Wedding Photography Website

• TELL A STORY. Wedding is a joyful event overwhelmed with hapiness and "live happily ever after" feeling, thus it might work to select and arrange the showcase photos as series of "happy story". The photo set current on the page does not really tell a story of happiness even though people in it are all smiling. Imagine it as a sequence of shoots in the ending of a romantic movie -- a happy young couple entering --> hand in hand --> she smiling --> he smiling back --> family around celebrating --> the couple posing in the garden --> both are enjoying the scene --> etc. Let the series of photos tell a beautiful story, thus to engage the visitors and leave a good impression (the memories of the joy of the newly married seen on your web site) in the visitors.

  • INFORM VISUALLY. Regarding "Screen shot 2010-08-11 at 01.56.01.png" and "Screen shot 2010-08-11 at 01.56.16.png", more visual elements as decorations might help to enhance the good feeling the the visitors are getting in other showcase pages, and also help to tell the visitors what to expect regarding the information they see (for example, by seeing photos of customized album and disc, the visitors get an impression of what to expect from you the company VISUALLY). It said that a picture tells more than a thousand words.

• WARM COLORS AS DECORATION COLOR. The overall light blue is okay for a wedding 'cos its "close-to-white" nature help forming the atmosphere a wedding needs. Besdies that, I'd suggest using more warm colors as decorations: pink, red, light brown, etc. any warm and "love-oriented" colors that we commonly see in every medium.

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Hi Dave,

Good effort.

I can't help but think there's too much white space though. These are my suggestions:

1. I'm not sure if you've noticed or not but you've broke the back button! The #1 rule of usability. When you click an image from the homepage or portraits, the back button takes you to a blank page, only the 'Return To Albums' button does the right job. I would also change this button. The user doesn't know he's going back to albums, he's going back to the homepage. You also need an arrow pointing left to make it look like you're going back aswell.
2. Move the header to the top. I know you're trying to be different but it will make users panic when they don't see a nav bar on the top or side. I would also put a bit of padding between the text and the rollover border.
3. There needs to be more content on the pages. I would have a testimonial box on every page with the testimonials in nice quote marks and a link underneath to view more. Maybe also have a contact us box underneath the testimonial box.
4. You also need some text on the homepage. One idea would be to give a bit of detail about what areas the photographer covers.
5. I would have the telephone number listed on every page. (this would be sorted if you use my contact box idea)
6. The prices page. It's hard to read exactly what you're getting for your money. I would be tempted to ask the client if they can create three packages, Platinum, Gold and Silver. Then list them in boxes with bullet points on what you're getting in each one. Keep the font size the same except for the price and heading. Lose the italics. You say to get in touch but there's nothing on that page to let you. Having the telephone number clearly displayed will help this.
7. The contact page. Align to the left, it looks misaligned with the nav bar. It's hard to tell where the fields are. Keep them looking like proper fields. White background with a grey/black border. Lose the wedding date field. Users who contact you through this form will just be asking general questions. They might not even know the date yet. It could put them off getting in contact if they think they need a wedding date to ask a question. Again, don't really like the italics for the telephone/email. If you want to use a fancy font, try and find one which caters for your needs without having to resort to using italics.
8. Have a sample of the online album the customer will receive after their wedding.
9. The Portraits page, no prices for these no information about them.
10. Change 'Clients' to 'Retrieve My Album' or something that lets the user know that's where they can see their photos.
11. On the Clients page, again, make the field look more like a standard field. Just a different colour to the background would do. The button could do with some styling. Asking the customer to enter the name of their album leaves a lot of room for error. Does it matter if they type it with capitals? What about all lowercase? What about spelling mistakes? It might be a better idea if you send the customer a 4 digit code or something to type in.

I think that's about it for now. As a sidenote I think the logo is great!

Thanks,

Steve

Top part is pretty much spot on. Nice and simple. I'd use a bigger type face for the title on the home page, maybe a smoother font like the ones you've used for the logo and the navigation.

There's probably a bit too much whitespace, but it works pretty well.

I love the simplicity of your site. I think it is perfect for your business, however I do have a few suggestions. I'd agree with what everyone has already said, but I'll try to spare you a repeat.

1. On the home page, I'd also prefer to see a little more about the photography options. When I first arrived, I thought all that was offered was Wedding Photography, but then when I started clicking the links, I realized that Portraits are an option also. If you added a brief description. or also showcased a few Portraits in a smaller grouping, that might communicate better.
2. Some subtle embellishments on the header might help. Weddings/Portraits tend to be sentimental and feminine, so I'd recommend adding some floral-esque backgrounds on the top or footer to ground the design.
3. On the subject of too much white space, I do agree. I think it gives the design a slightly unfinished feel. Grounding thedesign with a footer, floral elements mentioned in #2 or a slight color variation between the header/body/footer might help.
4. As a potential client, I'd like to see a 1-2 sentence testimonial on the home page. Gives you more credibility.

Hope that helps, and thanks for the chance to chime in.