Photo album ideas

[2nd Time Bride]

I searched and searched and could not find a thread about photo albums. I know there are so many creative people on this board, so I am looking for ideas.

I would like to create some small photo albums for our mothers, since they are not going to be attending the wedding. Since I am DIY impaired, I was thinking of using an online program, like Shutterfly. I have used Shutterfly in the past, it's nice for a travel book but they don't seem to have the high end look I would want for a wedding album. I know I have seen books in PJs and just cannot seem to find a site name!! Any suggestions - good and bad?

We will be getting the high-res DVD with all our pics and will pre-purchase the Photopass CD so we will have a lot of options and would really like to combine both to make a meaningful album for the moms. Thanks in advance for your help!!

 

[GleepingBeauty]

I have only ordered a book off shutterfly. I love it though! I got it as a gift for my DF's mom a couple of years ago. I think it turned out great!

We discussed getting another book after we get our pictures back from the wedding and honeymoon. They have added all sorts of new styles and pages. I like them because you can pick and choose for each page. Like serious for some pages and silly for others.

My best friend does an amazing job scrap booking. You could go to a local scrap booking store and see if someone would be willing to make them for your moms?

 

[geek+nerd]

When my sister got married, she made albums for both sets of parents. She got beautiful albums at Things Remembered and had them engraved. That might be another place to consider.

 

[lurkyloo]

We created all our books on Blurb.com. We did two kinds: a set of smaller paperback books that we circulated at our wedding reception and then gave to the grandmas and a GINORMOUS 240-page hardbound album in the biggest size Blurb makes. I used Blurb's design software for the smaller books but I designed the big album in Adobe InDesign and uploaded it to Blurb as a PDF.

The things I like about Blurb are the wide range of good-looking page templates and the larger book sizes than most, plus the option to get a dust jacket so it looks like a real coffee table book. They also have the cheapest prices for large numbers of pages. The things I don't like are the occasional printing flaws that require them to replace your entire book (for free) and the sometimes-buggy software.

Big Album:

http://www.blurb.com/books/996943


Little Photo Books:

http://www.blurb.com/books/224046



And some photos.... (the page overlap in the middle of two-page spreads is not visible in printed form)


Big Album:

Little Photo Books: (using Blurb's templates)

 

[weedee]

We used AdoramaPix for our wedding photo album and I think they fit what you're looking for. I have a description and pictures of the final product in my PJ/TR (Wedding Photo Album). We were really happy with the product and you can make books of all kinds of sizes.

 

[Bridie1996]

We used blurb too. We did one large one for ourselves and two different versions of smaller ones for our parents/grandparents.

Or, www.mpix.com has an option to create actual albums.

here is the link to our blurb book.

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1356677

 

[ColeV]

I did a Blurb book as well and I get as many comments on that as I do our wedding! It looks so professional and clean, but is all together less expensive than a regular photo album once you print pictures off.

 

[lurkyloo]

Just got a public code for free shipping on any size order from Blurb!


From now until August 31, 2010, we're offering free flat-rate shipping on your Blurb books.*

Go ahead, order extra copies of your existing books, or make new ones. Choose Ground or Economy shipping, type in the appropriate promo code below at checkout, click apply, and you're set:

USD $ coupon code: SHIPPINGFREE

 

[ColeV]

Just got a public code for free shipping on any size order from Blurb!


From now until August 31, 2010, we're offering free flat-rate shipping on your Blurb books.*

Go ahead, order extra copies of your existing books, or make new ones. Choose Ground or Economy shipping, type in the appropriate promo code below at checkout, click apply, and you're set:

USD $ coupon code: SHIPPINGFREE

And ordering Christmas gifts for in-laws now....

 

[Dr.Cinderella]

Carrie and Wendy, I love both of your albums! Would you be able to post some photos of you like holding the book, for perspective? I just wanted to get an idea of the size and thickness of the albums. These are the two companies I am deciding between using! Thanks so much!

 

[lurkyloo]

My full wedding album and my engagement photo guest book are Blurb's largest size, 13x10. Here's a shot of the album next to a standard-size magazine:

The engagement book is 40 pages, while my version of the wedding album is 248 pages (8 extra pages my inlaws didn't get - don't tell! ). Here's how they stack up:

 

[Dr.Cinderella]

Wow that is a good size album! Thanks Carrie, that was very helpful!

 

[2nd Time Bride]

Thank you so much for all your responses - your albums are AMAZING!!

 

[KStarfish82]

I actually make them myself.

Here are some pictures:

If you there is anything that I can help you with, I would be more than happy.

 

[weedee]

ooh I totally forgot to get a picture! My album was 10x10 inches though...so when it was open the full spread photos (over 2 pages) were nearly 2 feet long!! I will try and get a picture today.

There are other options of course for a 12x12 book (the largest square version) or if you like the look of a portrait or landscape book they have those, too.

 

[girli565]

I made a blurb 12x12 coffee table book with the image wrapped onto the book. No dust cover.

I'll try to get pictures of it tonight when I get home. It was 108 pages and very reasonably priced, I even got a 20% off code so it came out even less.