Recently, an article came out in the Huffington post about the value of having a wedding album as opposed to a disc of images/USB flash drive. It turns out that a LOT of people agree with the author. I just wanted to add my two cents to the conversation 🙂
In my wedding and portrait packages, I offer images on a disc as WELL as offering albums. Given the plethora of cheap album companies out there such as Shutterfly, Walmart, etc., I can understand why some people may choose to just get their images on a disc only to take them to such places to get their albums made. Why pay a hundred or more dollars for a book that would only cost $19.99? I understand.
However, those albums are priced so cheaply because the standard with which they are made, the materials that are used are low on the cost scale. The paper they are printed on is just that, paper. The inks are not the kind to last several years let alone decades and the print quality is not of the highest standard.
The album companies I use are completely the opposite. High quality leather covers*, excellent printing quality, thick card pages not flimsy paper, excellent personalized customer service, albums guaranteed to last etc.,
Below are some photographs I took of the last album I had made for a client.
You can CLEARLY see the high quality of this album – an album built to last!
So, while I understand that people may believe they are saving money by utilizing a cheaper alternative, my concern is that from a VALUE perspective, they will be HIGHLY disappointed. Imagine 10 years from now celebrating your anniversary and during your celebration you are confronted with yellowing, wrinkled pages and color faded photos rather than an album that looks like it did on day one!
I shall end this post with a quote from the aforementioned article:
But of all the things you spend money on for your wedding, your wedding photographs are the ONLY thing that will increase in value over time. As the years pass, you’ll be more and more glad that you have them. Especially, if you can experience looking through them by flipping through a gorgeous custom-designed album instead of sitting in front of your computer and clicking “next” with your mouse.
Don’t just do it for you. Do it for your children. Do it for your grandchildren. Because when they root around in your attic in 2075, they will have no idea what do with a USB key anymore than they would with a laser disc player.
Think about that.
Then book an album with your package 🙂
* Leather is just one of MANY cover options 🙂