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Wedding Etiquette Forum
achiduck
member
Have you used Shutterfly (or something similar) - Photo books
So FI and I are debating between two packages that our photographer offers. One includes 2 parent albums (coffee table style) and one doesn't. If we go for the cheaper package we would design our own parent albums through Shutterfly or some other similar website.
Has anyone used these to make photo books and if so were you happy with the results and quality?
Has anyone used these to make photo books and if so were you happy with the results and quality?
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Re: Have you used Shutterfly (or something similar) - Photo books
Shutterfly (as far as I know) doesn't let you change their layouts and only has the option for regular glossy "book" type paper (i.e. it's thin).
I made my wedding album with Adoramapix.com and it's beautiful - real photopaper pages (nice and stiff, no one could crease them without really trying), and no gap in the middle of the page.
Another I've used is Picaboo.com - they offer a really wide range of book types, including flush mounts, which would be similar to a photographer's album.
We chose the padded hard back version, 99 pictures, each book was $28.
We did smaller photobooks with snapfish and was a little disappointed... nice for 'look at my holiday pics' or 'jenny's 23rd birthday' but not so nice for wedding pics, you know?
Wedding stuff.
I'm still working on making a book for us, and I'm going to get something that's higher quality, with lay-flat pages, but for the parent albums, the regular Shutterfly option is fine.
We had our photographer shoot for 8 hours and then just give us all the photos on a hi-res disc. We ordered prints on our own (from Mpix) and it saved a lot of money.
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We might eventually invest in one from the photographer...but for the first couple of month EVERYONE was looking through ours and I didnt' want to spend $800 (how much our photog charges) on something that could potentially get damaged. So instead we spent around $80.
Also, how many pages did you get in your photo books. Did you feel it was enough?
That said I do get a little nervous that over time it's going to end up a total mess, if someone spills something, or has something on their hands or rips a page. The pages are just regular, glossy paper. The good thing is that I can always order another one ;-)
[QUOTE]Thanks ladies! I think we're going to go with the cheaper option then. All of her packages come with an album for us, it was really just the parent albums that we're looking to do elsewhere. Also, how many pages did you get in your photo books. Did you feel it was enough?
Posted by achiduck[/QUOTE]
Normally they start with 20 pages, but you can add as many as you'd like. I think we had like 35 pages.
ETA: There is a cost per page above 20 pages.
We ordered our guest book from Mixbook and I was very happy with the quality of it.
However, we then ordered our parent albums from My Publisher. I had purchased Groupons for $25, which got me a $100 album. They were AMAZING. The quality was a million times better than Mixbook.
I would highly recommend My Publisher, you will not be disappointed. Make sure to check for Groupons first though to save some extra money!!
[QUOTE]Thanks ladies! I think we're going to go with the cheaper option then. All of her packages come with an album for us, it was really just the parent albums that we're looking to do elsewhere. Also, how many pages did you get in your photo books. Did you feel it was enough?
Posted by achiduck[/QUOTE]
We had our parents select around 50-60 pictures, then we added a few of our favorites. I think they were all around 30 pages. And cost about $20? We did the 12x12 option, I think.
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In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_used-shutterfly-something-similar-photo-books?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:3d838552-6b67-49d0-b959-3aaa8d0d268cPost:b01e6132-757c-4b68-ad06-c1de0011061d">Re: Have you used Shutterfly (or something similar) - Photo books</a>:
[QUOTE]We used them for parent books, and the parents were very happy. Trust me, when my parents got married, the option was to have a big, white satin album with plastic sleeves in which you inserted 8x10s. My dad was FLOORED that you can have photos printed on pages, lol.
Posted by msmerymac[/QUOTE]
Not true Mery unless your dad is a lot older than my parents. Maybe your dad hadn't seen them, but my parents' wedding album (in 1961) had the photos printed directly onto the pages. It's a gorgeous album. The pages are about the thickness of cardboard (though much nicer of course) and completely stiff. I'm sure there's a name for that kind of album, but I don't know what it is. I do know they cost a small fortune. It's the same type of album my sister got when she got married in 1990 and I got for my first wedding in 2001.
