Here is one final suggestion. I didnt want to bring it up earlier because I didnt think you could get it done in time for Christmas, but I just received an e-mail from Shutterfly stating that it's not too late.
My parents are celebrating 50 years of marriage over the holidays. As I always do, I created a personal card for them on
www.shutterfly.com. For their anniversary cards cover, I used a photo that I had taken a few years ago of my parents original wedding portrait:
click here. Even though I had used a photo of a photo, my Mom told me that the card turned out beautifully. I was pleased to hear that.
A few days later, I was talking on the telephone with
my sister. I asked her about the anniversary card and she said it looked wonderful. The two of us then began brainstorming for a unique anniversary present for our parents. I told her that if I had access to more wedding photos, I would love to create a book on Shutterfly for them. My sister, who lives near my parents, told me that she would do some snooping around to see what she could find.
A few days later, my sister had located several of our parents old wedding photos. She Fed Exed them to me so that I could scan them in and get them prepared for the photo book. I asked my son to electronically repair two of the photos since they had aged a bit (two of the photos had scratches on them that were easily fixed in Adobes Photoshop). Once the electronic versions of the photos looked good enough for me, I uploaded them to Shutterfly and began creating the photo book.
I chose the black, leather-bound book since the photos that I was using were in black & white. There was a white, leather-bound option, but I decided against it since I wanted the book to be shared during the upcoming anniversary dinner party (black leather would hold up better with dirty fingers, spilled drinks, and everything else that goes along with a dinner party).
I decided to put one photograph on each page of the book. There are multiple options for multiple photo layouts, but I didnt want to go that route I felt that one photo per page would be more dramatic (especially with black & white photos).
I decided not to use captions for the photographs since I couldnt identify every person in the photographs. I also felt that letting the photos speak for themselves would be more dramatic.
As to an opening and closing page for the book, I did create them. For the opening page, I created a simple paragraph about my parents and their wedding. For the closing page, I created a paragraph that spoke of their anniversary.
It was a few hours before I had the book in a format that I felt was ready for printing. It took me so long because I am a perfectionist; I found myself cropping photos until the very moment that I clicked on the order button.
When I clicked on the order button, I decided that I would create another version of the book after I had returned home from the holidays. This book would contain captions for the photographs. This book would also be the one that would be handed down to the grandchildren. I further decided that in this book I would describe the story behind the
crown that my Mom wore and any other wedding day stories that I could gather together. I know it will be an easy book for me to create since all the hard work is already done the photographs are still sitting in my Shutterfly account.
My Mom called yesterday to tell me that she had received the book. She said it was beautiful. My sister called me this morning to tell me that she wants copies of the book for all the siblings in our family. I told her about my wanting to create a version of the book with captions in it. She said, Perfect! That is what we should hand down to our children. We need to order a book for each of them. Ah-ha! Great minds think alike.
So, take your wedding photos and scan them in. Take your vacation photos and scan them in. Take your childrens school photos and scan them in. Create a photo book that tells the story of your marriage and your family. And have the last page simply be one that mentions the vow renewal that you will be planning for your 25th wedding anniversary. There are a few days left in which you can pull this off. If you can do it, your photo book should arrive in time for Christmas. Have fun.
and thought that you didn't talk to your husband about it. I now understand. 
