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Mr. Starfish and I are wrapping up our final wedding decision…the wedding album. I had absolutely no idea how daunting this task would be. I expected the thank you cards to be a big post-wedding project, but I thought we’d be done after that.
I should have known, but for some reason the album slipped my mind. Weird, because the photos were my top wedding priority. I just didn’t think about the work involved with them after the wedding.
We have a big problem on our hands. Not one that I’m complaining about (well, I guess I kind of am, but it’s a good problem to have!), but we have so many incredible pictures I’ve been having the toughest time narrowing them down. Our photographer, David Bibeault, gave us over 1,000 images and asked us to narrow it down to 80-100 photos. Once I got down to the 300 mark, I was having the toughest time narrowing things down, so I brought in the big guns…Mr. Starfish. With his help we got it down to 125. It’s still a work in progress.
Our photographer works with an online viewing site where you can create “favorite” folders, so I created a wedding album folder and put all the photos in the album and removed my least favorites. I worked backwards, instead of just choosing my favorites. I found it easier and less overwhelming to narrow them down this way.
I also found it helpful to create a ratio of photos I want in each category. I broke up the day by different categories. A few examples were detail shots, family portraits, ceremony photos, reception photos, etc.
I realized a lot of the photos left at one point were an overwhelming amount of detail shots, so I decided to give a total number to each group to limit myself. Since we only could pick 100 photos, I limited myself to 5 getting ready photos, 15 ceremony photos, etc. When I limited the number of photos in each category, it made eliminating some easier.
I was taken aback by all this, so thought I’d share with all of you brides to be that it’s not over until the album goes to print!
This post was super photo heavy because I never really did a true teaser post with lots of photos, so consider this the official Starfish (mid re-cap) “teaser” post. These are just a small handful of my many favorites.
Can you see why I had such a hard time narrowing things down? Our photographer is amazing!
Did any other newlyweds have a tough time narrowing down your favorites? Any tips for future brides to be on how to narrow it down?
I’m working on my album right now… and yes, it is way more effort than I anticipated. Your pictures are all wonderful, btw!
It was hard and we ended up buying a bigger album than we had intended orginally. I love my album but I think it might have too many pictures in some catergories and not others. One problem was I had the photog for getting ready stuff and he had her for just about 45 mins before the ceremony, but was already dressed and ready and at church so no fun shots, well one that did make into the album of him and the groomsmen playing in the leaves.
Your photographer was amazing!!! Im just starting on our album and its killing me! Im doing the same thing as you though - deleting the ones I dont like or the ones that I dont want to include and then going from there. It will definitely be a labor of love but I know it will be so worth it in the end!
We booked David Bibeault also, and it’s the decision I feel the best about. I’ve been so excited to see your recaps!
Love all of these photos! I really love the photo of you with your girls in the hot tub. It’s so beautiful!
That seriously is a good problem to have! But, for real, that sounds sooo daunting! All those photos are amazing!!
Yeah, albums are a b*tch! I haven’t even thought about mine but I did one for both sets of parents and choosing the photos were brutal!
All of your teaser photos are beautiful! Thanks for the helpful tips; setting a limit per category makes a lot of sense. I’ll have to remember this post when the time comes for us to make a wedding album!
That part was so hard. We just picked our photos and had to keep it to 50! Lovely photos, I’m sure your album will turn out great.
Goodness, your photos are gorgeous!! I can see why you’re having a tough time–we just went through this as well, and like you, I started out with 225 “favorite” photos that I wanted in our album 
Thank you for the breakdown, it def helps to put this difficult task in perspective. We had the same problem with our engagement photos, I can only imagine how hard it will be with our wedding photos! It is a good problem to have tho- too many great pics to choose from
I’m having this struggle right now too! Thanks for the tips! out of 900 I got down to 300, then 250, and am now at 170 but it’s still too much!
Ugh, it took me DAYS! I limited my pictures by using only pictures that told the whole story - nothing where I’d look at the picture 50 years down the line and go “What in the world was that about again?” I was looking for timelessness, nothing that would date the album in anyway.
I’m not quite there yet. I’ll be using Adorama so at least I can choose the amount of photos I want (?) It will be a challenge!
Your photos are STUNNING. I would seriously flip through an album of 300 of them!!!
Thank you
@kayakgirl73: I don’t think we’re including any of the guys getting ready either, they were so quick, I think they were done before the photogs got there.
@LaMarie412: You are going to love working with him! He was by far our favorite vendor (well him and our coordinator, they were superstars!). More wedding pics are coming soon
@Mrs. Taco: I don’t think I could do 50, you must have had such a hard time!
@WeddingBells33: Definitely a good problem to have
@gill84: I know, it took me weeks!
@Mrs. Glasses: That’s such great advice, I should think about that while narrowing down the final photos, thanks glasses!
@Mrs. Barrettes: Thanks! I’m actually making a second album to get all of my favorites I can’t add in the pro-album. I used mypublisher for parent albums and as far as i can tell, they didn’t have a limit, I’m sure adorama is the same. I just kept adding mroe and more pages for our parents, it was great!
I’m doing my own photo book and it seriously took me a month just to figure out which vendor to use! I’m just finishing my engagement book (I know, way behind) and that prooved daunting, I know the wedding book will be even worse! But I love that I love my photos so much that I can’t edit.
I’m not looking forward to narrowing our pics down at all! I can’t imagine deciding!
Where did you get those robes for your bridesmaids? I’m looking for something like that - super cute!
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Mrs. Starfish, Boston/Newport Age and Occupation: 25, Operations Assistant Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Sales Engagement Date: October 8, 2008 Wedding Date: October 2010 Venue: The Atlantic Beach Club About Me: I'm a perfectionist who is a planner at heart. I don't do well with surprises. I love planning, crafting, Newport RI, family and friends, and most importantly, Mr. Starfish---all of which will be big components in our October wedding in our favorite little city by the sea.
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