Th e U l ti m at e G u i de to Your Wedding Album Written by: Amy Yeh and Bryan Passanisi
Table of Contents Why Should a Bride Invest in a Wedding Album? Why Hiring a Professional Photographer is a Must Photo Books vs. Photo Albums Photo Book & Album Sizes How is Your Wedding Album Printed? Wedding Album Cover Options: Which is Right for You? Wedding Album Pages: Glossy, Lustre or Matte? Telling Your Story With Your Photos Engraving Your Album How Much Does the Average Wedding Album Cost? 1
Wedding albums can be a confusing subject. There s so many options - do you want a leather cover or metallic? Engraved or not? Glossy or matte? With so many choices it can quickly become overwhelming. Our ultimate guide to wedding albums is here to explain what all of these different options mean and help lead you towards your dream album. 2
Why Should a Bride Invest in a Wedding Album? In today s world, we re able to take thousands of photos and share them online instantly. Having the ability to upload all of your wedding photos to an online album and share them with loved ones all around the world is undeniably convenient, but there s nothing like a tangible keepsake that beautifully captures your special day. A wedding album tells your story, using the best photos that you ve hand-selected in a classy and elegant photo album. For years to come, you, your partner, your parents and someday even your kids will be able to sit down and flip through the album and reminisce about your perfect day. A wedding album is a focused amount of images that tell the story of the wedding, from venue preparations and getting ready, to walking down the aisle, to cutting the cake. Online albums hold hundreds of photos that viewers spend only a few seconds glancing through. As a tangible product, a wedding album is much more accessible to share and pass around in a social environment. Further, digital copies of images can be lost if the disc or hard drive are damaged, and as technology advances, it s difficult to keep the images in a format that can be easily viewed. A physical album is not only a static medium, but it is sturdy and durable and can be passed down through generations. The dress, the cake, and the flowers will only be used once, but a wedding album will last a lifetime. 3
Why Hiring a Professional Photographer is a Must When you re planning the perfect wedding, there are so many different aspects to keep in mind. Bridesmaid dresses, menu selections and seating arrangements are only the beginning. But perhaps the most important thing to keep in mind when planning your wedding is that all of these details will only matter on that single day, but the pictures provide a lasting reminder of the joy and love that surrounded you. When it comes down to it, you want to have high quality photos that accurately depict the beauty and romanticism of your nuptials. These photos will be passed down through generations and you want these cherished memories to be presented in a tasteful and skillful manner. A professional photographer will have not only the best cameras and equipment to capture these treasured moments, but a trained eye that will be able to determine what poses, lighting and angles will look best. A professional will have the knowledge and experience to understand what types of photos you will be happy to receive. It is important to remain budget-conscious when planning your dream wedding, but when it comes to cutting corners, the photography is not the place to do so. Professional-quality photos will be used and appreciated for a long time after the actual wedding, and they are worth every penny. 4
Photo Books vs. Photo Albums Photo books and photo albums are both beautiful wedding keepsakes that contain photos and text that tell a story of your big day. However, the primary differences between the two are the technology, paper and other materials used for printing them. The contrast between the finished products is exceptional when it comes to quality and durability. Watch a video about the difference between wedding albums and photo books Photo books are printed by digital presses on regular, double-sided paper. They are fully customizable with special photo effects, custom text and different types of covers and pages. Typically, photo book covers come in a variety of options, including soft covers, photo covers, leatherette covers and genuine leather covers. In addition, photo book pages can be either lay flat or regular. 5
Lay flat paper refers to the type of binding that is used for the book and describes how the pages lay flat when the book is opened, making viewing the photo book a much more streamlined and beautiful experience. Photo albums are printed by a photographic process onto professional photo paper. They are also fully customizable with special photo effects, custom text and different types of covers. Typically, photo album covers are bound genuine leather or premium leather and almost always feature lay flat pages. Photo albums are generally flush mount, meaning that each page is printed as one photo and then mounted on a thick, durable cardstock that does not fold. The overall quality of the materials used in a photo album is much higher than in photo books, and the difference between the two can be seen and felt instantly. We delve in to the specifics behind the different types of covers, pages and printing technologies in the following sections of this ebook. Watch a video about flush mount albums 6
