Thinking of Making Your own Wedding Album?

I won't say it the very best part of photographing a wedding; but it is very good, indeed - the look on the face of the newlyweds when they first see their album!

A professionally produced album is very impressive: the look and feel is something that can't be conveyed properly by screen shots or pdf draft pages.

You may think you know what it is like if you have seen the press printed books from DIY companies and stores -  but they are just not the same as the real thing. No, I am not criticising the Blurbs and Snapfishes and Harvey Normans out there: they do quite a nice photobook, for what they are. They may even look like a cheap option that is as "good as the real thing", but they are really not in the same class. They are not as cheap as they seem, either unless you are willing to settle for the smallest book with the minimum number of standard quality papers..

Why? Well, the design software is limited in what it can do (every company provides its own software); the paper stock and bindings are well below professional standard and limited in range compared with what is available to professional designers and photographers, and the range of formats is quite small. While a professional can make a book in virtually any length/height combination, the do-it-yourself books are limited to a small number of square and standard sizes - 5x7, A4, maybe A3. Often you have to settle for a landscape book when your photos really need a portrait album and vice versa.

Want a lay-flat album? Good luck! Want "real" photo printing on true photographic stock? Sorry - lower quality rotary press printing like that used for a magazine is the standard. How about an acrylic cover? Or a metallic print? Real leather? If you hunt around, you can find some of these options, but then you have to give up other features that you may also value, because the bindings on a standard album aren't strong enough to support these heavy covers without breaking. You may also be shocked by the cost...say $200 to add an acrylic cover to an A4 press printed album.

But, you say, I can print my own album on the web for $30. So you can! But add postage and handling, and it's now $50. Go beyond the minimum page numbers and you'll get no change from $200 for a 40 page book - and that's without quality page options and end papers. Look for a larger format like A3 and if you can get one at all in the style you like...an extra $450.


Not that many of these books ever actually get made. You'd be surprised by how many couples are still getting around to ii on their 5th anniversary! And that means I never get the joy of watching them take their album out of its presentation case for the first time (Oh yeah - presentation case, optional extra, $60).

One Nice Wedding Freebie

There are lots of freebies on offer for brides - most of them end up costing more than if you paid for them, and those that don't you probably didn't need anyway! There are a few essentials though, and close to the top of many brides "must have" lists are their hair styling and professional make-up for the wedding day.


Hair and make-up are a bit like photography... anyone can take a picture, but there is the world of difference between an amateur and a professional photographer, and it's the same with make-up.  And, as a wedding photographer I get annoyed at the time I have to spend  touching up photos because the bride's make-up artist let her down... Not that I would ever say anything to the bride - I just "fix" it in post production to  make sure that, in her wedding photos, she looks as gorgeous as she deserves to be on her wedding day.

How do you avoid make-up and hair disasters, and what does all this have to do with freebies? You should very politely refuse your cousin's best friend's offer to have her sister do your hair or your make-up; and hire a professional. If the cost seems too high, shop around or take up our offer of free hair styling and make-up (good for all brides booking with Practicaps Weddings). - and yes, that is an ad, sort of; but I imagine that there are other photographers who have a similar arrangement with their colleagues in the hair and make-up fraternity... ask them!

Many quality businesses are happy to be in these cross promotions - I work with two great hair and make-up artists (Cam Lam and Mina Arnaout), and a top spray tanning specialist (Tracy at Bare Mystique); it isn't just good for the brides, but it works for me - I can be confident that the girls will look their very best, that their make-up will last the whole, long day, that they are not going to be distressed by a hair or mascara malfunction... that makes my task so  much easier!

It's good for the make-up team, too, because the majority of brides who take up the offer have bridesmaids who need their hair and make-up done to the same standard, which covers the artists costs. A win-win situation.

Christmas and New Year - the Engagement Season

It's true - there are more people celebrating engagements this week than at any other time of the year - except possibly Valentine's Day.

What a Christmas present, what a New Years Resolution! And what a busy time for us wedding photographers... although it is often a question of having the confidence  to say "no" and wait for the Right couple.

I generally do not accept any commissions over the Christmas/New Year period. My children come home for those weeks and it's "family time" for Jean and me... so I have time to think through the requests and referrals that start to flow in. Some are obvious starters: the sister of a young man whose wedding I photographed in 2009 - She was a lovely Maid and I could never say "no" to her. And a bride who is planning to hike into the mountains after the ceremony for her Location Photos, even though it means getting changed in a bush clearing: that  appeals to me.



Others are less obvious; locations like the beautiful Eschol Park House are always a draw (my Wife's favourite venue) and we will probably accept the request for that, although it is a budget photo package.

An enquiry from a keen scrap booker who wants to do her own album is tempting, just to see what she does with out images - the others, well I'll just have to wait until I meet the prospective clients; how we get on together really makes all the difference.