What to put in an album?

Hey there..... I've got what may be a somewhat stupid question, but I need to

ask anyway.

 

I'm finally getting around to putting together a sample album for future

clients. All of my wedding clients have been word of mouth, hired me strictly

for what they saw online, and not one of them has ordered an album, they all

chose to do their own. But I would like to start selling albums to clients. At

this point I have a demo Renaissance Milano with 20 sides... 40 images total. In

the near future I'd also like to have a sample from Zookbinders as well.....

 

My question: Should I put the best images from one full weddding in this album?

Or should I put the best images from "all" the previous weddings that I've done?

 

Let me also say that I do have an online website where clients can see a full

wedding if they choose to.

 

Let me say that picking out just 40 images from one wedding is proving to be

difficult... but it might be easier for me to choose, my favorites from a

variety of them.

 

Any advice would be appreciated!

Thanks,

Michelle

I've done both, brides always want to see one complete album that shows you can capture everything from start to finish, but once they enjoy that one, they LOVE to see my best of album, which showsd all the choices they have in terms of design, artistic elements and great images.

I have a few sample albums. The primary portfolio piece is an Art Leather Futura album that holds my favorite portrait work - bridals, engagements, and wedding candids... but also maternity, seniors, and children. Then I have an Asuka Book that is a reprint of a favorite that we did for a client. To cover the basics, I also present an image box of about (20) proofs from a single wedding. By the time the client leaves, they've seen a wide variety of albums (more than just the two above), a wide variety of portraiture, and have seen every aspect of wedding coverage. So far, it has gone over great.

If I were a bride, I'd probably be more likely to ask if I could see a "real" wedding album vs. an

album of your greatest hits. Hopefully they've already seen your best work online, and if

you've shown them entire weddings, they may want to see how you'd take one of those and

turn it into an album. I think that there may be more credibility in showing them something

that could turn out to be a real album, vs. something that is obviously not a real example.

Thank you! Thank you! This helps so much, all of you! Dolly would love to see your album one of these days. Maybe another get together?

 

Mike I like your idea of also having a proof box with matted prints. This gives me something to work on during the slow months.

 

Anne wise advice, I really appreciate it. So I've decided that the Renaissance album will hold one wedding. I'll do matted prints... for people to look through, and then 1 or 2 Zookbinders books as well when I get the chance to actually put them together. I've been putting off doing an album with them but now that they also do the printing it will make life a bit easier!

 

Thanks again everyone!