Our photographer doesn’t offer any albums in her package. I think you can order them through her if you would like, but I am all about the DIY. The thought of making my own albums was so exciting to me I didn’t want anyone else to do it for me. I knew I would be making a photo guestbook so I kept an eye out for some deals. Groupon started running some photobook deals for Picaboo and Photobook America. I read a few so/so reviews for Picaboo and didn’t find too much for Photobook America. So what did I do? Bought the Photobook America Groupon $35 for $115 worth of albums. I thought it was a great deal, turns out their standard albums run about $115. Great deal – maybe not so much.
Once we got our engagement pictures back I slowly began putting together our album. I used this article to help me choose what photos to put where. It applies more to wedding albums and has some great pointers for when it comes time to put that album together.
I found the Photobook America software a little… how shall I say this…old school? It is definitely not top of the line and full of customization. I felt it was lacking something, but I am not an expert photobook maker and I can’t quite put my finger on it. The only other photobooks I have made were through Shutterfly, an their software is probably superior. Once I figured out the software it was pretty easy to use and putting the book together went pretty fast.
I had a hard time picking a front cover photo. I wanted to do a wrap around cover and in all of our photos we were on the left side of the photo. (aka we would have been on the back of the book) Maybe it is a little weird that our backs are on the front cover, but it works for us.
Photobook America doesn’t offer fold flat pages
One of my favorite pages. I have seen photographers do layouts like this in my friends wedding albums so I copied it here.
I ended up making the 12x12 Large Guestbook. It comes with matte pages for easier writing. It does give the pictures a linen look. I kind of like it.
Overall our book turned out nicely and will be a great memento for years to come. I ended up paying $50 including Groupon and shipping. Not to bad for a 40 page book. I have purchased a Picaboo groupon for our parents albums and am considering Adorama for our album. By the end of all this you may as well call me the photobook girl.
Have you had good results with any specific company?
Looks great!
ReplyDeleteI was going to have photobooks made for the parents after my wedding, but I never got around to it.
Hi, I happened upon your site and I was interested in reading your photo book reviews. I happen to write a blog on photo books and I am "Photo Book Girl" LOL! I had my wedding about a year and a half ago and I did a lot of DIY projects as well, including a wedding guest photo book and my blog came out of all that research I did on making my own wedding photo books. I noticed that you mentioned AdoramaPix - I did one of my books with them too. If you're interested in seeing a bunch of reviews and photos of my books, here's a link to my page with lots of DIY and reviews (including Adorama). I also have giveaways from time to time, so it may be right up your alley! Best of luck on your wedding and you DIY.
ReplyDeletePhotoBookGirl
Oops, I forgot to add the URL if you're interested: http://www.photobookgirl.com/wedding/
ReplyDeleteand P.S. there's always more room for more photobook girls!