The Importance of a Wedding Album
There is a lot to be said for technology and how it has changed the face of wedding photography. There are so many more options today than there were even just 30 years ago, and so many more never-to-be forgotten images which can be captured with the latest and greatest cameras and editing software. Brides today can look forward to receiving thousands of images to choose from, and they don’t have to live in fear of a single special moment being missed.
The problem is that most brides and grooms today are content simply receiving those digital images and calling it a day. In fact, that seems to be the biggest request I have as a wedding photographer these days. People want those digital images – they don’t care so much about the hard copies.
Less couples are purchasing an actual album now than even 5 years ago. Instead they want to upload those images to their favorite social network, and maybe send a few off to the cheapest print lab they can find for framing around the house. Then the images get buried on a computer hard-drive, never to be thought of again.
And I cringe. I cringe because I know that someday, those couples will wish they had splurged on that wedding album. They will wish they had those memories carefully preserved and bound in a book which would never be misplaced. Their social media accounts will fade into oblivion, and their cheaply printed photos will begin to wear and fade. All they will be left with is possibly the digital files IF by chance their hard drive hasn’t died or become obsolete over time.
I happened across a recent Huffington Post article last week that had me nodding my head in fierce agreement with the author – photographer Kathleen Trenske of New York. The article was titled “The Case Against ‘Good Enough’” (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathleen-trenske/the-case-against-good-enough_b_2967170.html) and it detailed the importance of those wedding albums. Not only how superior the printing is with a professional lab, but also how special the hand creation of those albums truly can be. Trenske noted the likelihood of most of the social media networks we use today becoming obsolete in the coming decades, as well as the tangible evidence of love and happiness that an album can provide, even long after most of the memories have faded.
Having the digital images is great. Everyone likes to see enviable wedding photos splashed across their Facebook walls. Those images can go on to become your profile picture for the next several years, if you so choose. But there is still something to be said for that album. The one that has been handcrafted with care, supplied with quality images from a professional printer and placed on display in your home. The album your children and grandchildren will flock to, flipping through the pages in awe of a day they weren’t yet around to witness. A day they may never know anything about, if you keep those photos confined to your online persona.
Trenske made the point that people often opt out of purchasing a wedding album because they can be expensive, and because they convince themselves that the digital images are “good enough.” But don’t you deserve more than “good enough”? When it comes to one of the biggest days of your life, don’t you want to preserve those memories in a way you will be able to cherish decades down the line?
The album is important, and if you forgo it – the likelihood is strong that you will come to regret that decision as the years go by.
Don’t live with that regret. Place a priority on your memories, and preserve them with the quality and care that they deserve.
Jennifer Dery Photography now offers an album design service for both clients & non-clients alike. I can help you with the design, retouching and ordering of a unique heirloom quality wedding album as well as fine art prints.