it leaves out: the domain, the hosting, and what it costs to keep the website online after the first year. Get the answers in writing before you pay.

At WedlySite, here is what you pay for.

Changes: how many rounds, and what comes after

Every designer includes some changes. The number matters less than the definition, so ask what one round of changes means.

At WedlySite, a review round is one list of changes, sent in writing in one message. Two rounds are included with every website and every invitation. One clear list is easier to get right than changes spread across a week of messages.

Then ask the second question: what does a change cost once the included rounds are used? Ours are charged by the hour, and we tell you before any work outside your rounds starts. Whatever the designer's answer, you want it before you need it.

Who gets a say

This one catches couples out more than any other. Your mom has opinions. Your planner has a checklist. Your maid of honour has a font she can't stand. Who is actually allowed to ask for changes?

A good designer takes instructions from the two of you, and from anyone else only when you say so in writing. It protects you from surprise changes, and it protects your rounds. At WedlySite, anyone you name in writing can send feedback, and it counts toward your two rounds.

When the clock starts

A designer's timeline starts when they have everything they need, not when you pay. That means your details, your photos, your wording, and your inspiration. Ask when the clock starts, and what happens if your part runs late.

Then count backwards from the day you want to send the link. Invitations usually go out six weeks to three months before the wedding, so the website has to be finished before that. Our guide to digital wedding invitations covers the timing in more detail. At WedlySite the build takes about 21 business days from the day we have all your content, and we always work around your wedding date.

Deposits, payment, and cancelling

Deposits are normal. Most South African wedding suppliers ask for 30 to 50% to secure a booking. Before you pay one, get three things in writing: the deposit amount, when the balance is due, and what happens if you cancel.

The Consumer Protection Act lets you cancel an advance booking, and section 17 says a supplier may keep only a reasonable deposit or cancellation charge. Good terms say what that means before anyone needs to know.

At WedlySite it's a 50% deposit by EFT to start, and the balance before your website goes live. Everything else is in our Terms, written in plain language on purpose.

After the wedding: hosting, domain, and ownership

The wedding is one day. The website lives on after it, for the photos, the thank-yous, and the guests who want to look again. Ask three questions:

• How long is hosting included, and what happens when it ends?
• What does it cost to keep the website online after that, and does it renew automatically?
• If there's a personalised address like yournames.co.za, whose name is it in, and who renews it?

Here are ours. The first 12 months of hosting are included. After that, it's R397 a year to keep your website online, only if you choose it. Nothing renews or gets charged automatically.

Ownership is worth one question too. Your photos and your words should always stay yours. The design is a separate question, so ask it. At WedlySite the design stays our work, and you get a personal licence to use it for your wedding. Whatever the answer, get it in writing before you pay.

Your guests' details

Your RSVP form collects names, phone numbers, dietary requirements, and sometimes who's bringing the kids. That's personal information, and the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) sets the rules for how businesses handle it. Ask three questions:

• Where are our guests' replies stored?
• Who can see them?
• When are they deleted?

Our answer: in a private spreadsheet shared only with the two of you, deleted or handed over within three months after the wedding. Our guide to RSVP websites vs WhatsApp covers the rest of the RSVP side.

On a phone, and in your language

Most of your guests will open your website on a phone, many of them on mobile data. Open the designer's examples the same way: on your phone, off Wi-Fi, in a spot where the signal isn't great.

If your wedding is in Afrikaans, or half your guests are, ask about language early, including whether a second language changes the price. We build in Afrikaans or English, and a website in both languages is quoted separately.

Red flags

• No live websites to open, only screenshots
• No written list of what's included
• "Excludes domain and hosting", with no amount next to it
• No answer when you ask what happens after the first year
• Terms you only see after you've paid
• Slow replies before you've paid. They rarely get faster after

One red flag isn't a dealbreaker. Two is a pattern.

The 12 questions to ask, in one list

Screenshot this and send it to every designer on your shortlist.

1. Can I open two or three wedding websites you've built, on my phone?
2. Is my design made from scratch, or from a template you've used before?
3. What exactly is included, in writing, and is the price including VAT?
4. Who writes the words: our story, the FAQs, the details?
5. Can the website be in Afrikaans, or in both languages?
6. Are the domain and hosting included? If not, what do they cost?
7. How many rounds of changes do we get, and what does a change cost after that?
8. Who can ask for changes: only the two of us, or family and our planner too?
9. When does the timeline start, and how long does the build take?
10. What deposit do you need, when is the balance due, and what happens if we cancel?
11. What happens to the website after the first year, and what does it cost to keep it online?
12. Where are our guests' RSVPs stored, who can see them, and when are they deleted?

How we answer them

Here are our own answers.

So how do you choose?

Ask the 12 questions. Put the answers side by side. By then the right designer is usually obvious: the one whose work you want to open twice, whose answers came back clear, and who replied like a person.

Words we've heard from our clients:

That's what a designer is for.

We're Emma and Juan, and we built WedlySite while planning our own wedding. Emma designs the stationery, and Juan builds the websites. See our work, check every price on one page, or start your story.