diff --git a/bubble-server/src/main/java/bubble/cloud/auth/AuthenticationDriver.java b/bubble-server/src/main/java/bubble/cloud/auth/AuthenticationDriver.java
index d854d920..5101b306 100644
--- a/bubble-server/src/main/java/bubble/cloud/auth/AuthenticationDriver.java
+++ b/bubble-server/src/main/java/bubble/cloud/auth/AuthenticationDriver.java
@@ -14,17 +14,23 @@ import bubble.server.BubbleConfiguration;
 import bubble.service.account.StandardAccountMessageService;
 import com.github.jknack.handlebars.Handlebars;
 import org.apache.commons.collections4.map.SingletonMap;
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.ArrayUtils;
 import org.cobbzilla.util.handlebars.HandlebarsUtil;
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentHashMap;
 
 import static org.cobbzilla.util.daemon.ZillaRuntime.die;
+import static org.cobbzilla.util.io.FileUtil.basename;
 import static org.cobbzilla.util.io.StreamUtil.stream2string;
 
 public interface AuthenticationDriver extends CloudServiceDriver {
 
+    Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(AuthenticationDriver.class);
+
     String CTX_LOCALE = "locale";
 
     default BubbleConfiguration getConfiguration() { return die("getConfiguration: not implemented!"); }
@@ -107,13 +113,13 @@ public interface AuthenticationDriver extends CloudServiceDriver {
         } catch (Exception e) {
             final String defaultLocale = configuration.getDefaultLocale();
             if (locale.equals(defaultLocale)) {
-                return die("loadTemplate: no default template found: "+path);
+                return handleTemplateNotFound(templateName, path);
             }
             final String defaultPath = localePath(defaultLocale, templatePath, handlebars) + "/" + templateName;
             try {
                 return stream2string(defaultPath);
             } catch (Exception e2) {
-                return die("loadTemplate: no default template found: "+defaultPath);
+                return handleTemplateNotFound(templateName, path);
             }
         }
     }
@@ -126,4 +132,17 @@ public interface AuthenticationDriver extends CloudServiceDriver {
                 k -> HandlebarsUtil.apply(hbs, templatePath, new SingletonMap<>(CTX_LOCALE, locale), '[', ']'));
     }
 
+    String HTML_MESSAGE_HBS = "htmlMessage.hbs";
+    String[] OPTIONAL_TEMPLATES = {HTML_MESSAGE_HBS};
+    static String[] getOptionalTemplates() { return OPTIONAL_TEMPLATES; }
+
+    static String handleTemplateNotFound(String templateName, String path) {
+        if (ArrayUtils.contains(getOptionalTemplates(), basename(templateName))) {
+            log.warn("loadTemplate: no (optional) default template found: "+path);
+            return null;
+        } else {
+            return die("loadTemplate: no default template found: " + path);
+        }
+    }
+
 }
diff --git a/bubble-web b/bubble-web
index 6278ddb7..eb9d2441 160000
--- a/bubble-web
+++ b/bubble-web
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit 6278ddb7067c668ceb676a9289e99fe734bdce89
+Subproject commit eb9d244107c7949075d6767be10b85d26bf3b4e9
diff --git a/utils/cobbzilla-wizard b/utils/cobbzilla-wizard
index 577bcd1f..dc43c3c6 160000
--- a/utils/cobbzilla-wizard
+++ b/utils/cobbzilla-wizard
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit 577bcd1f18224f11dcc467be725b9ca786e6aa37
+Subproject commit dc43c3c657d55db2058a924cb345672383e50f14