Wedding Albums For Non-Professionals

I've been asked several times to shoot weddings, and while I usually decline these offers, I succumbed to my best friend's request. He wanted to fly me out to Jamaica for a small intimate 15-20 person wedding (family only) so how could I refuse?

Now I've assisted in weddings before so I'm fairly confident in my abilities to shoot such a small wedding.

Question: I want to make them a really great wedding album and I've researched some of the more highly recommended sites, such as Pictobooks, Asuka, GraphiStudio, etc. and most require you to be a professional in the industry to be able to print their albums.

Does anyone have any recommendations on what I can do to get a high quality album printed without having to become a certified professional? Thanks for any advice given!

http://bridesalbumstra​ditionalstyle.mposecur​esystems.com/users/wpd​isp.php?ln=11870

Is a start....

Blurb

Jon Rouston wrote in post #3825242
Blurb

I wondered what this post meant john and I'm glad I looked at www.blurb.com

Looks an interesting site with easy to create books that I can link to my flickr account. What's postage like to the UK and how do you find the quality?

JD

EOS_JD wrote in post #3826208
I wondered what this post meant john and I'm glad I looked at www.blurb.com

Looks an interesting site with easy to create books that I can link to my flickr account. What's postage like to the UK and how do you find the quality?

JD

Sorry, I was flying out the house and thought some reply was better than none! So my full reply would say that I've not actually used them, but know someone who has on flickr, his photos of the book are here: http://www.flickr.com …0/sets/72157600​235103046/

He was quite happy, other people have said that the binding is not as good as an asuka and the colours are sometimes a bit off. In the balance I'd guess a good cheaper alternative but probably not great for higher paying clients.

His shipping to the UK was fine, but that's the only report I have.

HTH

I've used Blurb and was very pleased with the results. They're a lower end book but still are of decent quality for brides on a budget.

I just got an album that had 20 pages to fill with 8x10's. The B&G wanted the pictures, not just a book. So, I got a nice album from Amazon for around $40 and printed from Costco, 8x10 for $1.99 each sheet. The pictures look great that way.

But if I did a book, Blurb isn't bad. The POTN Volume I is through Blurb and it's beautiful.

If you decide to try blurb make sure your monitor is calibrated precisely and that your post-processing is spot on. They do not do any corrections. They have a tendency to print dark so keep that in mind as well. You basically get back what you give them. And yes, they do have binding issues with books with more than say 100 pages. My associate has had about 3 0f 5 books delivered fall apart within a week or 2. Blurb is good about re-doing the book but it is to early to tell if the new books will hold up.

while we are on the topic...has anyone seen the apple books?

morlia wrote in post #3831997
while we are on the topic...has anyone seen the apple books?

I don't own a 'Apple', but I have seen a book or two from them and I'd say-not bad-

We design, print and bind albums for photographers who want to outsource some or all of their album projects. We do the design and use top album companies for the print and bind. So our clients do not have to have a relationship with the album companies - we handle all that. Lately, we've used Graphi, Leather Craftsmen, VisionArt Books, Asuka, and others. Advice and samples...www.storybookpages.com