| Following many threads on social media and wedding | | | | in favor of getting a photo book, there are also |
| forum web sites, I repeatedly have come across the | | | | some pretty good reasons against it. As said earlier, |
| question of where to go with your photos if you | | | | wedding photo albums are more expensive, but their |
| want to make your own wedding photo album. One | | | | still are good value for money, if you consider what |
| common advice is to go to blurb, Shutterfly or other | | | | you get. You get a proper heavy cover made of real |
| photo book makers. Also, it is often noted that many | | | | or faux leather, which has a substantially better feel |
| wedding photo album makers, like Queensberry, do | | | | to it than the hard or soft-paper cover of a photo |
| only business with photographers. But should you | | | | book. |
| really get a photo book for your wedding photo | | | | The photos in your wedding album are developed |
| album? This article is trying to highlight the pros and | | | | with a chemical process. Their resolution is perfect |
| contras of photo books in comparison to proper | | | | and their colors never fade. This might be true for |
| wedding photo albums. | | | | some high-quality photo books, but the majority of |
| Pros | | | | them uses laser-jet printing resulting in a notably |
| There are several reasons in favor of photo books. | | | | lower photo quality. The pages in a proper wedding |
| For starters, they are easily available. You can chose | | | | photo album are made of solid paper or carton (true |
| between a multitude of different providers, they | | | | only for flush-mount albums). Again, this leads to a |
| come cheap with prices starting from 10 Dollars and | | | | much nicer feeling when flipping through the album, |
| they are delivered very quickly with e.g. blurb | | | | than the floppy thin pages of a photo book. |
| delivering most books within 7 to 10 business days | | | | And finally regarding the design, if you really want to |
| after ordering. Proper wedding photo albums on the | | | | design your own wedding photo album, it is not at all |
| other hand are much harder to get your hands on. It | | | | a bad idea to use a professional software for it like |
| is true that a lot of firms do only business with | | | | DG Foto Art, Photoshop or Gimp. This requires some |
| photographers and other wholesale customers. Prices | | | | practice and skill, but only pro software provides you |
| are considerably higher and delivery times vary from | | | | with the sophisticated fading, transparency, shadow |
| 2 weeks to 6 months. | | | | and photo touch-up effects you will need to make a |
| Also, if you want to make your own design, photo | | | | state-of-the-art album layout. The simple self-design |
| book companies often provide a design software, | | | | software of the wedding photo album makers gets |
| which allows you to put together a simple album | | | | you only half the way. |
| layout within minutes. Often the software has an | | | | Conclusion |
| integration into the ordering process, so after | | | | A wedding photo album is one of the most important |
| designing it is a piece of cake to upload your photos | | | | safekeepers of the memories of your wedding day |
| and submit your order. Wedding album makes usually | | | | and you will look at it again and again, possibly for |
| don't provide this feature for two reasons: often the | | | | the rest of you live. Therefore, all the money you |
| companies are too small to develop their own | | | | invest in it is invested very well. Therefore, I would |
| software and in most cases those programs are not | | | | advice you to go for a wedding photo book, only if |
| sufficient to create the sophisticated layout design | | | | you don't care too much about all this "wedding day |
| required for a real wedding photo album. | | | | fuzz" or, if your budget simply does not allow for |
| Contras | | | | more. Otherwise, get a proper wedding album, |
| While all the points mentioned so far are more or less | | | | because on the long run it is worth it! |