This afternoon the entire robgillespiephoto.co.uk domain became inaccessible and anyone trying to get to the site would have seen an error message saying “This account has been suspended”.

It seems we’re popular. So popular, our online proofing and sales area got a bit of “heavy use”, so much so it threw up an error and the web hosting company decided it was getting a bit much and shut us down temporarily. So all the people looking at wedding and pre-wedding shoot photos around 5:15 this afternoon, I’m blaming you

I’m working with the hosting company now to see where the problem came from, but if you see anything similar again in the next couple of days – don’t worry, be happy. We’re too popular for our own good

I thought it was time the website received a bit of an update so in addition to ‘warming’ up the site colours a little (the grey was a little cold wasn’t it?)  a lot of the pages have now had minor updates made to them.  The biggest change though is the new Gallery which is now broken down into sections including one showing pictures from the pre-wedding shoot.  All of the pictures have been updated, some of the old ones removed and of course new images from more recent weddings brought in.  The Gallery also includes a section showing one of our album designs.

The new Gallery looks great.  The images are bigger, crisper and are laid out in a more logical way.  There’s more changes to come though!

Rob

We’ve been making some changes to our product line recently. Our ever-popular Deluxe Storybook albums now come from a small independent supplier who doesn’t serve hundreds or thousands of other photographers.  We’re very happy with the fit, finish and image quality of our new books and from the feebback we’ve had so far, so are our clients!

The larger Deluxe Storybook shown here is our standard 12″x12″ size but accompanied by two 8″x8″ parent copies.  The image quality, binding and front embossing are all identical to the larger book.

Our new Deluxe Storybooks also come with a virtually indiscernible lacquer finish which protects against moisture and grease.

Now we have our Guest Message Book which since it’s introduction earlier this year has proven to be an extremely popular add-on option for our clients.

The Guest Message Book comes with 20 pages and feature pictures from your pre-wedding shoot.  We personalise everything for you and leave plenty of blank space for your guests to leave their message on the big day.  The book is 11″ wide by 8.25″ high and can be purchased either with a clear acrylic or clothbound cover.

Finally we have our  new Thank-You Cards which can be ordered after the wedding. These are 7″x5″ in size with gloss finish front and back.  You can choose an image  to go on the front, back and even the inside if you’d like.  The cards are supplied in a minimum quantity of 50 with white envelopes.

Rob

As I alluded to in the last post, the past few weeks have been a whirlwind or activity.  We are in the thick of album proofing from the summer weddings.  As the suppliers tend to have pre-Christmas cut off dates around the middle of November, we’re having to work extra hard to try and get everyone’s books finalised and the orders placed.

We’re busy, but we like it that way

Unfortunately the blog has been neglected a bit over the past couple of weeks. This has been due to a number of factors, namely that things have been exceedingly busy here for us. Here’s a quick rundown of what we’ve been up to:

New products!
We are introducing a number of new products all of which have been put together, ordered and assessed over the past two weeks. There will be a proper blog entry for all of these as soon as I can get them photographed. All of these products are available now for any of our customers (past and present) to order:

Parent albums: We’ve offered parent albums since we began, but now we’ve got a demonstration book made up by the same supplier as our Deluxe Storybooks. The book can be an exact duplicate of the bride & groom’s album but in a more compact size. A discount will be available if the main album and a pair of parent books are ordered at the same time.

Mini albums: These are really cute, 4.5″x4.5″ copies of the main album but with a paperback cover. They are supplied in batches of ten. Ideal for giving to bridesmaids, ushers and other members of the bridal party.

Proofing books: We have now found a supplier to produce high quality books containing samples of every picture we make available to the couple. There will be six images per page and each image will have it’s filename displayed to make the selection process a bit easier.

Online print purchasing!
We are very happy to announce that from now on, we will be providing the ability to purchase prints online and post directly the buyer. There are a myriad of options out there for implementing online purchasing but we’ve found a solution we’re happy with and which doesn’t take a cut! Different print sizes and postage options will be available and payment can be made either by cheque/postal order, or online with a credit or debit card via Paypal (securely, and at no cost to the customer).

Wedding Fayre at Birmingham Council House – this sunday!
This will be our last wedding fayre before the summer weddings begin so we’ve been very busy making up information packs and demonstration DVDs. We’ve also invested in a new display stand with a multitude of large prints, so these have all had to be prepared, ordered and mounted.

Going on the feedback from other exhibitors who attended this fayre last year, it promises to be a busy event. It’s taking place at the main Council House in Victoria Square, Birmingham city centre, from 11am ’till 4pm. Hope to see you there!

ttfn!

Rob