Wedding Album Redesign

We help families redesign wedding albums that are old, damaged, or just need refreshed. Sometimes an album’s merely faded or discolored, and other times it’s suffered extensive damage including tears, stains, and broken bindings. In some cases the album isn’t damaged, but the style is so outdated that it needs to be refreshed.

We just completed another wedding album redesign and it’s a great opportunity to walk you through the process…

Assessment

This client brought his wedding album to our studio for a free assessment because of several issues:

leather cover with stains, cracks, and peeling
missing cover photo from the oval cameo slot
discolored wedding portraits with heavy orange tint
outdated style with gold page edges, corners, and mattes
cumbersome metal hinge binding

After 44 years, the memories were still sweet, but the album had seen better days. Their wedding album deserved to be restored, refreshed, and redesigned.

Deconstruction

Before we did anything with this wedding album, we took an overhead video flipping through every page. This captured the condition, context, and sequence of every photo and page.

Next, we removed every photo from every page and kept them in order. It’s not always necessary (or possible) to remove prints from the wedding album, but if we can remove them it helps us discover any extra prints and scan the entire image area that would that would be hidden by the slip-in mattes.

After we removed the photos from the album, we gently cleaned each print by hand to remove dust and minimize scratches. Of course, we wear nitrile gloves any time we handle the original album and prints. Gloves protect the cover, pages, and prints from dirt, oil, and fingerprints that could cause permanent damage.

Scanning

After we deconstructed the album and cleaned the prints, we moved them to our scanning booth where we digitized them at museum-grade resolution. Capturing an archival digital image of each print preserves all the available quality and details of the original. A great scan means we get the best results for restoration and maximum flexibility when it’s time to redesign album.

On rare occasions, we have access to the film negatives from the wedding photographer. If negatives are available, we can almost always capture more detail, higher resolution, and more faithful color compared with prints.

Restoration

After we scanned the prints, each digital image went through a detailed process of color correction and restoration. For this project they just needed color correction and small blemish removal, but sometimes they require more extensive restoration from water damage or tears.

Some of the most common types of photo damage that we restore include:

tears
stains
fading
yellowing
discoloration
water damage
mold

Redesign

After the images are scanned and restored to their original quality, it’s time to redesign the wedding album. This is one of my favorite parts of the entire process.

There are two main approaches to redesigning a wedding album:

Recreate a book that’s almost identical to the original layout.
Design a more modern (but timeless) version with the same photos.

Almost all our clients choose Option #2 because they want to preserve the memories but refresh the design.

For this project, the client wanted us to design a fresh, modern version of his album. After seeing some sample albums in our studio, he simply said “I trust you.”

Review

When the first draft of the redesign was complete, we emailed the client a link to a private online review gallery. The client used a web browser on his computer to review large, high-quality images at his convenience.

Revision

With this project, the client approved the design right away with no changes. If a client does have edit requests, they can leave comments in the online review gallery, email us, or call the studio. Whether the client is local or remote, we can take them through the design and review process without coming back to our studio.

If there are change requests, we update the design and post new versions for online review. We go through the review and revise cycle until the client loves the final design.

Approval

We want our clients to love their photo book, so we require client approval and final payment when we finalize the design.

Printing

After the design is approved and the final invoice is paid, we print their new wedding album. For this project the client choose a neutral linen cover, deep black embossing, and thick photo paper pages.

The redesigned wedding album is substantial and modern, but still classy and timeless. The materials feel great to the touch and the photos are restored and vibrant. The client had us reassemble their original album and the side-by-side comparison is stunning.

We can print one book, multiple copies, and multiples sizes. We only design square books, which means it’s easy to print multiple sizes of the same book with no design changes.

Delivery

This book was ready to deliver only two days after the final design was approved. Local clients pick up their redesigned wedding album from our studio during, and we ship safely to remote clients. Watching clients flip through their redesigned wedding album is one our favorite experiences.

Pricing

You’ve seen how much work goes into a wedding album redesign, so what does a project like this cost? We see wedding album redesign projects generally fall into two price categories:

A typical wedding album restoration project includes all the steps above and costs about $1,000-2,000.
Complex projects with extensive damage, custom materials, and special paper treatments can cost about $3,000-5,000.

FAQ

Wedding album redesign is a rare, custom service. These are the most frequently asked questions.

Q: Do you redesign wedding albums with photos I scanned or photographed with my phone?
A: We only redesign wedding albums with photos we’ve scanned in our studio. We want you to love your new wedding album, but we can’t guarantee great results if we don’t scan the photos. Some of the most common issues include low resolution and poor color accuracy.

Q: If you redesign the my wedding album can I print it myself?
A: To ensure a beautiful book, we only design books we print, and we only print books we design.

Q: The cover or binding of my wedding album is damaged but the rest of the book is fine. Do you replace album covers or repairing book bindings?
A: We don’t replace album covers or rebind old books. If you have an Art Leather wedding album from the 1980s or 1990s that’s become sticky or falling apart or a heritage album that just needs rebounded instead of redesigned, then we suggest you contact Bella Becho Book Bindery at 713-880-8294.

Interested in working with Chaos to Memories?

If you’re near Chicago and ready to get started, come visit our Wheaton Studio Monday – Friday, 10-5. Please bring your memories with you.

Get Started on Your Project