A few years ago my in-laws celebrated their golden wedding anniversary, and there at the party was their wedding album.  It was a bit tatty round the edges, but fifty years on, the pictures were there for everyone to enjoy.  This is one of my favourites.

Then last year it was my mum and dad’s turn to celebrate 50 years of marriage.  They never got round to putting their photos in an album, so I don’t remember seeing them as I was growing up.  With the big celebration approaching they decided it was finally time to put them in a book so that everyone could look at them and it was lovely to see them.

The digital age of photography is a marvellous thing, but please, I implore you, PRINT YOUR PHOTOS!  Whether you frame them and display them, or put them in an album, just make sure you print them!  Digital files are great, but how future-proof are they?  Just over the last few years we’ve seen cassette tapes, floppy discs and CDs falling out of favour.  They also have a limited life span and can get lost.  Who knows what file formats we’ll be using in fifty years when you’ll hopefully be celebrating your golden wedding anniversary?  Will you be able to show your grandchildren your wedding photos?

One of the best things about my job is when the hard work is finished, and I hand over the link to the finished gallery.  It’s wonderful to see the story of the day come together and be able to share that with my couples.  I love hearing how happy it makes them to re-live their day and see all the little moments and details which they either didn’t notice at the time or they’ve forgotten. 

But one thing I’ve always wondered about is what happens to those pictures after the wedding?  Some couples order a wedding album, either in advance or once they’ve seen their pictures, and I know that they get them out every year on their anniversary.  I’ve worked with some really creative couples who want to make their own and I’d love to know if they actually did and how it turned out. 

There’s no getting away from it, weddings are expensive, and an album is an additional cost at a time when budgets are already stretched.  The most important thing while you’re planning is to secure the right person to document your day, but how about later, once you’ve seen your pictures?  There’s no time limit on when you can order an album.  The first anniversary is a great time as it’s paper, but I’ve done them several years down the line. 

2020 has been a difficult year for all of us, and it’s certainly brought home the important of those closest to us.  A professionally designed and bound wedding album is a wonderful way to remember and share that most special day you spent with your nearest and dearest.

If you always wanted to get an album, but the time wasn’t quite right, or you never got round to it, now’s a great time as I’m offering 20% off all orders placed in October, but you’ll need to get your skates on as it takes a bit of time to get the design perfected once you’ve chosen your pictures.  If you need a little bit longer there’s 10% off in November, and you can still get it in time for Christmas.  If you’d like more details, please get in touch!

And if you need more convincing, here are 5 jolly good reasons to invest in a professional wedding album…

1.      DIGITAL ISN’T INDESTRUCTIBLE!    You’re planning on being married for the rest of your life, so you’ll have to keep those digital images safe for a long while. Technology moves on so quickly and files are easy to lose, either due to hard drive issues, the limited lifespan of the storage media or just not being able to find your disc/USB stick in the back of whichever drawer you saw it last!  Digital images are brilliant, but a photo album is a real life physical back up. 

2.      A professionally designed and printed album will be gorgeous quality and made to last.  You want an album made from the best, professional grade, quality materials that won’t fall apart after a few years from regular wear and tear.  There’s also a lot of skill in arranging your photos so that they flow and tell the story of the day.  I’m a real perfectionist so I literally go over every page with a magnifying glass before I send it to print to ensure that everything is absolutely spot on.  Your album will be PICTURE PERFECT and it will become an HEIRLOOM to pass onto future generations. 

3.      It’s an amazing SHARED EXPERIENCE with each other, and with family and friends.  You want something tangible from your big day, and clicking through images on screen just isn’t the same.  Much as your friends and family love you, they may not want to sit through a slideshow of hundreds and hundreds of photos.  It’s so much easier to look through a carefully curated book of your very favourite images and you’ll look at it far more often.  With a physical object within reach on a shelf or a coffee table, it’s so much easier to pick it up and relive those memories.  You’ll also know that it’ll be there for many years to come.

4.      LIFE TAKES OVER and you may not get round to doing it yourself! Have you got the time to pick out the best shots and organise them in a chronological order that also expertly tells the story of your day, then choose the right place to print it?  When you’re planning your wedding and straight afterwards it’s often all you can think about, but then life moves on and before you know it months or even years have gone by and you just haven’t got round to it.  Especially if you’re like me and you want it to be perfect!  I can help you with that.  Simply pick out your favourite pictures and let me do the rest.  In a few weeks you’ll have a beautifully designed and bound album to show off to your family and friends.

5.      YOU WONT REGRET IT!   Whether it’s right after your wedding, when you’re keen to show off your pictures to your family/friends/work colleagues/the delivery driver, each year on your anniversary, or many years down the line, you’ll never regret investing in presenting your precious memories in a professional quality album.

So, tell me what you think.  If you bought a wedding album, what does it mean to you several years on?  How often do you look at it?  If you planned to make your own, did you do it?  If you did, how did it turn out?  Do you regret not getting an album?

And if an album is something you've been meaning to get round to, get in touch if you'd like to take advantage of my Autumn offer!