06 Dec
Jenna Cole is So Fancy
Instead of writing posts for That Wife, I’ve been pouring my time into finishing up Jenna Cole’s portfolio site because I’m going to have weddings featured on some wedding inspiration blogs in the next few weeks and I wanted to make sure clients were seeing my best work. The site template is Clove from Into The Darkroom and the design is by Curious & Company. I’d love to have you visit and then come back and tell me what you think.
I think one of my wedding features might go up today! If it does I’ll update this post to give you the link.
The That Wife Holiday Party was this weekend and I have some really fun photo booth pictures to show you. Reader Cait and I got a little crazy, but I promised to run those photos by her first so for now I’ll show you one of my sweet little family. T1 was the belle of the ball, as I knew he would be.
I’m trying out a new website. It’s called VYou and it’s sort of like Formspring, but with video responses. I realize I already can’t keep up with the amount of Formspring questions you send me, but I’m intrigued by this site, and I plan to answer questions with T1 on my lap sometimes so you’ll get to see a bit more of him on video. Plus I can talk faster than I can type, which means I can answer more questions. I transferred a few over from Formspring so I would have something on the site for you to watch right now (click here to view my profile). I ramble a little bit and I’m working on making my responses shorter. This is a really different way to respond! Is it something I should keep doing? I won’t be answering questions on both sites, so if you see a response on VYou you won’t find it on Formspring. And I won’t be answering compliments (you guys are so nice!) on VYou either. I would feel silly doing that. Also, I still won’t wrestle with pigs.
Also:
I'm a farm-raised almost-crunchy stroller-pushing picture-taking lifestyle-blog-writing gastronomy-obsessed divine-seeking thrift-store-combing cheese-inhaling pavement-pounding laughter-sprinkling lover of individuality and taking chances.
Well I think the jennacole “welcome” page needs some additions because if I just type jennacole.com on my browser all I see is Jenna Cole Photography, Gallery and Blog. Maybe you should have a small sentence there and a simple contact information like “fresh. original. you” and then an email address or phone number.
You used to mention how important it is to know where the photographer is based at, maybe it would be a good page for that too.
As far as the gallery, is there ways to do tabs or something similar for people who just want to see wedding pictures, or engagement sessions, or maternity sessions. Just a thought. The pictures are gorgeous by the way.
Jenna Reply:
December 6th, 2010 at 9:11 am
I don’t think my website has the option to do that for the splash page but I’ll look into it. And my info page has my location but maybe that isn’t enough?
Someday I will do some “featured galleries”. Probably in February when it feels like I have a handle on everything else in my life.
Thanks for the suggestions!
What a sweet family pic! Can’t wait to see all of them!
2My only suggestion cause I’m no web designer is to get some identifiably Chicago pictures up when you have them-(I know you haven’t been there long enough to have them, but sometimes photogs fail to update their best work on the website often enough) I can see a few that were taken here, but when I was a bride it was a plus to me if the photogs who I considered had sites that showed they were familiar with the good photo spots in my hometown and that they had experience with the local vendors.
Jenna Reply:
December 6th, 2010 at 9:13 am
All of my most recent work is up, but I have a few Chicago sessions within the coming months and I’ll make sure to bump any gallery worthy photos up to the front!
Love the photo of your family! And the site looks so good!
I agree with Cecy that it would be helpful to have a little more info on the welcome page - I’d even go so far as to want all the page titles (about, contact, etc) either at the top or at the bottom.
And I would love to see a way to contact you on the bottom of all pages - including somewhere on your blog. (I hate having to search for a phone number when all I want to is book an appointment.)
4Jenna - I took my engagement pictures in front of that “true love” sign (and in the canoe!!) too!!!.
I’m really curious - how did you find out about it?
5Such a cute photo! T1 was such an adorable, well-behaved baby-I say that as someone who doesn’t have to clean up his messes, though
Can’t wait to see the rest of the pics.
Oh, and can I have the high-res versions of the ones you sent me? Thank you!
6I so wanted to live closer to you so we could have come. I think Little G and T1 would be good friends.
Jenna Reply:
December 6th, 2010 at 9:20 am
I think so too!
I LOVE this family photo! You really have such a sweet wonderful amazing family
I also love the fluffy little Santa’s hat! Where did you find one? I want to get my cousin one when he comes home (since he will be home at Christmas I feel it is fitting!)
8I agree with Cecy and Life of a Doctor’s Wife on the info page, but other than that everything looks gorgeous as always. And that picture of the three of you is adorable! I love how excited T1 is to be wearing that hat, haha.
9I’ve never commented before but felt compelled to let you know how nice the Jenna Cole site is!! It’s easy to navigate and your photos really shine! If I lived anywhere near Chicago, I would definitely book you!!! Congratulations
10Rarely comment, but as an aspiring photographer, I visit your site because I love your photography and I love hearing your personal stories about your business, lessons learned, etc. Thanks for sharing!
I think the site and your galleries look really great! My only constructive feedback is that some of your add-ons were a bit confusing to me on the pricing page, but I was scanning them quickly at work, so it may be that I just needed to read more closely/carefully. Congrats on being featured on some wedding blogs! That is awesome!
