Albums, albums, albums ... I received a 'rush' of album orders right before and after the Christmas holidays. The albums are finally starting to come back from the vendors.
A lot of time and energy goes into album design. I normally ask the bride and groom to submit about 75 images for inclusion in their album ... that's the easy part. Putting those choices into a collection that flows, that's creative and unique, and one that faithfully illustrates their wedding day is the hard part. The better I've gotten, the slower I've gotten - it takes me anywhere from 15-20 hours to layout and finish an album. That equates to 2-3 weeks of scratching my head -- starting, stopping, re-doing, scrapping ideas, etc. Since this is such a large investment on my end, I have to make sure that I get it right the first time. Several of the demo albums that I have in the studio are ones with typos, flow issues ... things that I would not dare pass to my customers. Total design, print, and bind time varies. Depending on the type of album, vendor, and the season, expect up to 6 months. Also, if you order your album after your allotted time, you have to get in the 'album queue' ... your 6 months starts then.
For those of you who are interested in custom albums, here are my suggestions for a successful album:
- spread your images across the day - don't clump them all from one part of the day
- let those images be mostly about you and the your spouse - don't forget that it is your day
- keep the images as dynamic as possible - there's nothing wrong with the formal portraits in the album, but you want to keep things moving
- no yearbooks, scrapbooks, or memory books ... keep the number of images down - plan for 1-3 images per page average (30-page book = 90 images max)
- let your ideas for the album be known upfront, but at the same time let your photographer/designer be creative ... after all, it is his/her interpretation of the day
- the sooner your order your album after then wedding, the fresher it is on my mind ... that's a plus for me
A lot of photographers don't allow the couple to choose the images -- the photographer chooses. That would really make my life a lot easier, but allowing the couple to choose the images adds insurance that I won't choose the wrong images or miss the most important ones. What I like and what the couples likes can be two different things and I can respect that.
I will publish a link to a few of my demos shortly ...
