Photo Books for At-Home Reception!

[lurkyloo]

I just wanted to share this tip:

For our at-home reception, we had our wedding video playing on a loop and were showing a slideshow of all our pictures on DH's laptop, but the biggest hit were the two softcover photo books I made of our wedding pictures.

People loved that you could pass them around and thumb through them, and you got to see the pictures printed instead of on a screen. At the end of the party we gave the books to the two grandmas.

Here's a link to our book on Blurb.com so you can poke around the site:

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/224046

You could also use Shutterfly, MyPublisher, Snapfish, etc. - I've just found that Blurb has the lowest prices, bookstore quality, and more layout options and styles....

 

[DisneyBrideToni]

I was actually going to use this website to create our wedding album. I would rather design it myself since I am a control freak...lol.

I never knew about this site but then I heard about it on the news when I was in, of all places, Disney!!

 

[Mrsdisneyb2b]

I love it, its soooo cute!! I usually use Kodak but they dont allow you to cut the photos down!!!

 

[InstImpres]

Wow Carrie that is amazing. Do you mind a few questions...is it truly 80 pages or do the pages with many photos count as many pages (ie my photograph said if there are 4 photos on the page, it counts as 4 pages)?

Did the original album cost more? That price seems like a steel.

I am guessing it must have taken hours to upload everything and lay it out, any ballpark how long you spent

TIA
Sandy

 

[DecemberBride]

I'm definitely using this site... love it so much more than snapfish. I think I'm going to make a guest book with blurb too. Maybe put a bunch of sharpies next to the book, so guests can write on the pages with the pics... Carrie, how thick are the pages? Thanks, you always have wonderful advice!

 

[lurkyloo]

Wow Carrie that is amazing. Do you mind a few questions...is it truly 80 pages or do the pages with many photos count as many pages (ie my photograph said if there are 4 photos on the page, it counts as 4 pages)? Did the original album cost more? That price seems like a steel. I am guessing it must have taken hours to upload everything and lay it out, any ballpark how long you spent

Yes! A page is one side of the piece of paper, and you can cram as many photos on there as you want (or as the template you pick allows - I think the most I've seen is 16 images). 40 pages = 20 pieces of paper with images on both sides.

The books your photographer makes have actual photos printed out and adhered to them (if we're talking about a flush-mount album) so the photog has to pay to print each picture. Blurb books are like coffee table books you get at bookstores - the pages are laid out digitally and printed on a four-color press. They don't have actual photos glued into them.

Since Blurb only does four-color printing, not flush-mount albums, this is the original. I'm going to make a bigger coffee table book with more images in it, so that book's price will depend on the number of pages I end up using.

I confess it did take me a while to lay out the book, but only because I was wearing my graphic designer hat. Blurb also has an Autoflow feature that will automatically place all the pictures from a folder on your computer into the book. Then you can go in and change the layout of each page as you wish.

I figure it probably takes as much time as scrapbooking!

I think I'm going to make a guest book with blurb too. Maybe put a bunch of sharpies next to the book, so guests can write on the pages with the pics... Carrie, how thick are the pages?

We made our guest book on Blurb! I'll post some pix below. The pages are fairly thick - they feel like most book pages do - but you can see through them a bit. If this bothers you, you could make sure there's a picture on the back of each blank page so that people's writing won't show through the way it does on white pages.

I would recommend using American Crafts' SlickWriters instead of Sharpies - they don't bleed through, and they're acid-free/archival quality. You can get them at scrapbooking stores and websites.

 

[Lynn5700]

Carrie!!! I'm so getting them for our reception.We are also having our wedding video play the whole time!!! Your books are gorgeous!!!

 

[FIREFLY01]

CARRIE~

The book is gorgeous!!!! It came out so good!!
I am thinking this might be a great way to make an album for his parents they keep saying they want one.
Thanks again for another great idea!!!

 

[lov2b@disney]

Love your book (s) !!!

 

[lurkyloo]

Oh good! I'm so glad this is helpful!

And yes, Bobbie, Blurb is great for making books to give to families. You can make one and buy as many copies as you need.

There was no way I was gonna have our ginormous wedding book done in time for our at-home reception, so I did those quickie softcover books instead.

Now several of the other guests want to buy them instead of just printing one or two pictures from the wedding to frame.

 

[scottish/canadian]

I just made one of these for our guestbook and it took me FOREVER...hours...a couple of 4am mornings...AND it took almost an hour to upload. Ugh. Think I'll use autoflow for anymore I make.

 

[Stephanie218]

Thank you for posting this!! I actually just ordered a book from Shutterfly yesterday - they really start adding up when you go over the normal amount of pages. I don't remember how many pages it was, maybe 40? But it ended up being $85 (with a coupon code!). I'll definitely have to try out the site you recommended!

 

[Dreamer24]

Carrie, your books are beautiful! I will be using this site to make a guestbook out of our engagement pictures and I hope it comes out like yours!

Can I ask what is on the inside (blue part) of the book cover?

 

[InstImpres]

Sorry, back with another question. I thought it was photo album like but now that I see your photos of it, it looks like regular book paper. I just want to be sure I know what I am getting

 

[lurkyloo]

Can I ask what is on the inside (blue part) of the book cover?

You can put anything you want in there. For our engagement book I didn't know what to put, so on the front flap I put a picture of the castle and the date that we took our engagement photos. On the back flap I put a funny "outtake" picture and the Roots' info.

For our wedding picture book, on the front flap I put an engagement picture and the story of how we met. On the back flap I put Jensey Root's description of photographing our day (which I swiped from her blog - thanks Jensey!) and a pic of us with the Roots.

Sorry, back with another question. I thought it was photo album like but now that I see your photos of it, it looks like regular book paper. I just want to be sure I know what I am getting

It's a photo book, not a photo album. It's as if you went to Borders and bought a coffee table book of your wedding - there aren't actual photos glued inside it. They are printed on book paper. Hope this helps!