Wedding Album Help?

[S&I]

This is my first post in the Newlyweds forum (fellow 10-10-10 bride)!

I'm still waiting for my pro-pics to be delivered on DVDs, but I've already started thinking about our wedding albums. I'm planning on doing 1 large one for us, and 2 small ones of the same design, one for each set of parents. I tend to like the super thick almost cardboard-like pages, but I'm not sure what those are called. I was thinking of designing the pages myself in Photoshop, and just sending it to some company to print and bind the album.

Has anyone here designed their own wedding album, and had it printed and bound by a professional printing/album company? If so, I'd love to hear some suggestions on which vendors did a good job or not.

Thanks in advance!

 

[LtlFirecracker]

Hey, I am looking at albums too. My CD should come in next week!

I think you are looking for a "flush mount" album. Many of the high end photo albums, that have those nice thick pages are only sold to photographers. I have found one company that will sell directly to the consumer http://www.storybookpages.com but my photographer is actually giving me a better price so I am going to go through her. But at least you can look at the website and look at the different brands and type of albums.

The two companies I am looking at are Graphi and Leather Craftsmen. Graphi seems to have a more modern lay out, and the prices to reproduce the album (you can make a smaller version as a parent album) are very good. Leather Craftsman has a more traditional layout, and is a tad more expensive. Both have the thick pages you are looking for.

I think most of the really good companies will make you use their software to lay it out.

 

[Bella_mezzo]

We used my publisher and LOVE it! We chose the heaviest page option, the pages aren't cardboard like though, they are sort of in between thick book pages and cardboard. We love our album so much and are thrilled with my publisher. My mom actually sells Creative Memories albums and we sort of pissed her off b/c we didn't want to use her products, but it was SO worth it! We also got a 50% off deal that made it a great price. When we have kids we plan to do albums for each of them with mypublisher too..

 

[wannaBMrsH]

We decided against the photographer albums because they were almost as expensive as the photo packages!

But we got a great deal on blurb.com and there were so many options. We love our album and so do our parents!

 

[S&I]

Thanks for the suggestions!

Sorry I've been away this weekend. My best friend had her first son yesterday so we were at the hospital most of the day.

I'll continue my research. I do have a photographer friend (not the one who took our engagement/wedding photos) that has offered to give me his wholesale prices if I order through a company that he normally works with, so that's probably my best option - if I can find an album style that I like from any of his companies. So far he's suggested AsukaBooks and WHCC. Does anyone here have any experience with those companies?

 

[lulu66]

i'm debating the DIY photo book currently. and i'm so torn. i love the thick pages you mention, but really think low cost is a bigger determining factor for us. so, i'm looking at blurb, mypublisher, and lulu. or debating getting a really nice matted album that displays printed 4x6 pics. i like this idea b/c it's traditional, a throwback to our parents wedding photo album. but really can't decide. my wedding indecisiveness is creeping back in.

anyone else want to share their photo album experiences?? (or just tell me what to do )

 

[moneypenny02]

If you have the photos on a CD or something, there are a few design companies that you can order from that can provide the same kind of flush mount album you can get from your photographer at lower prices.

**edited by moderator. Please comply with forum policies**

She does this on the side, so she doesn't charge very much but I've seen her album and it's fantastic.

 

[S&I]

lulu66, I know exactly how you feel. There's so many options out there for albums, which is why I'm having a hard time deciding which I like the best. So as of yet, I still haven't made a decision.

Thanks moneypenny02! I'll definitely take a look at your friend's Etsy shop this weekend.

 

[lulu66]

lulu66, I know exactly how you feel. There's so many options out there for albums, which is why I'm having a hard time deciding which I like the best. So as of yet, I still haven't made a decision.

Thanks moneypenny02! I'll definitely take a look at your friend's Etsy shop this weekend.

i ended up ordering one for us from blurb. i was pretty happy w/the quality (esp when compared to the price), the photos could have printed a bit crisper i thought; the page thickness was good for me (i upgraded to their premium). i loved the freedom their "booksmart" software gave when it came to designing the album (i could tweak every layout--add/delete more photo boxes, change their shape, move the text/photo boxes around on the page, use fonts from my computer). but, from what you've described i don't think it's what you're looking for--it's not flush-mount & the page are nowhere near cardboard thick.

can't wait to see what you decide & would love a peek & review of it on here once you get it all figured out

good luck!!

 

[moneypenny02]

I posted earlier about my friend's etsy shop & just received an email from the moderators that it was inappropriate & the link to the shop was removed.

I won't cause a stink and try to put up the link again or anything since they have already made the decision that it shouldn't have been placed here since it was a friend of mine. HOWEVER, I really didn't appreciate the scolding email about a "number of my posts" and being made to feel as though I have done something wrong when the ORIGINAL POSTER specifically asked for suggestions for companies to create their wedding album and I was HONEST about the fact that the store owner was my friend and about what I had seen with my own eyes.

I understand the need to keep people from spamming the boards, and perhaps someone was bothered by the post (although I still don't see why), but I don't think that providing relevant, honest information should be penalized.

 

[S&I]

lulu66, I'd love to see how your album turned out. It sounds lovely!

moneypenny02, I'm sorry the moderators got on you when you posted helpful information. I've used Etsy to find wonderful things when planning our wedding, but it still didn't cross my mind to look there. So thanks for the reminder - I thought you were being very helpful!

 

[AustenNut]

We just got our photos from the photographer yesterday, and we'll be doing our own photo album as well. I've heard great things about Adoramapix, and they do the lay-flat layout that so many professional photographers use (but is very hard to find for regular consumers). I also found this great site reviewing a lot of the photo album options. It's http://www.digitalhomethoughts.com/news/show/97676/the-great-photo-book-round-up-review-who-makes-the-best-photo-books.html (man, I hate that I can't figure out how to do neat links in PS2).

What size are most of y'all going with? Are people going with square or rectangular shapes? How many pages? As you can see, I really am in the beginning phases!

 

[UnderBlue]

We've used Shutterfly and I was ecstatic with the results. Got books for Grandma and both sets of parents. I just ordered a bigger leather bound book for us. Can't wait to get it. Got the 50 page book for $70 with coupons, which I think is a steal.

I'm a designer, and they had enough variety in the photo layout to keep me happy. If you do design your own book you're going to want to use InDesign rather than Photoshop to do the layout. It'll be much easier to move and crop the photos and Photoshop is really bad with text. So if you're using captions InDesign is better for that as well. You will need to make sure your photos are the proper resolution/colors/etc in Photoshop as well.