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Your wedding day will pass incredibly quickly, so it’s important to be totally in the moment and to savour every single second.  Later, when you’ve had a chance to catch your breath, the memories will come flooding in – along with a huge file of images from your photographer.  These need safe keeping, sharing and cherishing.  The best way to do that?  Create a wedding album!  In this post we give you some key tips on how to approach the project in a way that will give you the most satisfaction for years to come.

Why create an album at all?

It’s a tradition that dates back to the earliest days of photography when film was expensive, every shot had to be developed and the only way to display them was in an album.  Today’s wedding photographers take far more shots, there’s no need to develop from negatives and storing/displaying/sharing them doesn’t require a physical album – it’s all done digitally. 

Having said that, you actually have too many photographs, some of which duplicate the same moment and some of which are not so good (someone blinked!).  You don’t want to look back at, or share, every single image.  Also, you’ll want to tell some kind of story, one that shows how the day progressed – and some organising will be required.  Finally, it’s nice to have a physical book you can leave on a coffee table, something tangible you can go through with family and friends, a beautifully presented keepsake – clicking through images on a screen is just not the same and an album is so much easier to pass around in social situations.

How to start sorting the images

On your “first look” at the images just enjoy reliving those moments.  Later, go through with a more critical eye.  All those that you don’t particularly like (it’s not very flattering, the composition is poor…) and which duplicate each other can be put in separate folder.  Now review those that are still left, picking out your favourites and placing them in another file.

Start to group the images into categories: getting ready, ceremony, group portraits, cocktail hour, reception, special moments (like cake cutting, speeches, portraits, dancing and the getaway). How many pictures you have in each category (and how many categories you have) depends on a lot of things, but keep in mind that eventually you'll put only 50 to 100 photos in your finished album.

Also be sure you have shots of everyone, from the father of the groom to the bridesmaids and from your siblings to close friends (you don’t want to offend anyone!).  Also be sure to include images that capture the emotions – the album should not just be a factual record for posterity but a story full of drama and feeling!

Once upon a time…

You need to arrange the shots so that the story is easy to follow.  The easiest and safest way to do this is chronologically.  Try to get a variety of shots in terms of style – this makes the narrative more visually interesting.  For instance, create a mix of formal shots with more candid journalistic type images that capture fleeting moments and expressions.  Mixing black-and-white or sepia with color shots also gives your album more of a dynamic edge. Many photographers suggest a 1:3 black-and-white to color ratio, but anything goes.  Also include detail shots - close-ups of a flower arrangement, of a mouth-watering dessert and of a glass of bubbly.

Think about narrative flow, how one part of the story leads into the next.  Try to include transition shots.  For example, a shot of you both walking away from the ceremony, hand in hand, nicely links to the cocktail reception.

Less is more

Don’t be tempted to cram in too many shots per page.  Some particularly meaningful or beautiful images should have a whole page to themselves, and others may look cluttered if you put more than a couple together. 

How to choose the album itself

We are passionate about giving brides the best possible wedding products and we have created, what we believe, to be the most beautiful album to safely store those precious wedding day memories. Our wedding memory album is made with love… it has a soft touch leather cover, either in white or cream, with gold or silver foiling, two large inner pockets, 50 internal photo pages and a personalization page to add the name of you and your partner.

Here at Your Perfect Day we’ve helped over 350,000 brides plan their wedding. We know weddings, we know brides, and we know you’ll just love this beautiful wedding photo album for years to come.