Albums, Prints, and Scrapbooks
by Joseph Prezioso
So your wedding is over. You now find yourself with close to a thousand images from your wedding. So what do you do with them? The obvious questions are always there, do I put them in an album, enlarge them, or scrapbook? And which ones?
Choosing your images for a scrapbook or an album all goes tie in tie with the style you had your wedding shot in. There are many styles of albums available today and they come in many sizes, shapes and materials. Albums can be matted or not, with images bound directly to the page like a printed book. Each type is made to be customized and designed into your wedding album. It is up to you to find what style best suits you. Talk to your photographer prior to your wedding to find out what type of albums they recommend, and if they are familiar with wedding scrapbooks.
Knowing ahead of time how you will want to present your images can be a helpful factor in choosing your photographer. You wouldn't want a photographer that shoots a wedding for moments if you wanted a documentary storybook wedding, or vice versa. Look over your images, separate piles of your proofs into the images you like the most. You can than make your own 4x6 mini album with them using a inexpensive 4x6 album. Go through it several times until you have selected the images that you believe best tell the story of your wedding day, the way you want it to be told. From there you can decide to how you want to present those images.
When choosing your images, your photographer can always help you. If you want your album to be a story of your wedding day, than you will probably want more images in it than if you wanted an album with the best 10 or 20 moments of the day. You have to choose whether or not you want your album to represents certain moments or to be a photo essay of your wedding day. If you want to scrapbook, you can customize each and every page in endless ways. They can contain prints, favors and memorabilia from your wedding day. Supplies are usually available at your local arts and crafts store, and in the end the cost of putting together your own album can be a lot cheaper than having a custom designed and assembled album from your photographer.
The downside factor is that it can take a lot of time to scrapbook and you won't know the final outcome until it's finished. A upside factor to having a photographer design your album is that with todays software, a digital album can be designed, allowing you to select album styles. You can also click and drag images into the album so that you can preview it. With digital you can actually see your finished album before you order it, allowing you to make sure that you are satisfied with each page layout.
No matter how you have decided to present you wedding day, in the end all that matters is that you are happy and proud with the way you chose.
- Joseph Prezioso is with Joseph Prezioso in Middleton, MA, and has been a WedPlan Member since Feb 2006.
