Stay-at-Home Orders: A Perfect Time for Couples to Make their Album Selections

Sometimes, life offers us a moment to pause, reflect, examine & adjust our course.  I think this COVID quarantine business slow-down can be seen as one such moment. If you cannot be working in your business, it is a great opportunity to be working on it.  If you cannot develop your shooting skills, why not work on your sales skills.

In keeping with that, we’re featuring a guest blog from professional album designer Emily Sutin on picking photos for your album. Specifically, guiding your clients to choosing the right photos for an album.  New to albums? This is a great “cheat sheet” to keep in the back of your mind when shooting your next gig (whenever that may be).  Have clients who are stuck in the selection process?  Use this to help them along. Or better yet, use it as your short list guideline to move every project from concept to creation.

We’ll look to follow this up with an upcoming blog where we examine selling to past clients by mastering the art of the pre-design.

Cheers & happy hand-washing!
Russ

Selecting album photos can be a daunting task for couples. With hundreds of photos to choose from, and only around 100 that can usually be selected, the task gets pushed back, and usually forgotten once kids come along. However, with stay at home orders, now is the time to encourage couples to use their larger amount of free time to proceed with creating their heirloom. Whether they make it a date night to reminisce about the big day, or a task that they’ve been meaning to get to, below is a guide to make it easier.

As an album designer with nearly 10 years of experience, I’ve seen that couples tend to choose similar photos to mark the important moments of their day. To begin, here is a list of “60 must have” photos by section, based on the amount of times I see couples choose them:

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Getting Ready:

1.wedding dress
2. wedding rings
3. bride getting makeup or hair done
4. bride interacting with mother (laughing, hugging, etc.)
5. bride getting her dress zipped up
6. bride’s father seeing her dressed up for the first time
7. jewelry or other accessories
8. groom putting on tie or cufflinks
9. groomsmen having fun (playing pool, having a drink, etc.

First Reveal/Bride and Groom Portraits

10. groom turned around with bride approaching
11. bride and groom embracing once they see one another
12. front of bride and groom walking hand-in-hand
13. back of bride and groom walking hand in hand
14. bride alone, with flowing dress
15. groom alone
16. close up of bride’s flowers
17. kiss between bride and groom
18. bride and groom facing one another
19. bride and groom candid (such as laughing with one another, looking into the distance, etc.)

Wedding Party Portraits

20. bride/bridesmaids
21. groom/groomsmen
22. bride/groomsmen (sometimes lifted up sideways across groomsmen)
23. groom/bridesmaids
24. entire wedding party formal shot
25. entire wedding party watching bride and groom kiss
26. entire wedding party fun shot

Family Portraits

27. couple with bride’s parents
28. couple with groom’s parents
29. couple with bride and grooms parents, one set on each side
30. couple with additional immediate family, bride’s side
31. couple with additional immediate family, groom’s side

Pre-ceremony

32. any religious pre-ceremonies (e.g. ketubah signing (Jewish weddings))
33. candle lighting done by mother of bride and groom
34. ceremony space before guests arrive
35. outside of venue

Ceremony

36. important family walking down aisle (such as grandparents)
37. bride walking down aisle
38. groom looking as bride walks down aisle
39. couple gazing at one another during ceremony
40. wide/long shot of entire ceremony space with guests and couple present
41. exchange of rings
42. bride and groom kiss
43. important religious or cultural traditions (such as breaking of glass, sign of peace, etc.)
44. bride and groom walking back down aisle

Cocktail hour

45. general shot of guests mingling
46. reception venue, empty
47. reception tables, empty
48. reception table centerpiece
49. close up of appetizer(s)

Reception

50. bride and groom walking in
51. bride and groom first dance
52. father/daughter dance
53. mother/son dance
54. important toasts
55. other important dances (such as the hora)
56. guests having fun in general dancing
57. wedding cake
58. bride and groom cutting the cake
59. wedding favor
60. bride and groom leaving 

This list can give couples a good start on album selects; of course not all photos will apply and language may have to be changed (such as for a same-sex wedding), but for those that like a checklist, it will be extremely helpful. 

My top three additional tips for choosing photos include:

1. If the couple will be getting a collage style album with layered photos, make sure they include many detail shots to include as backgrounds (these would be in addition to the important images listed above)

2. If couples choose just one photo from a part of the day, it may look awkward in the album if there are others that don’t relate to it. Possibly suggest that they print and frame that one instead, if it is one of their favorites.

3. If couples are pressed for time, suggest that they don’t choose a lot of group portrait shots; it becomes a tedious task to choose which one has everyone’s eyes open or are looking at the camera.

Emily Sutin is a wedding album designer with experience in a variety of album design types. Please visit her website www.designer-emily.com for more info and album samples.

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