DIY Wedding Albums

firegrl43 · June 2011

This question is for any of you ladies who chose not to get a photography package that included an album, instead choosing to make one yourself. The photographer I'm leaning towards includes an album in the package but its super plain and basic (one image per page, no different layouts, etc). My fiance especially likes the look of some of the nicer albums we'd seen with other photographers particularly albums where a photo can spread across the two page layout. So basically I'd like to make something a little nicer than a standard Snapfish album. Anyone know of other sources (online or otherwise) where I could use my dvd of images to make a nice album??

paprika28 · June 2011

Picaboo, Photobook America. Groupon usually runs sales for either of them. Definitely worth it to check out. I spent $35 and I now have $115 to spend at Photobook america. Granted, I also have $200 to Picaboo and 2 8x8 20 page hardcover photo books.

Thank you, Groupon.

angel33284 · June 2011

I think the issue is not going to be where you can get a ice book made. Im sure the wedding book people will accept a job on a one time basis from a bride and you shouldn't have any trouble googling the wedding wedding album companies until you find the design you like.

your real issue is going to be finding a graphic designer to lay it out for you and is not going to cost you an arm and a leg. People seem to overlook the design skill that is involved with creating a nice album. You're probably looking at between $500 and $1000 just to have it laid out.

[Deleted User] · June 2011

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_pennsylvania-philadelphia_diy-wedding-albums?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:105Discussion:4ed95129-2d51-4713-ab45-21207f8fa2c7Post:f4c4600e-331f-432a-bac8-cfbd7d606de9">Re: DIY Wedding Albums</a>:
[QUOTE]your real issue is going to be finding a graphic designer to lay it out for you and is not going to cost you an arm and a leg. People seem to overlook the design skill that is involved with creating a nice album. You're probably looking at between $500 and $1000 just to have it laid out.
Posted by angel33284[/QUOTE]

<div>I 100% agree! </div><div>We went with a package without an album to get a better photog upfront with the intention of paying her to do the album later on. We still are going with this plan, she knew we wanted to do this all along. We just didn't have the extra cash a year ago. </div>

LaRositaMonita · June 2011

The deal with making an album yourself is that the companies that the pro photographers use will not allow anyone but professional photographers to make albums with them. Zookbinders, KISS wedding books, GraphiStudio, etc...you must be a professional photographer in order to place an order with them. This is because as a general rule these companies do not charge tax on their orders, as each photographer will charge tax based upon where their business is located. It's also because the hi-res image files needed to create layouts for these albums are generally the kind of thing you need to create in professionally-oriented software.

ButtonsPepper, a former knottie, had a good experience making something approximating a professional flushmount album, but I forget now what site it's from. (maybe picaboo?) You can try paging her to ask if you're interested.

If you are set on making your own album (because, let's face it, photographers have a monopoly on the really good stuff and upcharge the heck out of their albums because of it - with good reason, though), I would highly recommend using MyPublisher. Their books are coffee-table-book-style - glossy pages rather than actual photo prints mounted to a substrate core like you'd get with a flush-mount pro album. However, their quality is wonderful and you have the option of adding things like a leather cover, a cutout photo on the cover, etc. They are also the only company (at least that I know of, correct me if I'm wrong!) that has lay-flat pages on their books, so you can create a two-page spread-type look easily. The software you use to make the album is pretty dummy-proof, too, and they have some nie non-cheesy-looking layouts so you feel like you're creating something professional-quality. They run a lot of 2-for-1 coupons, too - which made it a great option for creating two parent albums after my wedding for Christmas

Hope that helps!

dibsontop · June 2011

I made my album. I designed the layouts in Photoshop Elements and then uploaded the resulting images to Mpix. The quality of their albums was amazing. And the prices weren't bad either.

LaRositaMonita · June 2011

^ was it mpix that buttons made her album through? Their stuff is also great - I forgot all about them. You do have to do all your own designing, though.

dibsontop · June 2011

I don't think BP used Mpix. I think it was either Picaboo, like you said, or MyPublisher.

drink227 · June 2011

BP use Pickaboo

If you do MyPublisher - I loved them. I made my parent's albums. A couple pictures
were cut off and I was able to fix my album and get it reprinted for free!

HaveAGoodDay · July 2011

There is one company out there that allows not only professional photographers, but anyone to upload images and have a book created for them.

We Design Albums.com is actually owned by an album manufacturing company that provides many pro photographers with their custom albums.

A 10x10 album starts under $300 complete with professional design included.

DIY Wedding Albums

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