The importance of printing your wedding photos into a wedding album

Within 48 hours of the wedding day, I’ll get a few edited sneak peek photos over to you via my blog and Facebook page, and your full gorgeous gallery will be sent to you within two to three weeks. On top of that, I implore you with all of my heart – weddings are emotional things, after all – to get some of your wedding photos printed into a wedding album, and here’s why.

It may seem like the easiest solution to only have the files digitally, as then you can do whatever you want with them, right? Completely versatile, able to be uploaded, downloaded and shared with your loved ones instantly, they’ll be at your fingertips whenever you want. They’re definitely the most accessible way of getting all your photos, which can only be a good thing. But without sounding like your beloved but out of touch grandma, technology changes; it’s not as easy as bunging them all somewhere and kicking back to relax. Within the past 20 years we’ve gone from Floppy Disks being mind-blowing palm-sized (only!) libraries of information to the newest Macbooks not even having CD drives because they’re no longer necessary in cloud-storage culture. Having to transfer 1000 photos to each new medium every time you upgrade suddenly doesn’t seem quite so effortless.

On top of that – without too much scaremongering, and just unfortunate fact - digital files aren’t guaranteed to last forever. If your trusty laptop breaks irreparably one day, your hard drive dies a death without warning or if your files are corrupted and you can’t get them back – you’ve lost a major chunk of your life story (and your heart!) alongside it. What’s the point in collecting memories if they’re nowhere to be remembered?

Printed photos and a wedding album are real, a tangible memory of the moment they were taken, and they can take you straight back there instantly. There’s nothing that beats your photos being to have and to hold – the weight of the paper underneath your fingers, the deep colours of the print, the romantic moment we’ve immortalised. There’s a direct correlation between touch and emotions – which is why we call emotions ‘feelings’, don’t you know – and being able to touch your day all over again can bring waves of warmth and overwhelming emotion. My love of weddings started at my sister’s wedding, and three children down the line, these photos are more poignant and significant than ever.

This is especially true with an artistic natural wedding photography style like mine, as I capture the day's emotions in your photos via all the little details that are the most important. These are the ones you’ll actually want to remember and be transported back to, instead of awkward and posed shots you hated at the time and sure as hell hate now. You simply don’t get the same feelings looking at a computer screen, no matter how beautifully styled your day was (and I’m sure it was absolutely gorgeous.)

This isn’t to say you need to get every single photo printed as a real-life backup of the digital copy (though if you want prints of any specific photos do let me know and I can arrange that for you). Instead, I always advise couples on a wedding album. My album printers produce beautifully artisan books that act as a timeless keepsake – I’ve specially selected them based on their attention to detail and luxury romantic feel, inkeeping with how I view your wedding.

Usually, a wedding album will have 40-60 photos of the day in it. Going through your wedding photos is always going to be a heart-warming experience anyway, but sitting down as a couple to choose your absolute favourite memories from the day is a really lovely and emotional experience. Especially if you’re enjoying frugality post-wedding-blowout, it’s a perfect date-night-in idea. After we’ve made any minor changes to the final edit and you’ve okayed the PDF proof, your wedding album will be sent to print and will soon be in your wedding-ringed-hands!