Let's talk about Professional Wedding Albums...

First up - I have a confession. We don't have a wedding album. And we got married in 2007.
It's true.
I'm a wedding photographer without a wedding album. Frankly I have no excuse - I have access to the most amazing professional album vendors and the most amazing wedding pictures - but something else always takes priority - processing a wedding, updating my website, blogging, finishing someone else's album. And it kills me. Friends ask to see our wedding pictures and I pull out a bunch of CDs and start trying to show them little thumbnails on the screen because the files are huge and take ages to load up.

And therein lies a common problem - so many couples are focused on getting the high-resolution files on disc (which I now include in all of my wedding collections - I know as a bride it was imperative for me to get those discs but then once you have them you're sort of all "hmmm, now what?") - that you find yourself a few years out without anything really to show for your wedding and all of those lovely pictures are trapped on a disc! So this blog post is a celebration of the smart people that order albums and a public commitment that I'll complete our wedding album this year!

I thought I'd show you pictures of the beautiful wedding albums I've created recently. First some lovely details - most of my albums are (clockwise from top left):
Lay flat - there's no break/cut for the middle of the page/spine - so you don't have to push on them and create a crease in the pages to see the full spread
Panoramic - means that the archival photograph print is perfectly bonded across the page so there's no break for the spine - you can showcase your pictures across two pages.
Flush-mount - the picture can go all the way to the very edge of the page - delightful!
Professional quality - check out the black silk lining - I love me a nice little Shutterfly album for vacation pictures but I have some Shutterfly books that just 5 years later are starting to warp a little or break at the spine. When you think of how much money you spend on your wedding, it's nice to know that your album is archival quality and it'll still be looking good when you celebrate your 25th and 50th wedding anniversaries!

I use Millers for my albums, they're the largest professional lab in the US and their quality and service is simply outstanding. I regularly ask their customer service team all sorts of ridiculous questions and they inevitably respond back within the hour with amazing help.

Another advantage of getting a professional album is that you have a huge variety of stunning album cover choices. Here's an album I recently ordered with a crystal clear acrylic cover - the metallic photograph is precisely bonded to an acrylic cover and then the spine and back are covered with leather. Delicious!

As well as twelve standard leather options from classic black to cardinal red to kiwi green and baby blue, you can upgrade to metallic or exotic leather options:

And let's not forget parent albums. Cute little duplicates of your albums because you know your Mom is going to want to show your pictures to ALL of her friends - and this way she won't be asking to borrow your album!

Most parent albums are press-printed so the pages are a little thinner and they have a great hinge feature so they virtually lie-flat. The picture on the right below shows the standard super thick panoramic flush-mount photographic pages next to the thinner press-printed pages:


And now, let's look at a couple of album designs. I'm a big fan of keeping it simple, elegant and timeless. I recently dug out my parent's wedding album and it's pretty basic - just pictures stuck onto white pages and I'm happy about that. You can add colors and fades and crazy filters and selective coloring and swirls and all sorts of other junk but your children and grandchildren will probably be happiest to simply see the story of your wedding told in an elegant layout - for example you might have a page with lots of detail/reaction pictures:
Followed by a full panoramic spread:



Mixed up with a feature picture and some smaller detail shots:
What's that? You'd like to see another album while you're here? Oh go on then!

Here are some pages from Kristine & Marc's fabulous wedding last October at Green Meadows Farm. You can add some simple text to the front page if you're not a fan of silver or gold imprinting, I think it looks a little more modern. All pages - except the first - are designed to run across two pages so you have to imagine a break in the middle:



I like being able to tell the whole story of the day - from the arrival of the grandparents to the bride about to burst with happiness and excitement as she walks towards her husband-to-be:

Adding a very subtle keystroke around each image adds a little depth to the picture:

How happy do these two look!

Sorry, I know I'm supposed to be talking about albums but I'm remembering how much fun this wedding was! I hopped in the hay ride with Kristine & Marc as they rode off from the ceremony and there is simply nothing like those "yay! we just got married!!!" pictures:



Well, maybe the "we just got married 15 minutes ago!" pictures:



Or maybe the pictures where I have a super long lens on the camera and I follow the couple paparazzi style:



And that's it for now on the topic of albums - 'fess up here in the comments (just pick name/url and leave the url part blank) if you've been married for a while and still have no wedding album! Or if you've been married for millions of years and you love your wedding album!

2 comments

  1. *LOVE* the first full panoramic pic! What a gorgeous shot!

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  2. So pretty album! Looks amazing. I like the red colored hard binding.

    ReplyDelete