A wedding album – Wondering if you need one? You do. And here’s why…

Wedding albums – they’re often thought of as an expensive add-on, a nice-to-have (and to hold), and nothing more. I want to correct this train of thought. Not as a photographer, but as a bride. From your perspective, not mine.

Let’s begin with balance – Here are the alternatives to a wedding album

Your wedding photos – asides from a bespoke wedding album, you have the options of going with just digital images, choosing a few physical printouts and perhaps adding-on a canvas print (either now or in the future).

Let’s start with the digital images – versatile? Most certainly – and you’ll always be able to create your own wedding album online, right? At a fraction of the cost, in fact. Without going too far into the specs and details, professional wedding albums present a stunning array of options and features – such as lay flat pages, customisation of the leather binding, archival paper, vivid inks and stunning (professional) arrangement.

In comparison, online wedding album programs create impersonal presentations of your day – with printing quality that is anything but assured. And here’s the most important part – it wouldn’t be created by a professional photographer – who places the photos and designs the layout to tell your wedding day story in a way that captures the emotion.

Then, there’s the chance that your USB might get lost, corrupted or damaged – and as technology moves on, you’ll need to upgrade or store the images elsewhere. If you simply download your digital images, you also need to store them in more than one place, or risk that they could get inadvertently deleted

As for the canvas and physical printouts of select images, these can be wonderful reminders – placed around your home, and given to friends and family. But for all the reasons above, they’re no match for a wedding album.

A wedding album is far from ‘just’ a wedding album

Over the years, it takes on a different form – becoming a keepsake of your day – just as cherished as your dress, your wedding invitation or garter.

Eventually, it becomes an heirloom – passed from one family member to the next – given to the next generation – to whom it acts as a story that took place. A story that led to their being, no less.

With each year that passes, it becomes more valuable. You’ll remember the first time you flicked through your story with your husband or wife, with your children, and grandchildren.

It will be discussed with kids on laps, and passed around the dinner table. And these become new memories in themselves.

And that, above all else, is the ‘why’ behind a wedding album.