Weddings by Chris Leary Photography » Creative & Expressive Wedding Photography NY, NJ, CT

At first, the thought of designing your wedding album can seem monumental, but by following a few of my suggestions outlined below, you’ll soon have a beautiful, well edited, and storied wedding album in your hands.

Picking your final pictures to use is probably the hardest aspect of the album process, mostly because it is hard to say no to so many pictures that you love from your wedding day. “I want them all, dagnabbit!”

Here are two options to help get you started.  I want to make the album process as easy for you as I can, and understand that you hired me because you love what I do and trust my expertise. I can offer you as much of that expertise as you would like to utilize.

Option A:  Weddings by Chris Leary Photography does everything! This option will afford you a quicker turn around time...

I understand it can often be daunting to go through all your images and envision which ones would make the best final product, and I want to eliminate any of your anxiety regarding the album process. With this option, you give me total artistic license to create your album on your behalf without any of your image input. I will personally hand pick the pictures and design a layout that tells your wedding story from start to finish. This will take the pressure off you to choose which images work best, and save you time and energy. If a specific album is not included in your package, the only thing for you to do is to decide which type of album you would prefer. My two favorite album companies are: Queensberry Albums and Cypress Albums — please review the sites and let me know which one you would like me to use. Once you have answered this question,the next thing you will have to do, is sit back and flip through your beautiful custom made album!

Option B:  Have Weddings by Chris Leary Photography design your album with the images you specifically choose:

You may do so in one of the following ways…

1. Select all of your favorite images: Don’t worry about how many you select for right now. At Pictage, you can select them by either clicking the star, or the folder icon under each of the images that you would like considered for the album. I will make the final selections from that folder to create a nice flow throughout the album.  If you ordered printed proofs you could send me the stack of final pictures or send me an email with a list of the picture id numbers.
2. Just pick your family portraits and I will do the rest:  No one knows your images better than me, and I would be happy to select your album images for you in order to create the best possible design. The first folder I created at Pictage is called ‘Highlights’ – I’ve already done some of the hard work by selecting my favorite images for you that I believe tell the story of your wedding day. I only ask that you select the family groupings and candid groupings that you would like included. This is the only difficult part for me as I do not know your family dynamics.  Many of my clients love this option because it is so much easier for them. If this is you, just send me your family picks and and I will get started on making you an amazing album right away!
3. Select the exact images you would like me to use and give me a rough design idea: You can also give me the exact images you would like me to use for the design and I will make you a great album based on those selections and your layout input. The biggest drawback to this option is that you must devote a lot of time, and if you do not have any design experience, you may feel frustrated with this option.

What to expect though the whole album design process

• Album Design Stage: The design time takes approximately 2-3 weeks. I will send you a design in the form of a slide show for review.
• Review you album design: You are allowed to make any changes you would like to the album – add, subtract and switch image content. Depending on the service level you have chosen in your package, you either have an unlimited amount of changes or 2 total revisions. The time frame for the review process varies from couple to couple, depending on how quickly decisions are made with regards to changes. Set a goal for yourself – maybe tell each other that you have 7 days to decide whether the design fits your needs.
• Retouching & Artistic Adjustments: Once you have the layout just right and you give me the final okay, I will then do the final artistic adjustments/touch-ups to all the images.
• Printing + binding process: I want to make sure your heirloom will be of the highest quality!  First, I need to check and make sure all the images and pages are absolutely perfect, and then I will send those images or prints to the album company to get mounted and bound. Depending on where your album is being made, (I offer albums made in different parts of the world) the turn-around time depends upon the time of year and the location of the manufacturer. This step in the process takes anywhere from 4-8 weeks.