Where to Get a Wedding Album Printed?

[mmuhlenkamp]

Hi all,

I'm not a wedding photographer by any means, but I'm trying to help my sister out of a jam. She was married in May '07 and still hasn't received the wedding album she ordered from her photographer. I don't know all the details, but it seems that the photographer got into some financial trouble and family trouble and what have you, but my sister is done being patient. She didn't want to rush the photographer because she wanted a good product, but obviously this has gotten a little ridiculous.

I told her if she doesn't get refunded a portion of the money she spent on her wedding package $300-$500 (plus reprint rights and hopefully RAW files) she should go to small claims court. Apparently it's been really difficult to get the photographer to do anything, she sounds apologetic, but then still doesn't deliver.

Fortunately for my sister I'm a graphic designer and setting up a yearbook style photo album is definitely in my realm of expertise. So here's my question (finally) what photo album companies would you recommend? I'd like to be able to send custom layouts (high res pdfs or even InDesign files) and them come back with a professional quality book. I've done some kind of cheapy albums before (for personal stuff), but the quality of printing isn't up to snuff.

So, suggestions? Advice?

Thanks in advance.

[kayumangi]

Hi Melissa.

Checkout www.blurb.com or www.gpalbums.com

- Marius

[Jaggz]

Hey Melissa...

We only use two companies, so I can only speak for these two - both are great.

KISS - { http://www.kissweddingbooks.com/ } Super simple - great books, not too many options.
Finao - { http://www.finaoonline.com/ } Tons of options, different cover options, colors, leathers, etc.

Both are great albums in my opinion and both are excellent with customer service. Hope this helps out some and I'm sorry to hear about your sister's experience :-(

Jake~

[sandralemin]

A local option is Forbeyon they are here in dallas. If you are designing the album that is over half the costs so she should be able to get a album for $250 +.
Also try ACI labs they have albums we use them all the time for engagement albums.
sandra

[bondarnes]

We have used Forbeyon for several years and are extremely happy with their products and their service.

[mmuhlenkamp]

Hmm... I think Forbeyon might be what I'm looking for, I'll have to see what my sister thinks about the different styles of the other places though. Thanks for the suggestions all!

[brad]

I *love* Forbeyon. Big thumbs up not only for the product, but for their customer service.

[CaroleHayes]

Anybody use Zookbinders, or Millers? I have them bookmarked, to check out....

[AllenAyres]

Black River Imaging does a good job, if you are wanting inexpensive and good quality.

[David Whatley]

Originally Posted by mmuhlenkamp

I told her if she doesn't get refunded a portion of the money she spent on her wedding package $300-$500 (plus reprint rights and hopefully RAW files) she should go to small claims court. Apparently it's been really difficult to get the photographer to do anything, she sounds apologetic, but then still doesn't deliver

Are you saying she spent a total of 300-500 for the wedding, or that was your opinion on a refund amount given the cost of an album?
If she spent 3-500 this is another example of not going with a professional.
DW

[mmuhlenkamp]

Originally Posted by David Whatley

Are you saying she spent a total of 300-500 for the wedding, or that was your opinion on a refund amount given the cost of an album?
If she spent 3-500 this is another example of not going with a professional.
DW

No, I think she spent somewhere in the $2000 range for the whole package, which is still kind of low, but not super cheap. I'm not sure what portion of that amount was for the album, I'm just guessing $300-$500. I plan on getting a really nice album made up for her if she wants to spend that since I'm not really going to charge her for my time.

mmuhlenkamp added 1978 Minutes and 48 Seconds later...Double Post Merged Below

I've gotten the disc of photos now, these files are completely unedited so I'm willing to give some leeway. What's killing me though is that all of the shots were shot in full auto. (I looked after noticing a number of shots 1/20th or slower.) And I'm not an equipment snob by any means, but I don't see a 17-85 kit lens being an appropriate wedding photography lens (pretty dark venue this one was). Though some of the pictures were shot with a 17-55 f/2.8 and I'm not completely sure why that wasn't exclusively used.

I've got a lot of work ahead of me to make a good looking album for my sister.

mmuhlenkamp added 1982 Minutes and 8 Seconds later...Double Post Merged Below

I've gotten the disc of photos now, these files are completely unedited so I'm willing to give some leeway. What's killing me though is that all of the shots were shot in full auto. (I looked after noticing a number of shots 1/20th or slower.) And I'm not an equipment snob by any means, but I don't see a 17-85 kit lens being an appropriate wedding photography lens (pretty dark venue this one was). Though some of the pictures were shot with a 17-55 f/2.8 and I'm not completely sure why that wasn't exclusively used.

I've got a lot of work ahead of me to make a good looking album for my sister.

[resehop]

I wanted to put out there an album company that I found. ASABooks.

http://asabooks.com/

The reason I am in LOVE with the idea of this company after much research is the simple price structure and all the choices. No matter what cover you pick, it is the same price. This way I do not have to nickel and dime my clients or come up with a crazy price structure scheme. I like to keep things simple though. I ordered an album sample but it will be a few weeks before I get to see if I like the quality. The only downside to me was that they do not offer the crazy sized album (like the 12x5). So I called them and they are developing a 16x6 right now and will release it in a few months.

Here is a quote from their website:

"ASABooks was founded by professional wedding photographers. As photographers, we have tried working with many different wedding album companies in the past, but have encountered numerous problems along the way. Bible-thick catalogues, hard-to-decipher pricing books, extra charges on ten different things on one album, complicated ordering systems … In the end, we were so frustrated that we started making our own wedding albums. And now, we want to share our years of album making experience with you."

[mmuhlenkamp]

Ok, after looking at all these companies, I decided what I really wanted to do was MAKE the wedding album. I took a class on bookbinding (from one of my old professors) and did a few personal books and then took on my sister's album. This thing is about 80 pages, and about 9" X 12", leather bound, all done by hand (except for the printing of course). I'm pretty happy with it, now I'm trying to figure out some sort of sleeve to make to help keep the dust off.

FYI this would be very expensive to make it truly worth all the hours I spent making it, but it's for my sister so all she has to pay are material costs, not labor.

[kayumangi]

Nicely done Melissa.

So for the whole process, what took the most time? except waiting for the pictures of course =)

[J Eddington]

Melissa, where did you take the class. This is something that I am very interested in.