For Newlyweds Only - Who helped you design your wedding album?

michele31 Posted: Dec 24, 2002 12:26 AM

Who helped you design your wedding album?

A friend of mine recently told me that her photographer mentioned that MOST studios have the secretary help brides/grooms design their album, or you have to just leave the proofs you like with the photographer and they design it for you- without your input. I found that very strange. I also know that most of my friends proofed their album pages BEFORE they were finalized and produced. What has been your experience with this? I KNOW Mark Kauffman does not have his reception help design albums, and that we proof ALL of our pages so that we can make changes if necessary. Opinions on this would be very helpful.

Valenia Posted: Dec 24, 2002 07:33 AM

Re: Who helped you design your wedding album?

When I went to Mark Kauffman he didn't have a receptionist. I wonder if it was just the time of day I went...

I used Creative Compositions, and the photojournalist we worked with helped us design our album and to layout our parents. And yes, we also get a chance to proof the enlarged pictures before they go in the album.

At other places there was a non-photographer that helped with the albums. I noticed that at B rett M atthews since a meeting was going on when we visited. Personally, I wouldn't be so worried about the 'secretary'. All you need is someone to sit with you who knows options and prices for types of pages, and who has seen lots of albums. Who says a 'secretary' isn't capable of being helpful?

Meg9-20-02 Posted: Dec 24, 2002 08:03 AM

Re: Who helped you design your wedding album?

I used Imagine Studios and Lia (the photographer) is helping us design our wedding album. We will meet with her after the holidays to get started (she said that we should alot at least a few hours for our meeting with her).

VickiC Posted: Dec 24, 2002 08:06 AM

Re: Who helped you design your wedding album?

We designed our own album. We picked what photos we wanted, put them in what order we wanted, and gave our photographer the proofs. He was surprised that we did that, and I think he was happy that we knew what we wanted.
We also will proof all pictures before they get bound into the album.

octobergirl Posted: Dec 24, 2002 08:13 AM

Re: Who helped you design your wedding album?

I sat down with my photographer for 4 hours doing the layout of my album. She really put a lot of thought into the process and I couldn't be happier!!!

yabbobay Posted: Dec 24, 2002 08:23 AM

Re: Who helped you design your wedding album?

Michele...

I was lucky to have my sister (who used to work in the wedding photo business) and we spent hours one night on the floor laying out photos...

1. I pulled out EVERY picture that I thought I MIGHT want in the album

2. We put them in order of what the album should be

3. We picked out a good first picture

4. went through the getting ready and then each stage...when they are all there...you will be able to weed some out

5. keep in mind that you have pages facing each other...so besides the first and the last page...make sure photos opposite each other are on the same theme

6. find a good middle picture

7. find a good end picture

8. keep in mind b/w vs color...if they are on the same set of pages - make sure there is a sort of balance

I ended up with 63 pictures...some pages have one...some have 2...some have 3 and there are some dancing shots that are 4...

I still ended up talking with my photog for about 2 hours...going through everything...he then told me what sizes would look good (ie when I though t it should be 10x10...he explained why 8x 10 would be better)

good luck... Im going to set up a page that looks somewhat like our album...I'll give you the link if that helps...

ss2002 Posted: Dec 24, 2002 08:33 AM

Re: Who helped you design your wedding album?

Great question! We're going through this ourselves!

Yabbobay, thanks for the excellent advice. You more or less covered everything our studio suggested. They especially emphasized the flow of the pictures...you want your album to almost be like a chronicle of the day.

Our studio (Cassarino) asks that you make an appointment to see an album 'consultant'. I'm not sure of their credentials-they are basically there to help you put your pictures into an album.

Good luck, Michele. From what you've posted, you have many, many beautiful pictures to choose from-it's not going to be easy to narrow them down!!

RichsBride Posted: Dec 24, 2002 08:51 AM

Re: Who helped you design your wedding album?

Our photographer(Christine Spelman) selected all of the proofs that she thought were the very best. She used a large slip in style album & placed in in the order of the day(as Yabbobay listed) including placing multiple pics together on a page when it looked best.
We knew that our appointment would be with Gina, an employee that works by appointment only assisting couples finalize their album.
We had this appointment less than one week after we got home. The layout was beautiful, the only problem we had was that they were 120 pictures in there. We paid for a 60 page album, so we did feel like it was a bit of a sell(an extra $1000). We explained this to Gina & she responded immediatly & helped us to eliminate shots that weren't crucial to our story or that we didn't love for whatever reason. I think we ended up with 80 pictures & we feel it is complete.
I'm thankful that Christine narrowed it down(out of 800 or so) & I'm thankful that we did it right away. We took our proofs home that day & made our parent albums up ourselves. We also selected our Thank you that day.

