When it comes to choosing an album to fill with your cherished memories, the options seem endless. There are several mainstream, consumer-facing online print shops like Artifact Uprising, Shutterfly and others! But should you go the do-it-yourself route? My answer? No. At least not for the images you want to be cherished for generations to come! Read on to find out why you shouldn’t DIY your albums.

You’ll save a ton of time & stress

The first reason why you shouldn’t DIY your albums is time! Designing and order albums takes a lot of time and can be so overwhelming! You’re trying to choose your favorite images, crop them, line them up right, make sure they look good together and are in the right order. Its enough to drive you into decision fatigue! But handing this task off to a professional who knows what they are doing saves you TONS of time and stress.

You’ll actually get one

The second reason why you shouldn’t DIY your albums is because, well, you won’t actually do it. I would bet the big bucks that 98% of people who do not invest in an album with their photographer, do not actually end up making one, even though they intended to. This type of task quickly falls to the bottom of your to-do lists, and suddenly a decade has gone by and your images still live in your camera roll. Or worse, you’ve lost them to a backup failure! In getting your album from your photographer, you know your photographer will do all of the work for you, so that you actually get to flip through your memories beautifully bound in a few weeks time.

Quality Guarantee

Album manufacturers that offer time-tested, archival, and lifetime guaranteed materials are only available to photography businesses. They are designed to outlive you (100+ years) without fading, warping or yellowing. Mainstream consumer online print companies simply do not offer the kind of quality that will last forever. On top of that, if you get your album through your photographer, they will be able to fix anything that is produced less than perfectly. Big companies may not!

Your Photographer knows what they’re doing

Believe it or not, there’s a method behind making your album look beautiful. Pairing images isn’t as simple as dragging and dropping. Your photographer has the creative eye to curate what images look cohesive together on a spread. We look for different compositions, lighting similarities, and lots of other small details you might not think to look for. We also know what type of paper (lustre, semi-matte, matte), debossing, and other technical details to choose.

Your Photographer knows the whole story

Since they shot the images and were there to experience the session or wedding, they know the whole story. Thus, they know how to best tell the story visually, using the work they’ve already created. It’s so much easier for your photographer than it would be for you with the mental catalog in their minds!

BONUS: Velvet!

The show-stopping, crème de la crème of cover material options (in my opinion!) You can’t get a velvet bound album anywhere else! It’s light-catching sheen draws you in. Just what you want out of a photo album!

Check out other creative ways to display your photos here and follow along on Instagram for more about printing your photos.