How to Create a Wedding Photo Book
If you’re fast approaching your wedding day, then it’s likely a thousand-and-one things are crossing your mind. Is everything ready to go? Are there enough canopies to go around? Have you catered well enough for your vegan sister-in-law? The list just goes on and on. But it’s important to relax.
Your wedding day is going to be the happiest day of your life. You won’t remember the canopies. You will remember all of the magical moments which made it special. In fact, amongst all of these panicked thoughts, the one that you should cling onto is: how exactly are you going to capture and cherish all of those memories?
While a professional photo album shows the day through an expert’s lens, an Instagram photo book can be a perfect option when it comes to treasuring all the more intimate, candid moments. Whether you place it on the bookshelf or the coffee table, it can be there for whenever you want to relive all of those special moments again, including all of those anxious moments beforehand!
If you’re interested in creating a wedding photo book, then here is a quick guide to how it should be laid out – as well as a few photos you should make sure to take – in order to make it as beautiful as the wedding day itself.
The Quiet Moments
Sometimes, whilst we’re caught up in the madness of those hours before the wedding, we forget to take photographs (especially if you do not have a professional photographer on the scene). It’s a great idea to take pictures of the preparation process, especially when it comes to the opening few pages of your photo book, which should be filled with the two of you before the big day actually begins.
The Photo Dump
As mentioned previously, you will hopefully have a professional photographer, so the photo book is a good way to include pictures that they might miss. Your guests are the key to making this happen. If you ask them to post their pictures on Instagram, you can include various POV’s within your photo book, taken both before and after the actual ceremony. Pictures of the hotel, the ride to the venue, the meet-and-greets. You want the full story of the day, with as much authenticity as possible, so tell them not to be afraid of unloading a photo dump. As well as this, make sure they use a particular hashtag that you have come up with; that way you can find and organise them all more efficiently.
Calm Before The Storm
After the ceremony has ended, many wedding photographs focus on the celebrations but, for your photo book, it’s a good idea to include a few pictures of the venue before the celebrations have begun. You will have put a lot of effort into making the place perfect, so honour that with some photographs of the pristine, prepared venue. Again, you’re going to be pretty busy on your special day, so make sure to ask your friends to do this before everything goes a bit bonkers!
The Audience Members
No wedding photo book would be complete without pictures of the speeches, but many people simply include pictures of the groom, bride, best man and leave it at that. Everyone talks to an audience though, and that’s where you will get a good idea of the atmosphere in your book. Make sure to capture and display pictures of the guests enjoying the speech, smiling, laughing, and maybe even a tear or two.
Make It Personal
Another issue with wedding photo books (as well as wedding photographs in general) is that they can end up looking a bit professional. You might think, well, that’s not a bad thing. But it’s important to remember this is an emotional day that is all about celebrating love. Add a personal touch to your portfolio by going to a quiet place and taking some selfies with your partner. That way, you can dedicate a few pages of your photo book to just the two of you, displaying the love and humanity without all of the noise and presentation of the celebrations.
Close Up On The Future
When it comes to the last page of the photo book, the photograph should be very simple. A picture of your wedding bands is a great way to take a close up shot of the future. After all, the whole reason for your wedding is to place a ring on your partner’s finger and devote your love and future to them. That’s all that needs to be shown, and the last page will be far more effective with a minimalist but beautiful approach that shows the simplicity of it all.
