I have wanted to try designing a wedding album for some time now. I recently ordered a 12X12 flush mount wedding album that I plan on designing pages for in CS3 - My local pro printer can print any size I need. It is a lovely looking album that I got reasonable price and once I design and print 20 - 12x12 pages - I will have approx $50.00 in it. (not counting my time)
I looked into blurb and some of the other 'budget' type album companies and they just look cheap and I also feel like I can design my pages better than if I was using their restrictive templates.
Does anyone else do this with success?
Thanks for any ideas!!
Val

Take a look at this and see what you think:
http://www.lumapix.com/

You need to invest the money in not only software but some decent sample albums. If you're concerned about price, the Tuscany albums from Candid 2000 aren't bad and they have their own proprietary software that a chimp could operate. It was difficult for me to settle on a company, but I think I'm going to use Finao and will be ordering a sample in the near future. Sure, it may cost a couple hundred bucks, but when you can charge a grand or more for an album, it's worth the investment.

Unless you are a graphic designer you will pay for a great album but the design will look crap.
As does 90% of self designed albums.
Not only are templates better but they usually save in layers so you can add or tweak them later. Also a lot faster.

nikongirl wrote:
I have wanted to try designing a wedding album for some time now. I recently ordered a 12X12 flush mount wedding album that I plan on designing pages for in CS3 - My local pro printer can print any size I need. It is a lovely looking album that I got reasonable price and once I design and print 20 - 12x12 pages - I will have approx $50.00 in it. (not counting my time)
I looked into blurb and some of the other 'budget' type album companies and they just look cheap and I also feel like I can design my pages better than if I was using their restrictive templates.
Does anyone else do this with success?
Thanks for any ideas!!
Val


so im confused. WHen its all said and done you would have spent $50 on the album and prints? Thats it? And it is a decent album?

Marcus Watts wrote:
Unless you are a graphic designer you will pay for a great album but the design will look crap.
As does 90% of self designed albums.


Conversely I've tried letting an album company do the design - their efforts were so wrong in so many ways that I immediately re-did them myself. Like many things, it is a skill that can be learned.

I've been pleased with Modern Album Designs... Prices are pretty reasonable for a fully custom design tailored to your preferences. They will lay out for any book specs (I use KISS). Unlimited revisions, delivered in layered PDF, and fast turnaround to boot.

I'm a photographer, not a layout artist. My wife is a designer, but badly overworked... outsourcing is good for my marriage.