Weddingbee Blog

Part of our photography package—as it is with many—was a leather-bound album of our favorite photos. We sent our 50 pics roughly three months after our wedding day, which everyone tells me is really unusual. I had to; though completely intangible, the digital and mental clutter was driving me freakin’ bananas.

Not that it was easy to review more than 1,000 photos and pick the best 50. Ashley posted some of her own favorites on her blog, so we took some inspiration from her choices. But there was a lot of back and forth over what was album-worthy and why. Sometimes, the task was fuzzy-making and aww-inducing. Other times, it was more like the eye doctor (“Is 1 better or 2? 1? 2? Or are they the same? Definitely 2. NO WAIT, 1.”) In any case, it was awesome to complete and even awesomer to receive it in the mail.

Ashley used most of the pics we chose and, where appropriate for sizing and theme, arranged them into a beautiful 11-spread deal. She often deals with Kiss Wedding Books, and I can see why. They do great work and I love their website, their packaging, and their vibe.

Cute! It came in a sturdy canvas bag. Personal photos.

It smells so good. Like an Italian leather purse.

You can sort of see where the seam is. The book opens flat, though it does that less well when sitting on pillows.

Pretty archival photo paper on thick pages.

Her thoughtful layout was fairly chronological and told a good story of the day. We approved all the Photoshop spreads before she sent them off.

Centerfold; I still think this is a likely framer.

These are some, but not all, of the spreads.

My lens cap is there for scale. It’s 10 x 10 inches when closed.

Ashley video-blogged about the albums issue, since after the summer wedding boom, she spends much of fall and winter working on them. I thought this was a cool breakdown of the books she designs and the companies she works with to print them. For all, she said keeping the layout clean and simple was key to it looking classic 10, 20, 40 years from now.

I guess my main advice is not to stress over having one photo of all the key parts of the day. For example, we don’t have pics in here of our first dance or cake-cutting, simply because we liked other photos better. We have those pics in our hard drive, on DVDs, on our computers, on Weddingbee, and on Facebook. But it just wasn’t that important to have them in the album.

Thanks much to Ashley and Kiss Wedding Books! I’ll continue huffing the album, now (and looking at it, of course).

We’ll talk about that pesky wedding budget next time.

Catch up on our journey from regular to supreme:

• <3 + 1
• Things that went “wrong” and petting the sweaty.
• After the party is the after party.
• Little things from a big day.
• Po-po-po-poker face po-po-poker face.
• Journey should have been at my wedding.
• DIET STARTS MONDAY.
• Wedding peeps make like Gaga and Just Dance.
• The formal-group-portraits thing
• The nice, naughty, and cardboard among us enjoy the photo booth.
• Introduction to the Snot Wall during toasts. Then we commemorate our real love with “Real Love.”
• Led Zeppelin and The Beatles kick off a rockin’ buffet dinner hour.
• Cocktail hour, just-us time with the photographers, and life-size cutouts, you say?
• Ceremony: “comedy hour,” not falling, and a snub-nosed flower girl.
• First look, bridal-party wanders around Civic Center.
• Official start of recaps, as we get ready for showtime with sandwiches and mimosas.
• Best of the Phone Cameras, some of the first pics we actually saw.
• Early lessons learned, two weeks into Mrs.