Website rebuild — two options
Both options give you the same eight-page site, the same search-written copy, the same connection to your customer console, and two new pages every month after launch. The only real difference is what it's built on — and that decides who can change it later and what it costs to keep.
A site you can log into and change yourself, any time.
Three-month minimum. You pay for the WordPress hosting subscription directly, roughly $20–30 a month. Prefer to own it outright with no monthly? $1,900 one time.
Hand-coded, on the server you already use. Nothing moves.
Three-month minimum. No new hosting cost, it stays on the server you already pay for. Prefer to own it outright with no monthly? $2,800 one time.
Monthly billing doesn't start until the site is actually live. The build fee is what gets it moving.
Side by side
| WordPressRecommended | Custom HTML | |
|---|---|---|
| What it costs | ||
| To build | $400Lower | $500 |
| Monthly after launch | $250Lower | $350 |
| Minimum commitment | 3 months | 3 months |
| Cost to start, build plus first 3 months | $1,150Saves $400 | $1,550 |
| First full year | $3,400Saves $1,300 | $4,700 |
| Hosting | You pay the WordPress hosting subscription directly, about $20–30 a month | Stays on the server you already pay for, nothing new to buyNo new cost |
| Own it outright, no monthly | $1,900 one time | $2,800 one time |
| Running it day to day | ||
| Who can change text and photos | You, your dad, anyone you give a login toYou control it | Jason writes and codes it, Bill uploads it |
| Time to fix a typo or change a price | About two minutesInstant | A day or two, it has to be hand-coded and uploaded |
| Swapping gallery photos after a big wedding | Drag, drop, doneYourself | Send them over and they go in with the next update |
| Adding a page yourself | Yes, any timeYes | No, every page is hand-coded |
| Training so you can run it | Included — a walkthrough plus a short written guideIncluded | Not applicable |
| Adding features later — booking widgets, live reviews feed, blog, new forms | Add them any time, most are a plugin and an afternoonFar easier | Each one is quoted and built by hand |
| Software updates | Handled every month as part of the fee | Nothing to updateNone needed |
| Your customer console | ||
| Console keeps working exactly as it does now | Yes | Yes |
| What has to change | It moves to portal.dynamiccrew.com. One DNS record, plus redirects so old links still work. | Nothing at all. The new site sits on the same server beside it.No change |
| What Bill has to do | Point one DNS record, once | Upload the site files and link the console buttons |
| Buttons into the console from every page | Yes | Yes |
| The site itself | ||
| Pages at launch | 8 | 8 |
| New pages added every month | 2 | 2 |
| Size of the site after six months | 20 pages | 20 pages |
| Designed for phones first | Yes | Yes |
| Page speed | Fast, with caching in place | Fastest possible, nothing to load but the pageFastest |
| Time to launch | About 5 weeksSooner | About 7 weeks |
| Getting found on Google — identical on both | ||
| Copy written to rank on every page | Yes | Yes |
| Structured data so Google and AI assistants can read the site | Yes | Yes |
| The insecure http:// problem fixed | Yes | Yes |
| Sitemap and robots file, submitted to Google | Yes | Yes |
| Google Business Profile cleaned up and connected | Yes | Yes |
| Monthly report in plain language | Yes | Yes |
Straight answer
It costs less to start and less every month, and it puts the site in your hands. When a wedding goes great and you want those photos up that night, you put them up that night. When a package price changes, you change it. You're not waiting on anybody.
The bigger reason is what comes later. A reviews feed pulling your WeddingWire ratings, a booking or availability widget, a blog, a new form for corporate events — on WordPress those are things you add when you want them. It's a site that grows with the business instead of one that gets quoted every time it needs to change.
You have a working site and a developer who knows your setup. If you'd rather not move anything, HTML keeps every piece exactly where it is — the console never gets touched, the hosting never changes, and Bill's job stays the same.
It's the faster site, and there's nothing to maintain or update, ever. It costs more for one honest reason: every word and every page has to be written into the code by hand, and it works that way forever. That's real ongoing work, and the price reflects it.
Either way you get the same eight pages, the same copy, the same search work, and the same console connection. There is no wrong answer here — one is easier to live with, the other changes less about how you already operate.
What happens
Weeks shown are the WordPress timeline. Custom HTML runs about two weeks longer.
Before I start
Next step
Pick an option and I'll send the agreement and the photo list the same week. If you're torn, I'd start with WordPress — it's the cheaper path, it gets you live faster, and it's the one you can actually run yourself.
Jason Rock · jasonrock487@gmail.com