11I agree on adding “chicago photographer” somewhere on the home page — just because nothing is more frustrating than finding a great phtotographer and then realizing they live on the other side of the planet!
that photo is super cute, very Christmas card worthy!
12absolutely love the vlogs! Please keep doing them
I feel like you get to explain more and convey your actual sentiments about issues rather than just type responses.
13The Jenna Cole site looks SO GREAT! Also, I am loving these video responses. You look beautiful and happy and T1 is adorable as ever. It’s fun to hear your voice and see your expressions. I hope you’ll keep doing the video answers!
14I think the photo site looks great. I really love the family picture. T1 is such a cutie. I seriously could not get enough of that little man!
15as neat as vyou sounds, I prefer formspring, as I tend to read the formspring questions/answers on my breaks at work or on my phone.
I love the photo site. It looks great.
I adore the family photo! YOu look fantastic with dark hair.
Jenna Reply:
December 6th, 2010 at 1:31 pm
I’m thinking that things will balance themselves out? I’ll answer questions submitted through VYou on that site, and Formspring on Formspring. That way people who want a specific type of response can get one. Does that make sense?
Love the videos! Definitely “bring you to life” - in a different way than writing can!
Glad the party went well… I had a “duh!” moment on Friday. I originally couldn’t come because I had signed up to volunteer interpret at Dollywood Deaf Awareness Day, which was the same day as your party…
THEN IT GOT MOVED…
but my brain did not compute. I was kicking myself all day Friday because I totally could’ve come!
Jenna Reply:
December 6th, 2010 at 1:29 pm
Awww I really want to meet you! It will happen someday, I know it.
Jessica @ One Shiny Star Reply:
December 6th, 2010 at 1:38 pm
Yeah - if we didn’t have dogs I probably still would’ve come. I don’t have much experience traveling with children - but I can tell you from experience traveling with dogs is ridiculous. You either have to pay some one a fortune to come take care of them, or find a hotel that will let you bring them. They are bad for my fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of travel wishes!
Oh well, it will happen one day!
I think it looks nice Jenna! As a recent researching bride I liked it when the pricing was called “investment”
I know its silly.
But it made me feel like the photographer wasn’t out just to get cash. & it made me feel better about spending A LOT of money on pictures.
I also like Pricing PDF’s
it allows you to add more of your branding & personality. I printed them all off when I was looking to compare and interview photographers.
Good luck! Looks like you are all doing well. Tell THE husband I said hello!
18I like the new site and don’t have any new suggestions. I think other people covered them pretty well.
Glad you had a great first annual That Wife Holiday Party.Can’t wait to see more of those pictures!
19I think the intothedarkroom blog layout looks much slicker than the old one. The kelly green branding is wonderfully consistent throughout. I do have a few suggestions though. You might consider decreasing the number of posts that load per page. It’s very jumpy to scroll through since there are SO many photos on the same page. Also, the scroll bar gets so itsy bitsy with such a long page, at least in firefox, that it’s difficult to even grab it. If I’m a potential client just browsing around, I’m unlikely to be patient for hundreds of photos to finish loading. Also, is it intentional that the wig logo is more of a watermark than a log on your blog header? It’s almost impossible to see it. Also, I’m blanking on the term, but see if you can customize the logo that appears next to the name of your site, like you have it here on That Wife. The little black boxes don’t particularly match your branding.
Onto the gallery site:
I agree with some other commenters that gallery subsets would be a good idea. If I want maternity portraits, I’m not necessarily interested in wandering around through a ton of wedding pictures to find relevant examples of your work. Also, please please please put at least your email address, and preferably also a phone number on your contact page. I despise contact forms and basically refuse to fill them out.
Mary Cyrus Reply:
December 6th, 2010 at 11:02 pm
Oh, disregard the bit about the watermarkish logo. Apparently the page wasn’t finished loading yet. Ha. See! My point about the loading time still stands.
Congrats on getting so much done on such a big project!
21hey Jenna, I really like the website!! it is a great showcase for your amazing photos. My one comment is regarding the top navigation menu from the blog portion ~ for the gallery and contact categories, it’s a little confusing that you have to click on the sub-menu to get to those pages, instead of just clicking “gallery” etc, like you do on the navigation portion of the gallery section. Does that make sense? It’s not a huge deal but a small detail that might increase usability.
I am sorry that I missed the holiday party. It looks like it was a lot of fun. I have this thing where I really want to expand my friend-base, but I get quite nervous about situations where I don’t know anyone at all. But I was still planning to be brave and head to the party because it seemed like a great chance to meet some new bloggers. And I was really excited about your photo booth idea! Then - it snowed like crazy on Saturday and I completely lost my nerve to drive all the way down to the south side, by myself, in the snow! Kinda lame, I know
anyway I’m glad that it was a success.. maybe I will make it next year!
22Jenna,
I think that the site looks quite professional and great! I’m super happy for you, I have been reading since you were ThatGirl and Jenna Cole seems to have really taken off. Congratulations!
Also, you look lovely in the family picture. I can tell that you have lost weight and commend you on that as I know you are working hard!
Overall, snaps for Jenna!
Heather
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