The Perfect Wedding Album

Photos are sentimental, and therefore always personal. Choosing the most sentimental and meaningful photos from your gallery for your album is therefore always going to be a personal decision. But as a photographer, album designer, and having been a bride myself, there is a certain structural breakdown I can offer you as guidance in making your choices.

First, do a once over of all your photos, pulling your favorites from the batch and separating them into a new pile.

Then organize your favorites into new piles based on the following categories: Getting ready, first look, couples portraits, family portraits, ceremony, special moments, dancing.

Take each of these piles then, and try to curate them to the best of your options, including these suggested “must haves” in each category:

Getting ready: (2-5 images)

⁃ invitation

⁃ Flatlay of details like jewelry and shoes

⁃ Mom helping bride into dress

⁃ Groom getting ready

First look: (0-4 images)

⁃ pre-look moment

⁃ Tapping on shoulder

⁃ Immediate expressions

⁃ Hugging

Couples portraits: (2-8 pages of portraits)

Be sure to include,

⁃ a clean shot your mom would print

⁃ Definitely a full 2 page spread of an artsy photo

⁃ The rest of these are personal preference and varies based on your photos!

Family portraits: (6-20 photos)

Different variations…

⁃ Couple with each sides parents 

⁃ Couple with each full side

⁃ Couple with all siblings- each side

⁃ Couple with grandparents of each side

⁃ Couple with bridesmaids

⁃ Couple with groomsmen

⁃ Groom with father

⁃ Groom with mother

⁃ Bride with father

⁃ Bride with mother

⁃ Bride with the girls on her side

⁃ Bride with girls on boys side

⁃ Groom with boys on his side

⁃ Groom with boys on her side

Ceremony: (6-8 photos)

⁃ Groom walking down aisle

⁃ Bride walking down aisle

⁃ Groom coming to get bride

⁃ Grooms expression seeing bride

⁃ Couple under chuppah

⁃ A variation of candids

Special moments: (about 2-5 images each)

⁃ Ketubah

⁃ First dance

⁃ Cutting cake

⁃ Father/daughter 

⁃ Mother/son

⁃ Going away

Dancing: (15-25 images)

⁃ try to involve as many people that are important in your life that aren’t included in family portraits section, like friends that aren’t bridesmaids etc.

⁃ Capture the cutest moments of dancing

⁃ Make the best moments of couple much larger than the smaller ones

⁃ Make important grandparent moments larger too

How you balance the candid moments and portraits is ultimately up to you! Your wedding album is the most sentimental piece of art in your home, it should reflect your favorite parts of the most special day in you and your partner’s life.

The most important part is the transition between photos and pages. Each photo should be able to ‘breathe’, and not overlap with each other.