I just changed the white letters to dark gold/tan, and the menu, I'm saving for last, since I have to edit the color on every page. It will be black like the content.
I can barely see the menus, white on white. Keep in mind some browsers may have background colors/pictures/fonts disabled, so in that case i believe the white letters would be completely invisible.
Otherwise, looks great!
Considering that it is first effort - It is good that you atleast started in this world.
Some of the suggestions:
1. For starter it is worth using templates for the similar purposes site.
2. Consider web page as real estate and do not waste real estate. There is lot of real estate wastage on your site.
3. Consider all browsers.
4. Color combination is very important White letters with Orange background does not make it very clear especially with fading effect introduced. Best is to keep contrast higher to make it more visible.
5. Scrolling in between is really bad thing. On your site it is so non intutive that you have to click on section for scroll bar to appear. You could have provided little content in each section to appear in first place and then provide more hyperlink to read fully.