Hey guys, I have been working on this the past 2 weeks, and here is what I came up with:

Wedding Website

I wanted something where I had more control over what the visitor see's and how they see it, so I integrated showit effects as my galleries and home page. I also wanted something super simple and easy to navigate, easy on the eyes, and non-flash based. C&C welcome!

i think the overall asthetic of the site is really pleasing. simple, easy to navigate. my only complaint would be that overall it was pretty slow loading for me.. it stinks to have to wait for each section to load as i click into it

just out of curiosity, how come you wanted to avoid flash?

very clean and nice job integrating showit web.

For the record flash sites can cause technical headaches and some firewalls block them or some users computers are up to date, but don't forget showit is flash

Very nice! I really like how clean and simple it is. The focus is all on the images which is great.

Thanks for the replys. I wanted to stay away from a full flash site because I wanted it to run as fast as possible, and for the reasons Cory stated above. For me the site loads pretty quick, but I guess it just depends on time of day and how much bandwidth is available at that time. And like Hannah said, I wanted the images to be the main focus of the site.

It loaded pretty fast for me. I'm not super crazy about how half the links pop open new windows but that's just me. It definitely needs more hot pictures of you on it though.

I like it. Your style is very clean & the site is super easy to navigate. Only think to point out is the misspelling of available under Pricing. That's all, folks! Otherwise, nice work!

Ah ha! Thanks Katie I did not see that. Good catch

Ya'know.... I'll be honest -- I'm impressed. Whenever I see "my new website" thread on OSP - you just never know what you're gonna get - it's quite often that I get ready to cringe. But... I was pleasantly surprised when I opened up your site. It's very nice, the colors are soothing, the layout is strong and simple. I've never been a big fan of using ShowIt as your primary gallery resource, BUT... it really doesn't look bad at all in this case. And so.. I tip my hat to you and say.. good job mate!! VERY nicely done!

To piggy-back of the non-flash decision...

...I just spent 2 months trying to teach myself flash to redesign my website. Finally started getting it (or so I think), only to find out that the State of Delaware computers block flash. That's the 2nd biggest employer in this state, so you can imagine how many brides that is! So I finished it up in HTML and posted it. They still can't see my ShowIt slideshows, but I'm not budging there. Maybe one day I'll go back and make a Flash site to give a view option.

Anyways, I like the new site!

Beth, I agree with you there, I wont budge on using Showit! I just love it too much.

Cameron, thanks! I was hesitant at first to use ShowIt as my main gallery, but I was happy with the way it turned out so decided to keep it.

Melody, the reason for the external links for my slideshows is because I can password protect the directories from my other domain using the control panel. This new domain is hosted by a friend of mine for free, and he has not set up a control panel yet, which makes it a pain to password protect using .htaccess files every time I want to add or remove a user. But I do agree that it would be nicer without all the external links. Maybe something to play with in the future.

Thanks for all the feedback guys (and girls!).

Dave,
I really like the new site - I'm with you about the Flash site.
I'm on a pretty fast connection and the front page still took 20 or 30 seconds to load. I totally understand the idea of a flashy front page but... I wonder about a brilliant static 1st image and then moving galleries inside.

I love the layout.

Awesome job man! Simple Elegance are the 2 words that came to my mind when I saw your site. I am really digging the simplicity of the design and how the images are central to everything. Good job.

It looks great Dave. Clean, easy to use, informative, great use of showit (I gotta spend some time learning how to customize it like that).

like the simple design, was surprised when you said you were avioding flash and then it started , very slowly, to load up a flash show. I am with the reviewer above who stated that you might do better to have a simple great static image on your home page and your flash optional inside your site. If I hadnt been a member of this site and been genuinely looking for a wedding photographer the fact that it was taking so long to load and that your choice of music came on over the disc I was playing whilst I surfed would have had me moving on to a more considerate photographer without waiting to see that you are indeed a very good photographer. I would definatly lose the gear section, I just cant see the point, if a bride to be knows what half of that gear is or means then she will undoubtedly know someone who has similar or better and will be shooting her wedding.
sorry if that sounds a bit harsh, dont mean it to be, I also moved away from flash for the reasons you have given.
Best of luck for the new season
steve mac

Thanks for the feeback Steve, some great points there. The site is still very new so I will see what kind of feedback I get and go from there. I may take Zoic's advice and put one of my favorite images on the main page as a static image, I just really like the idea of rotating images. Maybe I will try creating an html page that refreshes every so often with a new image and see how that works. Anyways, great critique here keep it coming

Ok, now the main page is a static image. Does it load a lot faster for you guys? It sure does for me. I will try again tomorrow around noon when bandwidth seems to be at its slowest.

I'm a website designer myself and I have to say you did a pretty damn good job.

The index loads fast here.

Thanks Shaun

Hey there! I think the site is GREAT! Loads fine for me. Question. Could some of you take a quick look at my site and tell me what I am doing wrong with show-it web. Mine doesn't look like yours and I don't know how to make it look nice and clean like that. Help!

Pam

Hi Pam, you need to use the embed feature of the new SIW 2.5 version. This allows you to use the interface on your blog or website.

Hey! Thanks for the info. I will try and find some time this week to check it out. OpenSource rules!! See ya.