Why Brides Should Have an Album (in addition to digital files.)

Everyone know the huge costs involved in a wedding and, all too often, by the time decisions are being made about the photographer, the budget is already well stretched. It’s also the digital age and, perhaps, some feel digital files of their wedding photographs are all they need. Many of our clients are choosing our location for a destination wedding. Often we don’t get to meet until just before the wedding and so, we have had no opportunity to show them samples of our album/photo book designs. Perhaps we too had lost sight of the enormous value of a wedding album until a recent events. Our clients were having destination elopement, honeymooning on location. We had a really lovely day photographing them throughout the rugged scenery, even getting to be their witnesses! They asked to see our sample albums the following day. Roz, my business partner, dropped them in, explaining the styles and design features and they ordered an A3 lay-flat, glossy photo-paper book. We always design our own photo books (1. Because we love the images and put our heart into them and understand their significance to the couple. And 2. Because one of our team has a background in art and design.) We dispatched the USB memory stick of finished images to the couple. We received an email of thanks . After discussion, the album was designed, printed, checked by us and sent to the clients. What a difference in their reaction this time! The bride wrote, “ We’ve just received our photo book. I have just stopped crying. I can’t believe how fantastic it is. Thank you so much – every page turn is just lovely – we both can’t wait to show it off. The memories come flooding back with every page turn. Thank you both so much. x” This was a colossal emotional reaction from the bride. She was reliving all the special moments of the day. She wanted to share the album with her friends and family. But these were exactly the same photographs she had already seen from the memory stick! What was so different about them in a photo book? Why did the memories come to life and take on more significance in a book than on a screen? Why was she crying seeing them in this format but not crying when she saw them on-screen? It seems that we females are still extremely visual and tactile creatures. There is, for us, much greater emotional appeal in a photo book we can touch and feel. For us to relive our wedding in the most powerfully vivid way, we need the hard copy! On-screen just isn’t the same for brides. How can we photographers help our brides to appreciate this fact? Let them see and touch our beautiful books, of course. I remember Jerry Ghionis (Australian Master Photographer) saying something like, “We loved your photographs so much, we just had to design an album for you.” Then he hands it to the bride and groom. Very few brides could resist their gorgeous photographs in a stunning, large album. At that point, they would know how much they needed this and had to have it. The huge contrast between our recent bride’s reactions to digital then hard copy images has made us rethink our approach to giving brides what they need and helping them to realise this.

Norma Skinner Biography

I began my photography career as a Scottish landscape photographer using Minolta film cameras. I always loved being in the countryside and photographing in such beautiful locations. Although I was enjoying what I did and selling internationally, I always longed to ‘try’ weddings but, using film, and knowing how vital someone’s wedding photographs were, I never would try. When I shifted over to digital, I was still shooting landscapes but this was the opportunity I needed to photograph weddings. I knew I needed new skills and put in a considerable amount of time studying and taking some intensive training with Jerry Ghionis. Photographing weddings and portraits uses different techniques and skills and I believe we can all keep learning from each other. Currently, I am enjoying the best of both worlds in the stunning Scottish scenery and photographing weddings together with my daughter, Roz. It was Jerry who helped us work out the new name for our business – Euphoria.

Random Posts

Share this...

Norma Skinner

I began my photography career as a Scottish landscape photographer using Minolta film cameras. I always loved being in the countryside and photographing in such beautiful locations. Although I was enjoying what I did and selling internationally, I always longed to ‘try’ weddings but, using film, and knowing how vital someone’s wedding photographs were, I never would try. When I shifted over to digital, I was still shooting landscapes but this was the opportunity I needed to photograph weddings. I knew I needed new skills and put in a considerable amount of time studying and taking some intensive training with Jerry Ghionis. Photographing weddings and portraits uses different techniques and skills and I believe we can all keep learning from each other. Currently, I am enjoying the best of both worlds in the stunning Scottish scenery and photographing weddings together with my daughter, Roz. It was Jerry who helped us work out the new name for our business - Euphoria at www.euphoria-photography.co.uk.