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).