Albums, albums, albums!  The first part of the year is the busy season for designing and delivering wedding albums!  I thought I would start off my Tuesday Product Tour Series with some awesome images of recent albums and my thoughts on the process as a whole:)

The value of albums…

Albums are just one of the products that I offer to clients post-wedding – but I think it is the most important.   I take my job of being your personal historian very seriously!  After photographing one of the most important days of your life what better way to tell the story of that day than in an album.  Prints are great but they aren’t organized in a way that tells the story.  Canvas images have that WOW factor hanging on the wall of your living room – but again no story.  Proof books, gallery wraps, digital negatives – all great products and offer you a variety of ways to enjoy your images but albums are different.  Albums allow you to relive the story of your day for years to come AND to pass along that story to your kids, grandkids, great nieces, your neighbor George – whoever in your life that is going to be the caretaker of your history.    So do I think you need an album?  Absolutely – preserving your history is that important!

Designer:  You?  Me?  Us?

With a large variety of online tools that allow clients to create their own album (Blurb, Kodak, etc) clients often want to know my thoughts on them designing the album on their own.   Most of my clients are artsy, DIY fanatics who like to get their hands dirty when it comes to creating a vision for their day.  But similar to not suggesting clients photograph their own wedding day :) I also try to counsel them not to create their own album – but instead let a professional photographer (like me!) create an album for them and then work collaboratively on the edits.

Why do I suggest a professional?  Well I am glad you asked….

Reason #1: Professional photographers are able to offer you professional level products – albums that will last for generations even after you have turned the pages of your albums hundreds of times reliving your wedding day.  In comparison the album clients create on their own might not have that staying power.

Reason #2: Professional Photographers are experts at image selection and editing.  Weddings are emotion filled days and when you look at your wedding images (all 600-1200 of them) the emotion and love of that day will come flooding back to you.   And it is in that emotion filled state that clients who choose to create their own albums need to select 50-100 for their album.   JUST 50-100!  It sounds crazy even as I type but a typical album includes 50-100 images and selecting those images be an emotional roller coaster – and thats just for me!  Imagine how it can be for the bride and groom!  I give my couples a helping hand by creating a pre-design that they can use as a starting point for changes and alterations.

Reason #3 – Professionals know how to tell your story – in images  - designing an album focused on storytelling:)  I let the the images I select visually recreate your day  – the emotion, the details, the tears, the love – the everything!  I adore my clients and as we work together I get to know their likes and dislikes.  Armed with this knowledge I am able to approach the process objectively and get the job done.  For brides and grooms its often more difficult to have that objective eye and select images that truly tell the story, relating the events of the day in images that you love.    Let your photographer help you here!

So what does this mean to you ( and by you I mean Bride and Groom)

Well I hope I have given you some things to think about when you are considering The Album Question every couple faces.  Above all else I think albums are an important part of your wedding – like the dress, the cake and the first dance!  These are all key parts of your day and ones you aren’t likely to go without – consider you album selection in that same way.    When in doubt talk to your photographer about The Album Choice.  You may be pleasantly surprised to find that they have some great ideas that will fit right in with yours.  I offer a large (too large?) variety of album options for my clients because I think all clients should have an album even if they are an awesome artsy DIY couple who build their wedding arbor from scratch with wood they collected in their woods  and can’t imagine outsourcing something as important as their album – yes I even have an album for them:)

Walk the walk??

As a girl who is getting married this year herself albums are at the top of mind when I am thinking of the photographs that I will have of that day.  I myself have thought of creating my own album – I mean come on!  I am professional!  I create albums for clients of course I can do it for myself.  But then I realize the advice I give to my clients applies to me as well – with my heightened emotions about the day can I clearly weed through 1200 images and select the best way to tell the story of the day?  I am wicked emotional anyway and picking the images for the album will be like picking which of my nieces is my favorite – IMPOSSIBLE – I think I will leave it in the capable hands of my professional photographer.

What do you think?

xo,

audra

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