Creating your wedding album – Tips to selecting your 80 photographs

So your big day is done and dusted and now your officially hitched. Congratulations! Within 4 to 6 weeks after your wedding, I should have your edited photos ready and sent to your address. Once you have had a look through your photographs, it is time to start thinking about the 80 images you would like for your wedding albums.

On your USB, you will see two folders, named low res and high res. The photos in both folders are exactly the same, however the high res photographs are simply bigger and are used for printing. The low res photos are used for social media or sharing over email.

To make this easier for you, I have listed a few pointers to keep in mind when making your selections

1. Wedding albums look better when each sheet (2 pages) is designated to a particular event of your wedding. For example, the first “sheet” will usually be groom preparation photos and the second sheet will be bridal preparation shots. Each sheet can comfortably fit between 8 to 15 images and still look aesthetically pleasing. So, keeping this in mind it is best to select between 8 to 15 images for bridal prep, 8 to 15 images for groom preparation, 8 to 15 images from your reception etc
2. Try not to select photos that are to similar to one another. You only have 80 images that you can fit into an wedding album, so it is best to try and select images that provide a good representation of your day. Try not to select two images that are only slightly different.
3. Normally on your wedding day, I will take two group photographs of all of your wedding guests. One looking at the camera and one where everybody is cheering. It is best to only select one of these for your wedding album.. The reason being is that I will try and fit one of these across and the entire sheet (which looks great).. If you select the other group photograph, I am not quite sure what to do with it to be honest. I can not fit the other one across a sheet as it will take up to much room in the album, and I can not make it small as you won’t be able to see everyone.
4. Don’t select to many black and white photos. In my experience, wedding albums look best when the majority of the images are colour and you have a few B&W images scattered in. I think around 10 percent black and white is a good mix
5. You don’t have to have 80 wedding photographs in your wedding albums. In fact, I think a few less images looks better as it allows me to create more white space between the images.
6. You may not get exactly the same photographs you selected. As every wedding album is made uniquely with a custom layout, in order to make the albums look good, I may need to drop, exchange or even add photos from your sections.. If I need to drop a couple of your selections (which is rare) I will ensure they won’t be important ones I.e family photos, exchanging rings, signing the marriage certificate etc
7. When sending me your selected images, be sure to let me know if you would like black or white wedding album covers.

So there you have it. Once I have your selections it will take me between 4 to 6 weeks for me to design your albums, have it published and sent to your address. Your wedding albums will be delivered to your doorstep, but if you are not home you may have to pick it up at your local post office or news agency.