Wedding Albums From Professional to Personal

No matter if a couple is married one year or fifty; one of their most treasured possessions is their wedding albums. The day where a bride and groom celebrate their love with family and friends is unmatched. Photos and videos are the best way to preserve the memories and the moments.

Wedding albums can be from the handmade to the extravagant. The first key is the photos themselves. When weighing out how to spend funds on a wedding, it is better to allocate more to the photos and less to other areas such as a limo or the reception. You only have one chance to record the special day, but the guests well understand a lighter meal at the reception.

A professional wedding photographer is a must. To help with the cost, some wedding photographers can be hired for just the ceremony. Then a friend or family member with a good camera can be the designated wedding photographer at the reception photographer. A paid photographer is experienced at all the different shots of the wedding itself and the family and wedding party. Placement of people, shade of lighting, and grouping of individuals all blend together to produce the masterpieces that will compose the professional wedding albums.

Another added advantage with a wedding photographer is to have a pre wedding photo shoot for just the bride. With a controlled atmosphere and less confusion that on the wedding day, the photographer can work privately with the bride to get unique and specialized photos. Outdoor settings also add a lovely backdrop.

Some photographers include in the wedding photos package a newly wed or engagement photos. Ours became a newly wed photo session because we never got it done before the wedding day. This type of session focuses on both the bride and groom, in a more relaxed setting. The wedding day is great, but this sitting focuses on how you got to the wedding- the love story.

After the three photo shoots are done, then the laying out of the album can take place. The bride, groom, photographer, and the wedding planner (if one was hired), sit down and look through all of the photos. Many times the album will be laid out to tell a story. Typically the wedding package will come with a set number of photos for the album, and more can be added at more cost.

The story is weaved together, one page at a time. A more traditional wedding album design is to have one photo per large page. In a post bound book, photos of the entire party can be laid out between two pages without a break in the photo. This is one way to keep the photos all in the same orientation.

Another very popular way is the digital wedding albums. To non computer people sometimes the term digital turns them off. But instead think if it as a way to focus the pages on exactly what you want to show. Many studios today will have the photos uploaded onto the computer screen. Then photos can be cropped, laid out in groups, or arranged in different ways.

Great enjoyment can also be gained from the non-professional photos. It is a great idea to have not only the professional photographer on hand, but also have a friend or family member with a nice camera on hand. With a second designated wedding photographer, many additional memories will be captured. After the wedding it is ideal if all of the photos are saved to a CD. Then the new couple can sit down with wedding album software and layout the photos. The software allows for rotating photos, cropping, lightening, and other adjustments. Other options include changing them to black and white and sepia tones. Then they can be printed out on a photo printer.

Once the photos are printed then they can be inserted into a wedding album. Albums themselves can either be post bound as mentioned above, three ring (loose leaf) style, or strap bound. The three rings allows for easy insertion, removal, and arranging of photos. Over time the rings can become loose and separate, thus allowing pages to slip off of the rings. The post bound book is harder to add and rearrange, but it does allow for continuous pictures, one side to another. The strap bound is a very classic type of binding. This is the easiest style to add many additional pages to. Some strap bound are designed with covers to slip photos in and out of.

Now for a wedding album cover. The covers themselves can be selected to reflect either someone’s personal choice, colors of the wedding, or even the ceremony location. The leather wedding albums are many times engraved with the bride and groom’s names and also the date. Gold lettering makes these quality books more customized. Some covers are covered in lace to match the wedding colors. Still others are designed with themes such as sea shells for the beach wedding.

Popular wedding album sizes are the large twelve inch square. The large ones accommodate large prints or a whole collection of photos. The matted or the flush mount wedding albums can be assembled with this large layout.

A smaller more personalized wedding photo album can be achieved with a collection of smaller 4x6 or 5x7 prints. Specially laid out by the bride, they are a perfect way to say “Thank You” to the ladies in the bridal party, the Parents, and others.