Make a Wedding Photo Book with Blurb.com

Turning candid wedding snapshots into a photo book makes a wonderful surprise for the bride and groom. There are a many sites where you can make a custom photo book. You may not be a professional photographer, but a bound photo book makes your digital pictures special.

If the wedding budget is extremely limited, the couple may depend on friends and family to photograph this special occasion. Even if they have a professional wedding photographer, the guests can get the shots that the pro might miss.

Here's how to make a wedding photo book to give as a gift to the bride and groom.

(photo from my niece's wedding reception)

Take lots of pictures at the wedding. You don't need to compete with the professional wedding photographer. Let him/her take care of the posed pictures. You can move around capturing candid moments and photos of people participating in the wedding and reception. Try to get flattering photos of family and friends. Watch out for distracting background elements.

Ask friends and family to send their photos to be included in the book as well.

Choose a site that lets you make an online photo book. There are dozens of these, but my experience is with Webshots, Photoworks and Blurb. I found Blurb to be a little more reasonably priced, so now I'm using it the most.

Webshots and Photoworks have gone out of business, but Shutterfly is an option too.

I found the paperback photo books look a little skimpy and cheap (even when they aren't cheap). I recommend choosing a good-sized hardback book for your custom photo book. You want your gift to showcase the work you put into it.

Upload your digital photos to the photo book publishing site that you've chosen. Generally I put the photos into the book in chronological order. The artistic part comes in how you group the photos on each page. Pick out some shots that you want to feature and put those in as a full-page. They will really stand out.

To make the pictures more interesting, use a variety of photo layouts. The photo sites have some standard groupings for 2, 3, 4 and more pictures on a page. Use some repetition of layout here and there to give continuity, but don't just pick one arrangement for the whole book. That's too static.

You can get ideas by previewing photo books published by other people on Blurb. The site lets you view fifteen pages of each book. I've included the link below in Resources for this.

Example of a photo collage (from Zazzle): multi photo collage memories keepsake by FidesDesign

in a Wedding Photo Book

If you have lots of similar pictures like the bridesmaids walking down the aisle, you can group those. Also group pictures if you want to show the many wedding guests. If your pictures aren't high-resolution, then they have to go into smaller photo boxes in the book.

Include photos showing little details like the decorations on the tables or the look on someone's face as the bride walks down the aisle. (photo by vallain) These are memories that the professional wedding photographer is likely to miss. Try to get a photo of the front of the church to include.

Get different angles and choose the best one for the photo book.

Scan in the wedding invitation and use it for a full-page picture early in the book

If you have a photo that's not quite perfect, try out some special effects if you have a photo editing program like Photoshop. Maybe make it hazy around the outer edges.

to the Wedding Photo Book

To enhance the digital photo book, add in some poetry or quotations relating to love and weddings. Usually the online photo book sites offer a range of text fonts. For a wedding book, I like a script that looks like elegant handwriting.

You can find wedding quotations online or visit the library for a book of love poems.

Notice what flowers and colors were used in the wedding. Incorporate these into the custom photo book you are making. If it's roses, lilies or daisies, you can go to a Walmart and take some close-up photos in the fresh flower case or go to a florist and ask if you can take pictures. Intersperse these with the photos taken at the wedding. The wedding colors can become the background colors in the bound photo book.

Review the book carefully before clicking on PUBLISH THIS BOOK. You don't want any spelling errors or duplicate photos. Use the spell check, but also, review it word-for-word.