Photo Book & Album Sizes Wedding albums and photo books come in a variety of sizes. The most common photo book sizes are the following (in inches): 5x7 7x5 8.5x11 10x10 12x12 11x14 Whereas wedding album sizes are (in inches): 8x8 10x10 12x12 11x14 A standard photo book or photo album comes with an average of 20 pages, meaning that if you were to include a minimum of one photo per side, you would be able to include 40 photos in your book or album. Of course, you can add as many photos as you d like and even add extra pages as needed. Today s trends indicate that a lot of brides are choosing a larger wedding photo album, such as 11x14. A larger album means a larger canvas for photos and memories. However, many brides still prefer the traditional 10x10 and 12x12 album sizes. When choosing a size for your album, thinking about where you will store the album will help you decide what size is appropriate for you. 7
How is Your Wedding Album Printed? The way most photo books and albums are printed are quite different. The majority of photo books are digitally printed while many albums are printed using the Silver Halide process. The digital printing process is similar to how you would print out a document or photo from your own printer at home. Photo books that use this process are printed from professional, industrial printers that result in a higher quality than your own personal home printer. The Silver Halide process involves using a negative of your photograph on a light sensitive paper and a piece of equipment called an enlarger. The light sensitive particles are actually called Silver Halide. After the exposure, there is no image on the paper, but just a hidden outline of the photo. Your photo is then taken to a dark room and exposed to different chemicals to reveal the latent image of the photo. Afterwards, the image appears flawless on the cardstock. 8
Wedding Album Cover Options: Which is Right for You? Albums come in a variety of cover options ranging from photo covers, leather covers, printed leather covers to metallic covers. Depending on your preference, one cover may stand out more than another. Let s review the options: Photo Cover - Photo covers are one of the most common cover options for both books and albums. Your favorite photo is printed on professional canvas cardstock and comes in a glossy or matte finish. The process to create a photo cover requires a lot of skill and practice. Watch a BrideBox lab technician create a photo cover for an album Leather Cover - Leather covers come in genuine leather, premium leather and embossed leather. The difference between genuine and premium leather is that genuine leather is created with three individual pieces of leather that cover the front, back and spine of the album. A premium leather album is a single piece of higher quality leather that is custom fitted to the album itself. 9
Embossed covers are single pieces of premium leather with specific designs and patterns. Most embossed covers resemble reptilian skin patterns such as crocodiles and pythons, but BrideBox does also offer an ostrich pattern for the bird lovers. Please note that these embossed leather covers are not made out of real crocodile or snake skin. Photo Printed Leather Cover - Combining the best of both worlds, a printed photo leather cover has your favorite wedding photo printed onto a premium piece of leather that is custom fitted to the album. These printer leather covers come in a variety of colors: Luxury Black Leather Luxury Brown Leather Luxury Tan Leather Luxury Red Leather Luxury Light Blue Leather Luxury Ivory Leather Luxury Orange Leather Silver Ostrich Leather Brown Crocodile Leather Pumpkin Crocodile Leather Printed Leather Photo Cover (an animal friendly option) Luxury Pink Leather Black Crocodile Leather 10
Metallic Photo Cover - A metallic photo cover is a relatively new kind of photo album cover that is a combination of a brilliant (or luminescent) metal with genuine leather. 11
Wedding Album Pages: Glossy, Lustre or Matte? Album pages come with many options including glossy, matte and lustre finishes. Glossy A glossy finish is a shiny coat that is perfect for bright and vibrant photos. However, the main issue with a glossy finish is that fingerprints may show easily. Lustre Lustre is in between glossy and matte. It is not as sharp or vibrant as glossy, but not as muted as matte. It is considered a professional finish and it reduces glare and fingerprints. Matte Matte is a duller, but overall more even finish. Regardless of where light hits a matte finish, your photos will look great because light does not reflect too much off of matte photos. It also has a reduced showing of fingerprints. Matte is considered very professional and many photographers prefer it when creating albums. But, it s not as vibrant as glossy. 12
