Today our associate photographer Katrina will be writing about why a wedding album is important when putting together your photography package. So sit back, sip your coffee, and enjoy!

I got married in 2008 (unfortunately before I met Kevin) and think back on the day fondly to this day. Every year on our anniversary I'll switch my Facebook photo to one of our wedding photos, and think about how someday I'll get around to printing the photos. Did you catch the depressing statement in that sentence? Look again. "...someday I'll get around to printing the photos". That's right, it has been 9 years and every single one of our wedding photos is still on a CD. When searching for a photographer, the only thought in my mind was that I wanted all of the digitals. Looking back and knowing what I know now as a wedding photographer, I wish I had done better research and prioritized the budget to afford a photographer who offered an album.

Why is it so important to have a physical wedding album when we live in such a digital age? Let me explain...

1. Technology is constantly changing. Tell me, when was the last time you looked at your family photos that are stored on a ZIP disk? 1999, maybe? That's the last time I had a computer that was capable of reading them, anyway. With how quickly technology changes and how possible it is that a device gets corrupted, it's entirely possible that you could lose your precious memories. Hard drives crash, cloud storage companies go out of business, CDs get lost, or USB drives are forgotten in a pocket of a shirt that goes through the wash. Albums and prints though, they will never give you errors when you open them or have a customer support rep tell you that you have to pay to access your memories again.

2. Decor for your home - I can guarantee you that the album would be sitting proudly on the coffee table right now if I had one, and I would spaz every time my toddler went near it with his sticky fingers. Plus, if you hired a professional to take the photos, why not let the professional print them too? The albums that we offer are covered in a beautiful Italian leather in the color of your choice, so you can match your wedding colors or your living room decor. You may be thinking that anyone could run over to Wal-Mart or Michaels and grab a photo album, slap some photos in it, and be done with it. However when you leave it to the professionals you'll receive an album that is expertly designed from cover to cover, showcasing your day. The archival pages are thick and you won't be losing any loose photos or tearing anything. Only support American business? Great! The albums we provide are handmade in Indiana. 

3. Heirloom to share memories - It's really difficult to share memories with your friends, kids, grandkids, and so on when your wedding photos are stuck on an ancient floppy disk. With our wedding albums, you can experience your wedding day over and over again with your family. We work with you after the wedding to design your album to your liking before sending it off to be printed. You'll get the final say so you can be confident that you'll have an album worthy of generations to come.

If you have photos on old devices, PLEASE get them printed. Back them up on a newer device if you have to. I personally lost photos of my uncle who passed away, all because an old hard drive became corrupt. Technology can be a wonderful thing, but you should not trust it to save your memories forever.

For all you married readers, do you have a wedding album? Get it out and reminisce for a moment... then leave a comment letting us know the emotions that come back to you!