Brides & Images

Warning! — Not for the faint of heart!
This section is lengthy because we want YOU to understand what is needed to make your album visually fantastic and WHY. 

One of the hardest post wedding tasks for the new bride and groom is picking the images they want for their wedding album. The better the photographer, the harder it is to choose the few images that will be bound together to represent your wedding day for the years to come. After many conversations with wedding photographers, couples who have been married for years, and with ourselves in trying to design around poor selections, Alchemy has put together a guide to aid you in your image selection process.

Now for the hard part... as a your album designer we will tell you things that NO photographer will. Why won’t they tell you?  They don’t want to upset you NOW. We don’t want you to be upset  20, 30 or 60 years from now because there are so few pictures of you and your husband and so many of friends you don’t remember and of family you already have tons of pictures of. Most couples pick their images with the glow of the day still fresh, not thinking of what will be so much more important to them on their 50th anniversary. 

The basic concept of a wedding album is to tell a story. A decent album will tell the story of your wedding day, from beginning to end, with images. A great album will tell the same story, but with much more excitement, flavor and focus. Often, the difference is in the image choices!

Each wedding day is unique, each has its own flow. Examples: In some weddings, everyone involved gets ready and then gathers, in others—everyone gathers to get ready. Some couples choose to meet before the ceremony for pictures, some don’t. You get the idea. No matter how your day progressed, your album should have details for each part of your day with a focus on you, the bride and groom!  This was YOUR day!

Every bride should be the “centerfold” of her album, with the groom as “best supporting actor!”  Albums that focus on friends and family or a lot of group shots, usually fail to do that. Group shots take up a large amount of space, as they need to be fairly large on the page in order to see everyone in the group well. 

As a test, ask to look at your mother and mother-in-laws wedding album with them. What pictures totally bore you?  Ask them to name people in the group shots. Do they remember who all these people are? How big are the actual pictures of the groups; can you see every one well? Is there a lot of laughing and joy shown or just forced smiles at the camera? What did the decor, venue, rings and details look like?  

The point is, after just ten or twelve years, most couples would redo their albums if given a chance, because they failed to focus on themselves for their wedding album. This is not selfish! Not for your wedding album. In your lifetime you will accumulate tons of pictures of family and friends that will fill many albums, walls, boxes and DVD’s. But you will only have one album of your wedding day and the focus should be on you, the bride and groom. Don’t worry about family and friends being upset that THEY don’t fill YOUR wedding album. They’d be happier to see framed prints of themselves on your walls anyway. Again, these are things no photographer will tell you.

Please, please don’t let anything said here upset you. This is only an attempt to bequeath the wisdom of hindsight — from others who looked at their albums years later and wish they could see more of the person they married. Our job is to make sure you love your album. If that means lots of friends and family then so be it, as long as you love your album!

To start, go through your images chronologically, beginning to end. 

DO:

• Do choose images that show candid emotion, movement or detail. 

• Do choose the moments that stick in your mind and take your breath away. 

• Do choose those cinematic shots of just the two of you.

• Do choose the intimate or romantic shots of just the two of you.

• Do choose those fun, outrageous moments with the wedding party or family members.

• Do choose those fantastic “detail” shots of the venue, scenery, flowers, etc.

• Do choose those sweet candid moments of anyone close to you.
  

DON’T:

• Don’t try to please the parents with all the stiff formal group shots — if YOU want them, choose one of all the families together and one of the entire wedding party or one of everybody all together. Try not to pick more than 2 or 3 large group shots.*

• Don’t try to please others by having individual shots of every family member.**

• Don’t try to please others by selecting every image of you and each bridesmaid/groomsman alone together.**

• Don’t try to please others by selecting images of every bridesmaid/groomsman walking down the aisle.**

* Large group shots need to be displayed large on the page to see the individuals and can rarely span the spread without losing faces in the gutter. 

** Too many of the “same” shots become monotonous, especially with large wedding parties!

— A single large group shot, may take up a whole page to be displayed well. (Think about older eyes!)

— Having more than a couple of formal shots slows the flow and becomes monotonous.
— Formal group shots are usually stiff and emotionless, even with the smiles. 

Now comes the tough part, whittling down your initial selections. You should have selections for each of the following depending on your photography package and wedding style. If you chose to forego certain shots in your package, such as getting ready or informal wedding party shots, just beef up on images of each of you alone and together along with some detail shots.

Getting Ready

 5%   Bride/Bridesmaids/Family getting ready 
 5%   Groom/Groomsmen/Family getting ready
 5%   Details - Shoes/Dress/Rings/Flowers, etc.

15%   Bride
  5%   Bride with Bridesmaids—fun
15%   Groom
  5%   Groom with Groomsmen—fun

10%   Bride & Groom Only

  5%   Details - Church/Invitation-Programs/Alter, etc.
10%   Ceremony - Bride & Escort/Bride Down Aisle/ Groom at Alter/etc.
  5%   Fun—Informal Groups & Family

15%  Entering/Toasts/ Cake Cutting/First Dance/First Dance with Mothers/Details/Grandma Gettin' Jiggy/ Etc.

We understand that for some, family and friends are very important and we agree. With digital photography, you can have formal group shots enlarged affordably to give as gifts or to display in your home. Framed group shots are great inexpensive gifts for special holidays during your first year as newlyweds.

Please keep in mind this is only a guide. Ultimately the choices are yours and the categories vary wedding to wedding. Our only goal is to ensure your complete satisfaction with your album design and that it reflects the style of your day.