Most brides have every intention of making an awesome coffee table album of their wedding photos, but the truth is, they never get around to it. (I have been married for over a decade and still have not made mine!) After your wedding, you will have SO much to do, including selling or storing decorations, getting your dress cleaned and preserved, perhaps moving in together, finding places to store the wedding gifts, not to mention those dreaded thank you cards! Perhaps most overwhleming of all is the never-ending legalities of changing your name, combining bank accounts, etc! When you're trying to settle into your newly married life and roles, time to create a photo album is a luxury many don't have. (…and then 11 years later still not having time like moi hahaha)
Enter online sites like Shutterfly. Shutterfly sells wedding albums, and they have templates to save you lots of time, and they are cheap! What’s not to love? It’s no shock that your photographer would prefer you did NOT use Shutterfly, but I take a different approach. I don’t care if you spend the extra money and have me do it, or if you save some time and do it yourself - the important part is that your photos are getting a chance to live in the real world (not just on your computer or phone!) and THAT is why we create art!
The best day of your life deserves to be showcased for years to come, and that means your wedding photos cannot just live on in your cell phone! It's so important to be able to celebrate your life together often, and showcasing an album that's beautiful and durable as part of your home decor will give you the opportunity to reminisce together in those memories over and over again. Not to mention, an album is a great heirloom to pass on to your soon-to-be growing family!
The big advantage when choosing “me or them” is first and foremost quality. It’s obviously ideal to have an album with a stunning and durable cover to compliment your home's style, one with thick pages to endure hundreds of turns, something that is weighty and durable enough to stand up to being toted back and forth to friends’ and families’ homes, and you need something with the same quality and valuable as your perfect wedding day. Quality is worth it! It’s a hard balance to not only make your album, but know exactly how many photos to put in it! The albums I design typically have 50-75 images in them.
how easy is it to design an album?
If you decide to either book a package with an album included, purchase one after your wedding through me, the entire process of designing it couldn’t be more simple. Most of my wedding couples DO get an album, and we are able to meet in person to design their dream album! I will show up to that meeting with a draft on my computer, and we will be able to go through page-by-page to swap out or delete photos you don’t want until the amount of photos and the selections are exactly what you want!
But what if you don’t live closeby? We can do the entire process mentioned above over zoom, or if you prefer, we can do it over email as it’s convenient for you! Here's a timeline of what to expect in order for us to work together to create the album of your dreams!
The first draft of your album with images chosen by me will be sent to your email (or you get to see it in person at a meeting!) in about two weeks after your gallery is delivered. I use an online tool called Album Draft that makes it super easy for you to make edits and let me know which photos you would like to use instead of the ones I initially chose for your draft. This tool shows you a digital version of your album and makes it super easy for you to click each photo and make notes, such as what you want to change, etc.
We will then email requests and edits back and forth until we settle on a design you love!
Final design is approved, albums ordered and shipped directly to you!
I asked Steph, the bride from the video above, to give YOU real, honest feedback about everything albums from designing it together to the album itself. Here’s what she had to say:
Q: Can you describe the process of reviewing the album and submitting changes online yourself?
A: The processing of reviewing the album is very simple and convenient. At first I thought I would have to view it only on my desktop but I tried to view it on my phone and it worked just as good! It is like viewing an actual album virtually and turning the pages like you are holding it in your hand. Submitting changes is just as simple. You just click on the picture that you would like to change/swap and make a note of what change you'd like to change.
Q; What was your overall impression of the software?
A: The software is very user friendly and high-quality.Was the software easy to use?Very easy to use! Quick, simple, and very user-friendly.
Q: How easy or hard was it to customize your album exactly the way you wanted it to be?
A: Extremely simple! There were a handful of changes that were made but they were made quickly and precisely.
Q: About how long did it take you to submit changes?
A: Only a couple of minutes.
Q: Were you happy with how fast changes were sent back to you?
A: Yes! Barely any wait time at all!
Q: Would you recommend ordering an album to future brides?
A: Absolutely! It was such a simple process and the finished product was more than perfect! The process was made easy and the finished product was exactly what I wanted and more :) I am thrilled I decided to go through the process because I have a beautiful keep sake of the best day (my wedding day) for the rest of my life!
