Our Wedding Album

 

Look what we finally have!

Since all we wanted from our photographers was a CD of the original photos, sorting and editing the photos and designing the layout for the album were all my job. I would not recommend this route to anyone unless you don't care that much about how your photos look or you're really good at Photoshop. I'm only kind of good at Photoshop, and I couldn't get the photos to the level I wanted them.

We ordered our book from Adorama. You can use the online tool they have to design your album, or you can use your own design program and export the pages as jpegs. I created my layout in InDesign, then uploaded the jpegs of each page on Adorama's album maker tool. They have a "fit to page" button that allows you to quickly insert the pages.

The main reason I chose Adorama was their Leporello binding system. Every spread of the album lies almost completely flat, so it's great for two-page photos. From Adorama's website: "Unlike other lay-flat systems which use two separate pieces of paper hinged at the center, every spread in an AdoramaPix book is a single unbroken sheet of premium archival photo paper." 

 
An album like ours (50 page 10"x10") costs $110, but Adorama's albums are often 20% off. We bought ours when we got an e-mail for 40% off. The only downside with Adorama is you're limited to 14, 26, 38, 50, or 76 pages. You can't just pay a little more to add a couple more pages; you have to add a lot more pages.

 
I'm really happy with how it turned out!


How long did it take you to get your wedding album?

What to Do with Greeting Cards: My DIY Wedding Card Album

What do you do with all the cards you get for your wedding? Up until recently, our cards just sat in the card box we used at our wedding. I suppose you don't have to keep them, but I want to be able to remember those who gave us well wishes for our marriage, especially since some wrote out their own personalized messages.

I had considered getting a couple of these nice greeting card albums but decided against it since we had such a variety of card sizes. One card is too big to fit in a sleeve, and I thought the tall skinny cards would look odd in them. Plus, $48 for the two we would need seemed a little pricey.

I also like how T.K. at My Orderly Chaos cut her cards in half before putting them in her album, saving the inside messages and the nicer fronts.

When I saw this image in an article on Simple Mom about what to do with old cards, I immediately loved the idea. You could put all kinds of keepsakes into an album with just a couple book rings.

This is the album I ended up making:

For the front cover of the album, I created the design in InDesign and included the monogram we used on our invitations. Then I just printed it out on a leftover 6x9 envelope.

I made the front and back covers a little sturdier with a thick piece of cardboard (the backing of a sketchpad) cut in half.

Then I just put the pieces of cardboard in each envelope and sealed it. (Pro tip: If you have self-sealing envelopes, you're supposed to peal the little strip of paper off, not lick it. Not that I would do that or anything.)

I used a two-hole punch to punch all the cards.

I like that you can flip through all the cards and actually feel them, and also that they can be rearranged.

This is one way to make all sides of the card visible. While the backs of most cards are not that interesting, we had one card that was signed on the back since they had written a long message inside. 

One card opens from the top, so I glued it onto a piece of card stock so we could still open it and read it.

I put all of the tiny gift bag cards on their own page by gluing them to a piece of card stock.

The one thing I'm not sure I like is how much the 3" book rings stick out. I wouldn't be able to use shorter rings unless I divide the cards into 2 albums. I might try to find some D-shaped rings or possibly bind it with ribbon. Another disadvantage is that the cards aren't well protected.

Overall, I'm happy with this solution.

What do you do with greeting cards? 

Shared at the Homemaker by Choice blog hop.