I am new wedding photographer and I am about to be doing my first wedding were the couple has purchased an album. I am not sure what to do about the images that go into the album. Does the couple pick the photos for the album or do I pick them out and then do I design the album without there input or does the couple pick the layout design and the photos? Any thoughts suggestions. Thanks

Duke

We tell the couple to pick 50 of their favorites and we take those and incorporate them into the album. They know that is how it works when we book them. I make sure to design it with the flow of the day with their picks and ours. we give them a chance to look at the album on line with an opportunity to make any changes they like a one time thing then they sign off on it and it goes to print, We have had minimal changes and zero problems this way.

We used to have them pick the images. Often it would take them forever to get us the list (I think the worst was a year). It made it so that it took forever to finish working on the wedding. Also, inevitably, they got the list to us at a totally crazy time when we had no time to get the album put together. Also, with this method, they never ordered more photos in their album than were included in their package.

Several years ago we switched to doing predesign, and we love it! After the wedding, we predesign an album for them. It is kind of like a rough draft. They know from the first time they meet with us that this is how we do our albums, so it is not a surprise. We also make sure they know that we will be trying to cover the whole day in the album, so there may be parts that they won't want to include. We offer both Zookbinders Zookbook and matted albums. Before the wedding, we make sure we know which style they prefer, so that we can design the right one for them. We put their album design online a couple of weeks after the wedding. After they have reviewed it, they usually come in, and we go over any changes they would like to make. They can make up to 3 full sets of changes, without any additional charge. Most couples make one set, especially since we meet with them to make these changes. Some couples want to only purchase an album that is covered by the credit in their package, but most of them add additional pages. We make sure they know that we want their album to be just right for them.

Pre-design. Formals go into an adjunct formalbook™ so as to not break up the flow of the album

like lynn,
i choose. i design and then i proof the wedding - after the album is released. no proofs for about a week or two.

i've learned over the years that the client wants it ALL... they cannot decide - or at least it's hard for them to decide. and life gets in the way - the wedding is over and they are ready to move, buy a home, start a family. every single client has been thrilled that this is one thing they don't have to worry about (after the wedding). before, they feel too freaked - they want to have all the control. once everything is released the client can make changes. (but i've seen very few) yes, there are still a few that want to change a lot of things, but after they sit with it for a while, they seem to think my design is best - they see that i've chosne the best images, and that i've used them in a way that highlights their style and taste.

i also design with proofs. no retouching until the end. (i do this for album design clients, too.) so if we design an album for you, you may send us images that still need a little retouching, if there are changes, we make the changes, and then retouch what needs to be done. if you want more info, just shoot me a note at... info at wedoodledo dot com.

i'm in the process of writing a fairly comprehensive collection of articles about album design, pricing, and sales. when it's ready, it will be available online. (if you want, sign up for or email list to be notified when it's released.) www.wedoodledo.com.

The bottom line is anything is possible, you just have to decide what works for you.

Some photographers pre-design then get feedback from the clients and tweak it, some simply deliver an album without ANY input from clients, some have the clients pick all the images, some have the clients pick 30-50 "must have" images and then the photographer picks the rest. All are valid models.

I haven't heard of anyone who has the client do the design however, most photographers do the design or outsource it to an album designer (there are lots of them out there).