At my pre-wedding consultation I have a chat with the couple about album design and styles and preferences to give me feel for what and how they would like their album to look. Every album I design is exclusive and bespoke to each couple and is designed around their photographs not the other way round. This is one reason I enjoy exhibiting at wedding fairs and shows as my albums are so different from most wedding photographers in Edinburgh and elsewhere throughout the country. Once I’ve done an initial design I send out proofs to the couple and we can discuss any amendments or alterations. I do like to get my initial design as close to what they will want as possible, hence the importance of the pre-wedding discussion, as this of course saves time for both them and myself as the changes are going to be small and minor.
Both Fiona and Keith together with Louise and Alan have opted for a medium size Coffee Table Book. This is 8x6 inches which opens out to a 12x8 double page spread. Leigh-ann and Jonathan chose my Deluxe Image Book album which has forty 12x12 pages which takes 100 photographs. This particular album is the one featured in Package 2 on the wedding prices page of my website.
With Coffee Table Books the images can be spread across spine of the book giving a full bleed double page spread, either using a single photograph or a multi image layout. The first photograph posted here is from Louise and Alan’s book. As you can see this will be a double page spread with three inserts. I don’t want the page crease in the middle cutting through the bride or groom so I’ve positioned the main image carefully so it will run between Louise and Alan’s heads so they will both sit nicely either side. The second photo is from Leigh-ann and Jonathan’s album to give you a chance to compare the two. As you can see with this style album each page is individual so there is no double page spreads, but being a 12x12 square gives the Image Book a traditional wedding album feel but with modern storybook style pages.
What I really enjoy with album design is not only creating beautiful pages but also employing personal touches that make the design exclusive to each wedding and for each couple. I’ve illustrated this with the next two pictures. The double page spread with the pink swirl background is one of the pages created for Lucie and Ryan and with this design we wanted a punchy, vibrant, almost jazzy look. However, by contrast the next photo is of two pages from Alyson and Duncan’s wedding album which had softer and more neutral backgrounds. If you look closely though you can see the personal touches in that the background of the left hand page has been colour matched to the bridesmaids dress and the guys cravats. Likewise the photographs on the right hand page have matching borders to them.
Depending on the setting I can often use an image from the wedding has a page back ground too. The two posted photos from Melville Castle weddings have used the castle itself has a page backdrop. Both these albums are Coffee Table Books so the background photo is given a large full bleed double spread page which looks particularly impressive with or without insets. The black and white photo of the castle is actually an example from one of the albums the castle has out on display and its easy to see how the left hand page is predominantly the castle itself and then the three groomsmen photographs all have their own page but still using the overlap from the image of the castle to spread the background across and behind.
The final photo I’ve posted is the last two pages of Fiona and Keith’s album. Photographs of the first dance are always very atmospheric as the main lights are brought down low and the disco lights come on in place of them. I very often make these pages dark or jet black as it complements the mood and ambience of the images.
I mentioned pre-wedding consultations above and I’ve had a couple of those this week, too. The first was with Gemma and Michael who are getting married in Edinburgh in three weeks and the second with Julie-ann and Allan whose wedding is through in Oban on the west coast of Scotland next month. Both couples have chosen Deluxe Image Books as their wedding albums so maybe I’ve whetted their appetite by talking a little about them today lol.
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