Wedding Album Woes...

[BRIDEZILLA]

Hello Ladies!

 

So I’ve decided to take on the daunting task of designing my own wedding album – Deep Breath-

 

I’m having trouble finding what I want. I’m looking for a leather bound 10 X 10 flush album with THICK pages. I’ve found a few places that offer these albums to Photogs but the bare bones starter album starts at $360. You know me – Always trying to save a buck so I’ve been shopping around. $360 seems very high if I am designing it myself! So Question 1: Do any of you know how I can get a pro-style leather flush mount album with thick pages for cheap?

 

Question 2: I’ve look into Shutterfly and Kodak and the photobooks are pretty affordable, BUT I’m scarred that I will not like how the end result will look. Has anyone used these for they’re wedding album? If so, did you like the results? Where the pages thick?

 

Thanks!

[DreaW]

Amber I used MyPublisher to do my wedding album for my parents....it came out great, sorry didn't take pics of it but I will if you would like to see it.....Great quality...

don't know if that helped you much.

[StephanieMN]

I love making these bookS! I am using Get Started | Blurb to make my BD book and I have used it before and the books look very nice.

[rodent]

I just grabbed one of my shutterfly books to try to answer your question. I think the pages are plenty thick, but I don't know what other books feel like. They definitly don't feel flimsy.

 

I compared it to a few things around. It's thicker than a magazine page or text book pages.

 

Not as thick as cardstock. About as thick as the pages of a book.

 

The leather covers are nice, but it's not a plush padded leather cover. I imagine their are much nicer leather covers out their.

 

I'm a fan of the 8x8 & 12x12 books on shutterfly. You can use a picture for the cover.

 

This was the front & back cover of a book I made for a friend:

 

Anyway, I really love how it turned out. Kind of like a coffee table book.

 

Mypublisher.com has options for making book jackets. I'd like to try that sometime.

 

Shutterfly often has promotions for a free photobook. If you don't have an account already, make one & wait for the emails for a free book. That way you can test it out & see what you think of the quality. Then that book can always be a gift for someone else.

 

I personally would want to make a tester book in shutterfly before spending $360 for a book. That way you can make sure you really like it.

 

One last think. Check out lumapix for designing the pages. it's great & easy to use.

 

Search around the forum. There is great info on photobooks & compairisons of different companies to order from.

[becks]

I have to say that I LOVE Hallmark's leather photo albums. I made one for FI after our last vacation - you can pick the size, type of pages, etc. But it is a case of having to add the photos yourself, etc. But I'm a big fan.

[Maura]

If you are familiar with iphoto on a mac, you have the ability to create your own coffee table book --both hardcover and softcover, at an EXTREMELY reasonable price. In fact, I am planning on doing that, and making extras to give to our parents as gifts after the wedding. Here's a link on how to do that: Apple - iLife - iPhoto - Print Products I've seen one in person and it looked fantastic.

 

Create a Snapfish account (its an HP product for Windows/PC users) at Digital Photo Printing, Free Online Photo Albums & Digital Photo Sharing - Snapfish:. Go to gifts by occasion and then click wedding. The softcover books start at $11.99 and the hardcover ones start at $19.99 I believe.

 

Both are really good alternatives to spending a ton of money, but still getting a great product.

[TATrisha]

OK, in my head thick pages is WAY different than the MyPublisher/Shutterfly/Kodak books. Don't get me wrong, those are nice... just not what I think you are looking for.

You are looking for the hardcover books with the REALLY thick pages, like cardboard thickness right? I think around $350 is right for those types of books. I've seen $200 ish... but you have to register as a photographer.

KISS Wedding Books

[jean-marcus]

well if you want to design it yourself ill gladly send you the template dimensions and ill submit the album under my photography account (they dont let non photographers purchase albums. and to even register you have to submit your website and business name and stuff) and if you select to have a tiny little inconspicuous stamp in the back inside cover that says "sample album" you save like 20%. it really depends on how many pages you want but it would be like $250 for a 10 page color 10x10 leather bound. (things like embossed name and cameo picture window and extra pages are extra)

 

ive got samples of those mypublisher.com and other websites and they are fun but the image quality is nothing to brag about. for $100 bucks you cant complain but id much rather spend about 2.5 times that for an album with thick photo bounded pages that are spray coated for protection and real quality.

[~Melissa~]

Have you tried Zookbinders? They have thick card boad like paper.

[BRIDEZILLA]

Thanks for all your input everyone! I'm sorry it took so long to respond, my internet has been down :-(

 

I've decided to use either Mypublisher or Shutterfly to make my In-Laws and album and to make a Honeymoon album. And for my actual coffee table book, I’m going to take Jean-Marcus up on his offer to make a less expensive professional one.

 

It will take a while to get everything designed and printed, but I’ll share the results!