Reasonable Wedding Album $$$

That’s insane to me lol, though I think that’s about what most photographers charge. Do you have to buy an album directly from the photographer, or can they just give you digital copies of the photos? If you can just get the digital copies you can make an album on Shutterfly for much less

If ordering albums straight from your photographer this definitely sounds reasonable. I made albums for our parents that were a 12 x 12 80-ish page (so not every picture but a majority) on Shutterfly - there are some options here where you can design them yourself or for an additional fee just send your pictures and they will design for you

It's a bit time consuming but it was so fun for me to make them myself!

My 20 page 12x12 or 11x14 album is $800. 2 albums for parents 10x10 or 8x10 is $400. Approx (50-60 photos)

So to me that is normal. I have seen the albums from my photographer and they are quality products. One thing I didn't want to skimp on for my wedding was photos. You want something that will last a lifetime and not something that you ordered online for $10.

You can get them at CVS for $29.99 for 25+ pages and $1.19 a page after that. Get the digitals and do your own. Save hundreds! Smart.

View Quoted Comment

How did the quality turn out on shutterfly? We've done calendars through them that didn't have the level of quality we wanted so I'm a little hesitant. This photographer showed me his three album options (photo cover, leather cover, and linen cover) and they're incredible and the photo cover which we like the most has a lifetime guarantee to never wear down.

My photographer definitely does have options that are that expensive, but I just ordered an album of our engagement photos for $164. It’s a 10x10 album with a photo cover. Albums with linen or leather covers were more expensive.

View Quoted Comment

I agree with you completely! I want to make sure the quality of the photos are as if you're seeing them happen in person.

View Quoted Comment

These prices are for the photo cover (cheapest option) and has a lifetime guarantee to not wear down.

View Quoted Comment

I'm just worried that the quality won't turn out as nice. I went to CVS to print off my college senior photos to put in my graduation announcements and they all turned out fuzzy and I ended up not even sending them out.

View Quoted Comment

Exactly. The other places are cheap for a reason. If you want to print a book for family and friends to handle and pass around I would look into a cheap option so you won't be paranoid with wear and tear of the book.

I paid $325-$350 this week for three albums:
a 10x10 with 100 pages for us.
Plus two 8.5x8.5 with 50 pages for the parents.
Your cheapest size for 26 pages is equivalent to what I paid for three albums or a total of 200 pages. Based on that, yes, I think it’s high for that small of a page count.
Check out Artifact Uprising, wedding albums are 10% off right now too. Its a similar user experience to Shutterfly type companies but way better quality I also love that they have lay flat albums meaning there’s no spine in the middle of the photos. You can build the book online in their design tool and change page layouts to add more than one photo per page. I ordered a small album with our proposal photos as a Valentine’s Day gift/trial about a year ago or so and love it. I’m so excited for the wedding albums now!

It's super variable. I've seen photographers offer wedding albums as low as $150. Our photographer's album starts at $1000.

You should DEFINITELY see sample albums before even considering ordering one. The quality can be super variable. I thought our photographer charging $1000 was nuts but then I saw the quality of her albums and they are GORGEOUS. I'm a photographer, and even though I don't shoot weddings I'm somewhat familiar with what goes into producing a quality album and how much they cost. The two albums my photographer shared with us were among the most beautiful I have seen - every detail from the binding to the cover to the paper to the images themselves was exquisite, and the reproduction of her photos in print was spot on - crisp and colorful with perfect skin tones and detailed highlights and shadows. As an experienced photographer with access to professional printing labs, it would cost me several hundred dollars to replicate just the album alone (quality of cover, embossing, binding, paper, and physical materials), not including the time spend laying out the pages and soft proofing the photos for print. Also keep in mind that these albums are printed using all archival materials and methods - they are heirlooms that will last for decades, if not generations, to come.

You probably would have fired your photographer if they told you they were going to shoot your entire wedding with 35mm disposable cameras instead of using their DSLR/mirrorless camera and professional lenses. Taking high quality photographs shot by a photographer with years of experience and thousands of dollars worth of professional gear and putting them in a $50 Shutterfly album is about the equivalent.

Keep in mind that quality of albums can vary a lot and price doesn't always reflect quality. I've seen albums couples paid $800 for that look worse than albums others paid $300 for. But those prices you listed seem reasonable to me as long as the price reflects the quality. Definitely ask to see some sample albums from weddings they have photographed before adding that to your package.

View Quoted Comment

The quality was great - I chalked it up to being professional high/res images, there have been times I've used Shutterfly, Walgreens (also another place I've had photo books made for college graduation that turned out awesome!) with pictures just off of a phone or something like that which would lose quality if enlarged too much!

I do like the idea of a lifetime guarantee though, so if it's in your budget, I say go for it!!

If you can pay for all your digital images , I’d do your own photo book online on Shutterfly