Last week we received a special delivery that we had eagerly anticipated for several weeks.

When we opened it, I had to gasp.
This flushmount album just oozes luxury, from the soft leather to the rich metal cameo strip to the quality of the printing inside. In fact, it’s hard for me to put this album down — I want to sleep with it under my pillow. And the pictures aren’t even from my own wedding.
Danny and I are so excited to be working with two incredible album production companies, one of which handcrafts each album in Italy, the other which makes every album by hand in Texas. These albums are so handsomely built that they belong on coffee tables or side tables, like any other wonderful decorative addition to your home. And there are several gorgeous styles available in addition to this one: You could choose a full metal or acrylic cover printed with one of your wedding images, or choose from a rainbow of colors if you lean toward a traditional full leather cover embossed with your name and wedding date.

Just like it’s hard to choose which style album is our favorite, it’s hard to choose only a few things that we love about these albums — because, really, we love everything — but if I could only name one, I would choose this: I love the way these beautiful albums add a sense of grandeur to every wedding. I love the way they present the images from one of the most important days of your life with the dignity, elegance, and significance they deserve.
Having all your wedding day images on disc is wonderful, and all of our wedding packages include a disc with your edited high resolution files so you can enjoy your pictures on your computer any time you want, or make copies for your family and friends. But we’re convinced nothing compares to having an album of this quality — an heirloom to share with your children, and your grandchild, and someday even your great-great-grandchildren. Because the images in your album are printed on archival quality Kodak or Fuji photographic papers, your wedding pictures will outlive you by many, many years.
We love how there is no gutter between the pages, making them blend into one gorgeous panorama. Especially because photographs — even digital ones — are meant to be viewed in print.
The pages are also thick and sturdy — and I like to call them the grown-up’s version of a toddler’s board book. Because they’re so sturdy, they won’t bend easily, preserving the crisp, sleek finish of each photo. And the pages are UV coated, which means a drop of water here or a fingerprint there won’t ruin your precious memories.

When you hold these albums in your lap and peruse the pages, they feel heavy. They feel stylish. They feel every bit as important as your wedding deserves.
Another wonderful aspect of a wedding album is that you can view several pictures together as a spread. You know that saying, “more than the sum of their parts”? That applies to photographs quite frequently. Several images grouped together can create a much stronger impact than viewing each picture individually.
These albums are made to be treasured — not only by you and your beloved, but by your family, by your friends. They’re made to proudly display your wedding in your living room, or for you to enjoy reminiscing your way through as you’re snuggled in bed.
And if you want to protect them from wear and tear or from the elements, they tuck back into their packaging so neatly and cozily.
But beyond having a beautiful display of your wedding day images, there are even more important reasons why we believe every couple should have an album from their wedding day.

Picture this: It’s your 50th wedding anniversary, and after the celebrations, after your children and grandchildren have left you to savor the love you promised to one another half a century before, you settle down together on the couch with your album to relive your memories of that day when you first became Mr. and Mrs.

Now envision this: It’s your 50th anniversary, your celebration has ended, and you two huddle in front of your computer to click through your wedding images on the screen.

And last of all, let’s not imagine this: It’s your 50th anniversary, but instead of having photographs to cherish together and share with your family, you have no wedding pictures because the disc of your wedding images became scratched and unreadable over the years, or because DVDs became as obsolete as floppy discs, or because you lost all the images saved on your computer when a virus or hardrive failure wiped out the machine (which is how I lost my pictures from my trip to Paris).

Danny and I feel so strongly about this that we plan to phase out our basic wedding coverage and soon offer only wedding photography collections that include an album. Yes, these heirloom albums are not an inexpensive investment. Yes, having access to wedding pictures on a computer seems like it’s enough when you spend most of your waking hours with a mouse in your hand, and when you have plenty of other ways to spend your wedding budget. But please know that we don’t encourage albums because we want to sell them. We encourage albums because we want you to enjoy the pictures from your wedding for the rest of your life. We encourage albums because we think your wedding, and your marriage, are worth it.

We’re also not trying to scare you! We’re just trying to help you think far into your future, which we had a lot of trouble doing when we were caught up in the excitement and busyness of planning for our own wedding and marriage.

As I finish up this blog post, I’m planning how Danny and I will lay out our own wedding album — because we didn’t think we needed one when we got married. We don’t feel that way anymore, and we can’t wait to invest in an album of our own.

~ Laura