I used Picaboo for my guestbook and wasn't thrilled with the results at all. The pictures were grainy (even though the photos were high res) and it just wasn't worth what I paid.
I ordered our wedding album through MyPublisher and was THRILLED with the results. It looks beautiful! Definitely professional quality in my opinion
[QUOTE]:Not true Mery unless your dad is a lot older than my parents. Maybe your dad hadn't seen them, but my parents' wedding album (in 1961) had the photos printed directly onto the pages. It's a gorgeous album. The pages are about the thickness of cardboard (though much nicer of course) and completely stiff. I'm sure there's a name for that kind of album, but I don't know what it is. I do know they cost a small fortune. It's the same type of album my sister got when she got married in 1990 and I got for my first wedding in 2001.
Posted by tenofcups4me[/QUOTE]
Who's to say how old her parents are? My parents are 66 years old and got married in 1972 and the only option they had at that time was the huge white album with the slip in pages. (maybe unless you were rich or something and able to buy something as advanced as an album with the photos printed directly on the pages).
And believe it or not - the photos in their album are 40 years old and still look amazing, they stood up to the test of time in a regular old photo album.
[QUOTE]I used Picaboo for my guestbook and wasn't thrilled with the results at all. The pictures were grainy (even though the photos were high res) and it just wasn't worth what I paid. <strong>I ordered our wedding album through MyPublisher and was THRILLED with the results. It looks beautiful! Definitely professional quality in my opinion :)</strong>
Posted by emarston1[/QUOTE]
I totally agree.
I think you were right to choose the cheaper option. Shutterfly, MyPublisher, etc. make nice parent albums. I also designed a very high quality professional album for my DH's parents so that is an option also (although it was still pretty expensive). I did a 10x10, 34 page album for them and for my mom, I did a 24 page 10x8 through Blurb. I have pics of both in my married bio. I actually wish that for my mom's I had done either a little bigger book or less pages as they didn't lay flat in the middle at all and that might have helped.
With All the Trimmings
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Have you used Shutterfly (or something similar) - Photo books : Who's to say how old her parents are? My parents are 66 years old and got married in 1972 and the only option they had at that time was the huge white album with the slip in pages. (maybe unless you were rich or something and able to buy something as advanced as an album with the photos printed directly on the pages). And believe it or not - the photos in their album are 40 years old and still look amazing, they stood up to the test of time in a regular old photo album.
Posted by cindyn9178[/QUOTE]
I'm sorry, but that's simply not true that the only option in 1972 was the slip-in pages. Like I said, my parents were married in 1961 and have the photos printed directly on the pages and I have seen others from that same era printed that way. I imagine they were expensive, but you can't say they weren't available.
I don't know how old Mery's parents are, which is why I included that caveat. And I do know about how old she is so I can make an educated guess about how old they likely are.
[QUOTE]I don't have any experience with Shutterfly or Snapfish, however I did order books from both Mixbook and My Publisher. We ordered our guest book from Mixbook and I was very happy with the quality of it. However, we then ordered our parent albums from My Publisher. I had purchased Groupons for $25, which got me a $100 album. They were AMAZING. <strong>The quality was a million times better than Mixbook. I would highly recommend My Publisher, you will not be disappointed</strong>. Make sure to check for Groupons first though to save some extra money!!
Posted by cindyn9178[/QUOTE]<div>
</div><div>I absolutely LOVE the photobooks we did thru MyPublisher.com! So much better quality than the ones I saw from Shutterfly or Snapfish.</div><div>
</div><div>I did the classic size 20 page for my parents and DH's mother. I also did 2 deluxe size books for DH&I. One book with ceremony pics and the 2nd book from our photo tour on the Vegas strip. </div><div>
</div><div>They are always running specials that you can get via email. We did the parents books with a buy 1 get 1 free offer and our deluxe books with a special where we were able to add unlimited pages for no additional charge. </div><div>
</div><div>Highly recommed mypublisher.com!</div><div>
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