Why Albums Still Matter in a Digital World

One day, long after your wedding is over, it will inevitably happen. Your children, and then your children’s children, are going to ask to see your wedding photos. And what are you going to show them? An ancient, outdated, and probably non-functioning disc that won’t work with any modern computers? Don’t think so! The fact is, wedding albums are just as relevant now as they ever have been, regardless of the advent of digital photography, Facebook, and other technologies. A wedding album is a beautiful, timeless, archival display of your photographs laid out as a story book of sorts, and even though I don’t force my brides to purchase them as part of my package, I strongly encourage them to buy one, whether it’s from me or another company, or even if they make their own. I’m not trying to tell you that viewing and sharing your photographs online is not a valid way of enjoying and appreciating them. Not at all! In fact, I vividly remember the first time I saw my own wedding photographs. We had just gotten back from our honeymoon, and our photographer had posted a slideshow. It was the greatest feeling, being able to relive our day that way. And I loved being able to share my photos with all my Facebook friends… it’s part of the reason I chose a photographer that offered a disc of images just for that purpose. BUT, I don’t think there’s any replacement for seeing and feeling your photos in the form of a gorgeous, professional album. They are truly heirlooms, and I don’t think digital photography has made them obsolete at all. In fact, I think they can go hand in hand!

That said, I know what the argument generally is. “But we can’t afford a professional album!” Especially after the wedding is over, your budget is totally blown, and you’ve resigned yourself to eating ramen for the next six months to financially recover from the spending spree that is planning a wedding. And especially if you were on a tight budget to begin with! In fact, most of my brides are, and I love that about them. They tend to be creative, DIY types who appreciate art and good photography, but also want to do a lot of things themselves and save money elsewhere. I totally get that, especially because I too was a bride and didn’t see how a $1000 album could possibly fit into my budget. (And moreover, a thousand bucks for a book?! Dang!) Now, as a photographer, I have a much greater appreciation for the expense and quality of a good album, but I still am sometimes sad to tell brides that the pricing begins at $800, because I REALLY want them to have one, but at the same time I have to cover my own costs, as well as the time and expense of designing, ordering, and shipping them and paying taxes on them. So while I will continue to offer custom-designed, amazingly high-quality albums like the ones you see above, I’m also really excited to introduce the following company to you:

Indigo Album Design.

(above images courtesy of Indigo Album Design)

I am absolutely smitten with this album company for a couple of reasons. For one, they offer so many more options as far as cover treatments, colors, personalization, and design than any album company I’ve seen. I really feel like they fit my aesthetic because all my brides are a little bit different, and I love that they can choose whatever colors and patterns best match their personalities (and their wedding photos!). Furthermore, Indigo will work directly with the public, instead of exclusively with photographers, unlike most pro album companies. They offer custom design services so that you can send them the photographs you want to use, and they will make a design from them, allowing you to do a couple of tweaks to make sure you’re 100% happy with the result. And because you’re ordering directly from them, you’ll be spending significantly less. I’ve found their prices to be very reasonable, especially considering all the options you have and the fact that they’re nice, professional albums, and I think this is an amazing resource for brides on a budget who still want a really nice album!

There are several other companies out there that will let you design your own coffee table-style books, including Blurb and MyPublisher. The great thing is that they’re pretty inexpensive. I used Blurb to design my own wedding album shortly after we got married (and before I became a photographer), and considering I spent less than $100, I was pretty pleased with the overall quality. That said, I’m probably going to do another design using either my album company or Indigo, just because I’d like something with a little bit better quality that will last a long time. But these books are great to give as gifts or to make guest-sign-in books with engagement photos, or books of photo booth photos. Something to consider, for sure!

The bottom line is that my wedding package includes the disc of images for a reason: I want you to have options and control over how your images are viewed and displayed. But by the same token, I don’t want you to fall into the trap of “one day I’ll order a wedding album… one day,” because that day will turn into never and the thought of you not having a wedding album to show future generations just breaks my heart. So whether you have a $100 or $1000 to spend, and whether you buy from me or someone else, please please PLEASE order or create something! Photographs deserve to be freed from pixels onto beautiful paper, so don’t cheat yourself out of that experience.

Wanna see more? Check out this video I made of my albums for the new website I’m working on. If this doesn’t make you want an album of your own, I don’t know what will! ;) (Oh and the song? Ben Folds’s “The Luckiest.” It’s what I walked down the aisle to. Love!)