Telling Your Story With Your Photos Your wedding album is meant to tell the story of your big day. Each carefully selected photograph represents a different moment in the story and sets the scene for that moment. You ll want to remember all the funny details and accurately portray the love that was felt on that day. The most effective wedding albums start with the beginning of the day: the bride and groom each getting ready with the support of the bridesmaids and groomsmen, the venue set up exactly how you dreamed, the important people in your life arriving, etc. Typically each section of the day is split up by a transition image to help streamline the story. As the album progresses, you ll want to be sure that each picture will help you recall the details that made that particular moment special. Expert photographers will be mindful of the album as they shoot the day, and they will be sure to take photos of smaller details such as the cake cutter, cufflinks or shoes. When laying out the images in the physical album, there are several different techniques used that can help accentuate certain images and emphasize the important moments. For example, white space can be used to really draw focus to a photo of the bride walking down the aisle, or the first kiss. Switching from black and white to color photos gives a before-and-after effect. Simple details that go into the design process of the album layout will give your story direction and convey the message that you want. 13
Engraving Your Album Wedding albums usually have the option for engraving, unlike photo books. The engraving is done by a professional imprinting machine and gives brides many options in regards to location, font and color. The location of the engraving can vary, but the most common area is in the lower right hand corner of the album. BrideBox offers three very popular engraving fonts: Angelina Garamond 20th Century Colors - Many brides like keeping their albums relatively simple with engraving colors. The most popular colors are Gold and Silver. 14
How Much Does the Average Wedding Album Cost? The average cost of a wedding album varies based on the quality of the features that you select. For example, a 12x12 flush mount album with a metallic cover that is engraved will certainly be more expensive than a 8x8 flush mount album with a genuine leather cover without engraving. In addition to the quality of materials used, price for wedding albums also varies greatly depending on the photographer. Photographers often include albums as an all-inclusive package deal along with their services, or as an à-la-carte item that can be purchased in addition to their services. Photo albums require a lot of time and energy from the photographer s end, and so they are able to markup the price of an album to whatever they deem worthy of their time and effort. When photographers offer photo albums as an add-on to their photography services, the average cost of an album ranges from $1,000 to $1,500 for a basic flush mount album. Photographers that include photo albums as part of an all-inclusive package generally include 8-10 hours of their photography services, a second photographer, all necessary equipment, digital files, web hosting and the design and creation of the photo album. These packages are meant to give you the idea that you are getting a great deal for the price since you are getting so many different items in the package. However, these packages typically range from $1,500 and can be as expensive as $5,000 or more. 15
Naturally, with so many options, there is a wide range of prices for a stunning, high-end wedding album. BrideBox Wedding Albums offers the same sizes and professional-grade photo albums with a variety of different features to fit your needs, with the added bonus of our easy-to-use online tool that allows you to design every aspect of your own personal keepsake and also enable you to save money in the process. BrideBox s albums are guaranteed to be as beautiful and durable as any other professional-quality album. BrideBox Wedding Albums are about 1 3 of the cost of professional photographer albums When the reception is over, the flowers have dried out, the final piece of cake has been eaten and the last gift has been unwrapped, there will only be the love, the memories and the photos remaining from the big day. A beautiful, sophisticated wedding album is the perfect way to display the beauty and magic that surrounded you on that day. You and your loved ones will be able to look fondly back upon the cherished moments included in this album for generations to come. When all is said and done, your wedding album is a treasured keepsake that will stand the test of time. 16