Weddingbee Blog

A week or so ago I told you I finally broke down and decided to make my own wedding albums — for my parents, my in-laws and for us. Well — the parent and in-law albums are done just in time for Christmas!!

You asked to see the finished project and I’m so excited to share it with you. I was surprised at how easy it was once I got started. The most time consuming part was choosing the images. I placed a large order from mpix.com. They arrived quickly and the quality was great. This is the second time I’ve ordered from them and both times I was very happy with the product.

I picked Kodak e-surface paper (no additional cost) which has a nice matte finish, crisp images with spot on color. I loved that they had the option for many large and odd shape prints. We ordered a few large/square images that really make each album special (make sure they will fit in your album before you order).

I bought the albums at Kate’s Paperie in NYC but they are available on-line here if you’re interested. I planned to use clear and kraft corners but couldn’t find them in stores and didn’t have time to wait for an on-line order to arrive. I happened to have blue photo corners that I used for my in-laws’ album and I bought black corners from Kolo (also at Kate’s Paperie) for my parents’ album.

So without further ado, here are the finished albums. First up (with the blue corners) is my in-laws’ album:

I had some brown ribbon leftover from the wedding that I used to tie the smaller album to hold it closed.

The pages are interleaved with glassine to protect photo surfaces.

These two are examples of 5 x 5 inch square prints.

Second up (with the black corners) is my parents’ album:

On the inside front cover I included a wedding invitation and reception card.

Here is another large odd shaped photo — 6 x 9 inches.

The pages of this album are also interleaved with glassine to protect photo surfaces.

Another square - this one is 8 x 8 inches.

A detail shot of the spine.

The rest of the images used in both albums are 4 x 6 inches.

Here is the last page of the album. Here you see a different layout I picked to keep it interesting.

Some tips:

1) Lay out all your images in the album before you secure any of them to the page. This way you’ll be sure they all fit and are in the order you want.
2) I used two different photo corners — lick and stick (like an old stamp) and self-adhesive which you just peel and stick. The self-adhesive made the process go a bit faster, but I would use either again.
3) To place photos put two corners on opposite corners, place, push down, then place the other two corners. This way you’ll be sure to place the photo where you want it.

There are many options to make your own album… Blurb, Mpix, Snapfish, Shutterfly. The list goes on and on. But I really wanted to have prints in an album, not a magazine-style book. Mr. Onion and I plan to make our own album (a 12 x 12.25 inch version of the ones I used for our parents) AND a Blurb book to include vows and special memories and details of the day.

I hope this inspires the 73% of you married ladies who haven’t made an album yet!

For those of you who have made your own album, what kind of album did you make? Any tips for those who are intimidated to start such a daunting project!