Wow, I babbled but the point is that I felt our photog. spent time on it & Gina was extremely quailified & has seems thousands of albums.
Your pics are amazing & your album is going to be beautiful

LisaT Posted: Dec 24, 2002 09:13 AM

Re: Who helped you design your wedding album?

we got a little crazy...

we scanned in all the pictures we wanted in our album, and then created the pages in powerpoint/photoshop. The photographer gave us the different shapes and sizes of the mats, and we cropped and matted pictures electronically.

Now we have an electronic version of our album (that we email to everyone), and we'll take it to photographer so they know the exact order, layout and photo size for each page.

Its a little extreme, but we're a little picky...so we were better off doing it ourselves rather than leaving it up to the judgement of the studio. We first attempted to go the route of sitting with a photographer, but were a bit disappointed in that scenario.

And it was fun, we opened a bottle of wine and just did that for a bunch of hours. We also had a lot of time to do it, since we woulnd't be meeting with our photographer until our next trip to NY (which is now).

NIHA Posted: Dec 24, 2002 09:33 AM

Re: Who helped you design your wedding album?

Michele,
I've met with Jo, Mark's office manager/creative consultant 2x so far and she's been very helpful in helping me design the album. Basically, DH and I picked out all the proofs we liked (with his parents help since we happened to be visiting them when we tackled this huge project) and then I brought them to the Manhattan office and met with Jo. She started to pick some out, I added some and took some out and then we decided which ones shoudl be enlarged. I have the enlargements, but DH and I have to go through it one more time-we might take some out and add a few. Then, I'm going to meet with Mark to get his opinion and then finalize this album-hopefully in January. The great thing about Mark's studio is that you pick out the initial ones to enlarge and if you decide not to use some of them, you are not charged for them AND you get to keep them. They only charge you for the # of pages in your final album. Some of my pages will have 2 5x7 and others will be 8x10.
Nina

shamma Posted: Dec 24, 2002 09:55 AM

Re: Who helped you design your wedding album?

We used Imagine and before we met with her for over 4+ hrs Lia told us to narrow down the ones we liked. It still was time consuming, she has an excellent eye and it made it so easy to eliminate and make an album that capture our day so wonderfully.

Cindy Posted: Dec 24, 2002 10:24 AM

Re: Who helped you design your wedding album?

It sounds like everyone is so happy with their album results. We have been VERY upset about our album

Sonicstef Posted: Dec 24, 2002 10:30 AM

Re: Who helped you design your wedding album?

Cindy: what happened?

JennRenee Posted: Dec 24, 2002 10:31 AM

Re: Who helped you design your wedding album?

Oh no Cindy! What happened?

michele31 Posted: Dec 24, 2002 10:40 AM

Re: Who helped you design your wedding album?

I am very confident about MK's studio. It is that I feel very bad for my friend. She never saw proofs and is not happy with a few of the pages. The photographer told her that MOST photo studios do not help you make your album, which I know it not true. I just wanted you to validate that statement was false.

Claud2001 Posted: Dec 24, 2002 10:46 AM

Re: Who helped you design your wedding album?

Cindy - what happened??? Sorry to hear you're not happy...and your photos are so beautiful!

We chose all the photos we wanted in the album, and actually designed the whole thing with our photographer. We were told to reserve a couple of hours when we initially made the appointment.

Our photographer was very helpful with the layout and the order of the album, but I also had very specific requests about using different sizes and using more than one photo on some pages.

Working with the photographer was helpful, b/c he also added pics to the album that I hadn't initially thought I wanted. He also was able to add creative input, like 'this photo really should be full size and not cropped b/c you will lose this detail, etc.' Many of my album photos were printed in 10x10, instead of the standard 8x10 for that reason. The bonus is that I did not get charged extra for that!

It is critical that you proof the album before they finalize it.

Valenia Posted: Dec 24, 2002 10:58 AM

Re: Who helped you design your wedding album?

michele, do you have any idea how much your friend paid? In the end, letting people review proofs and having a layout meeting (Mine was 5 hours long, and I'll have another meeting when the photos come in...) is a very expensive process. If she cut costs on the photographer, I'm not surprised this is something that would be eliminated from the mix. How sad though that she isn't happy with the results. I'm really sorry to hear that!

MSCJLK Posted: Dec 24, 2002 10:59 AM

Re: Who helped you design your wedding album?

i used Visual Image in Merrrick and I had all my proffs picked out the way that I wanted them in my album..so did my parents and Inlaws..So when we sat down with the woman who over sees the pictures and the Albums she layed out all the pictures and helped us tell the story of our wedding....

Cindy Posted: Dec 24, 2002 11:06 AM

Re: Who helped you design your wedding album?

I dont like the way my album came out, mostly of the sizes of pictures and the attitude is, too bad for you. We are very unhappy about the uncaring attitude. Very disapointed!