Weddingbee Blog

Here I am, almost seven months after our wedding day, and I am still making wedding-related decisions. But, the things to be decided now are all fun things because they have to do with our wedding album design!

While I sent our photographer, Ticia Mangino, a list of our favorite photos from the day to include on the inside of the album, I didn’t realize that I had so many options for what would be on the outside.

Ticia uses Finao for creating wedding albums for her clients. Lucky me!

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This company is all about personalizing your album to suit your style. I really couldn’t believe the number of materials and colors from which to choose. Ticia suggested I come in to look at some samples and swatches, so we met up over the weekend.

The Deviled Egg album with be a horizontal 11″ x 14″ flush mount. I had the option of 12″ x 12″, but decided against it for two reasons: 1) I have scrapbooks that square size and I wanted the wedding album to stand out from those, and 2) I have a hard time finding shelf space high enough for my 12″ scrapbooks and I didn’t want to have a similar problem with the album.

For the cover, I could pick from two-tone, a single vertical or horizontal strip in a different color, a cut out for a photo, a photo cover and the type of spine. Decisions! Decisions!

But, the most difficult decision was what colors and materials to use for the cover. With Finao, it seems that the possibilities are limitless. You can pick from different types and textures of leather, pleather, silks, patterned fabrics, faux fur and metals. Ticia’s swatches help make the process go much faster.

The looked like this:

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They were attached with Velcro, so I could remove them, let my fingers experience the different textures and pair them up in potential album cover matches.

I was quick to rule out the zebra and leopard prints that are available. Sure, they were cool, but our wedding just didn’t quite fit with the biker chick vibe those patterns were giving me. I also ruled out pastels and suedes. A metal cover also sounded unique, but it was a little too modern and cold for my taste.

I want our album to be a reflection of our wedding style––traditional, classic and timeless with a bit of vintage flair. I don’t want my great, great grandkids to pull out the album and think, ‘that wedding was so 2009!’ (This is a similar reaction I have to seeing my parents’ big, white 1970s album.)

I thought choosing colors that were complementary to our wedding colors would also be a nice touch. When I get our album in 8-10 weeks, it will feature:

A rounded spine:

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I went with a rounded edge instead of square because I liked how the rounded edge looked like it belonged in a library. I also considered how it would have less wear and tear over a square edge, after years of rubbing and opening.

Two-tone leather with a binding wrap: (similar to the bottom left hand picture)

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This was another feature that screamed vintage library book. I thought the design style was a great fit.

The binding will be “Komodo Dragon”:

And, the bulk of the cover will be “Olea Branch”:

I really like how the colors looked together. I also like having one very textured leather next to a more simplistic style. (In case you can’t see my yellow circles, it’s the darker brown and the olive green.)

I am really excited to see how our album will turn out! And, I’m grateful to Ticia for providing quality, customized albums through Finao. Our album will be uniquely ours and the cover will serve as a fitting accessory for the beautiful photos housed inside.

This baby is going to be around for a long time and I’m happy to have something worthy of display!

Does your photographer offer albums with personalized cover designs?