I have a bride who does not want a flush-mount album. Instead, she wants one that actually holds individual photographs "nicely secured by the corners" as she put it. Anyone know any vendors who make those?

I love Cypress . Really beautiful matted albums and proof boxes, folios... I imagine that's what she's talking about.

Wow, those are beautiful! Thanks!

Incredibly beautiful indeed, but it will cost you for sure. Totally worth it though, IMO. Leather Craftsman also does traditional matted albums.

Yuck. let us know what you go with. I only offer Kiss Albums (all my brides know that up front) but getting one of those may be cool to use as a portfolio.

I think it's a nostalgia thing Bryce. I had one client (portrait) that almost melted talking about flipping through her mother's matted wedding album, hearing the rice paper, feeling the round corners, etc... I know I feel that way about my parent's album too. It reminds me of when I was a little girl and dreaming of my wedding (HA!)...

anyway...

queensberry - the ultimate matted albums

Zookbinders has nice matted albums.

Thank you all so much! I checked out all the sites that were provided, and I think the Cypress books are the closest to what the bride wanted, as she specifically asked for an album that uses photo corners to hold the pictures. Plus, I really like the way they look - the ribbon binding option is really unique! I'm thinking price won't really be too much of an issue; they are still cheaper than the flush-mounts I am using (Finao) and of course take a whole lot less time to design!!
Thanks again for all of your input!

You totally won't be sorry w/ Cypress...they're my favorite album vendors and I'm surprised at how many I sell...they're timeless and gorgeous! Plus, they're cs is awesome!

Ahhhh ok. I'm not terribly big on nostalgia (except the old style pepsi can and glass coke bottles) so that's probably why i don't really get it.

Wow, I really like the ribbon-bound version too, but I am not getting how their self-mounts are literally "stick double sided tape on your print and stick it on". That seems really hokey to me. If it was a self-mount like the way the finaos are self-mounts, I'd order a sample this second. I love the binding and think the book itself is beautiful, but the idea of taping images to a piece of paper in a book, or using photo corners just seems unprofessional to me. I guess it makes more sense to go with the matted one in that case, but I'm with Bryce, I am not a huge fan of the mats either. Can they do the ribbon-bound with the matted style? It's not clear on the public side of the website.

it almost sounds like she wants a scrapbook and not an album.

I think it is also just a matter of personal taste. Just like one person likes one kind of car but another prefers another kind of car, why wouldn't different brides want different types of albums? Personally, if I were getting married again I am not sure which type I would choose. I really like the matted albums we offer, but I also like the flush albums we offer. It would be a really tough choice for me. I know KISS albums are very popular on here, but personally they don't appeal to me at all, so I don't offer them. I like imprinting on the front of albums, I like offering a cameo on the cover of the album, I like rounded corner flush albums with gilding on the edges. I do not like flush style albums where the center of the page is folded, not cut. I think it looks really bad over time. Those happen to be my personal preferences, but I would never assume that everyone should agree with me, that is why there are different options from different companies.

I agree completely - we all have our preferences, that's why we're artists! I've only been offering the flush-mount albums so far, but I am really excited to have something completely different to offer.

Over the years I've had two brides not hire me because they thought flush mount albums are stupid. One bride said they look like high school yearbooks, which I thought was funny.

At the time I didn't have any options to show them, but if it ever comes up again I'll show them the Cypress.

Ha ha, I had a groom tell me that he thought flush mounts looked like children's books with the cardboard pages. And I hadn't even shown him one... he was just complaining about another photographer they'd met with!