Happy Monday everyone! Today's blog is short but important. Today we are talking about picking the best images for your wedding album. Over the past 12 years of doing wedding photography Sarah and I have designed hundreds of wedding albums. After a time we started to develop a philosophy when it came to how these albums should be built. Similar to our business philosophy, which is to revolve everything we do around love, our photo album method is to tell a love story.
It is very easy to grab 30 or so of your favorite photos and drag them into a folder and hit the place order button. It’s fine to do that if that's what you want but realize that your photo album could be so much more. Your future granddaughter could pick this book off the shelf and see either a common book of old photos or they could be reading a fairy tale. The difference is that one book is made up of good photos and the other of course tells a story and has the potential to be a time machine!
When you're designing your book remember that you're weaving a narrative. Additionally not as many photos fit into a standard album as you might think. In my opinion that is a good thing. You might have 700 photos in your wedding album and have to narrow that down to 30-40. That means that only the cream of the crop are going to make the cut.
There are 5 main parts of a wedding day when it comes to photos.
Preparation ( getting ready shots. Make-up, getting into the dress, first look with bridesmaids etc… )
Couples and bridal ( Immediately after the first look if you have a first look. If you do not have a first look they will should be done immediately following the ceremony. )
Formals and bridal party (Bridal party shots followed by your more formal family posed shots )
Ceremony
Reception ( Cake cutting, dancing, speeches etc…)
I would recommend picking 4-5 photos from each part of the day and then fill the remainder of the book with couples shots as they are going to be the star of the show in this story book.
Personally I like to pick the photos which are the most expressive whether or not they are the best photos because they are the ones that tell the best story. As an example a grainy photo of your grandfather laughing and having a moment with your fiance is worth more than a perfectly lit and staged photo of your rings.
So, to sum this up I would say to keep the mindset of telling a story and imagine someone picking this book up in 30 years. Be in their shoes as you design and think about how they will read it. Will they be looking through old photos or will they be transported back to a special time and place in your life and in the history of your family.
Sarah and I are open for bookings in the Southern Ohio and Northern Kentucky area as well as traveling sessions. If you’re interested in possibly booking a session just hop over to the contact page and shoot us an email!
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Thanks for reading!
- Jordan Epperson