Is a Wedding Album Still a Necessity

[natalie_grimmer]

<p>Hello All,<br>

I am considering offering to my clients a CD of their images and leaving it at that. Is this a good idea or is the tradional Wedding Album still in high demand? The past few weddings I have done my clients have only wanted the CD and some prints and I find this cuts costs down on both ends and the turn around time for getting the finished product to the client is much quicker. Is this a good idea or am I limiting myself? Any advise is much appreciated-Thank you!<br>

Natalie</p>

<p> </p>

[theresa_skutt]

<p>I've asked around, and the response I get is generally the album is included in the price, so they can opt out (by disappearing) or take it. I would assume the finished album is better for you both as an artist but also for promotional purposes. I dislike (!) CDs becuase I never know where they are printed, so I don't know how my work is being represented out there. With professional prints & a finished album, at least I know I have some image control.</p>

[william-porter]

<p>I would not say that traditional wedding albums are "in high demand" with my clients. But I push photobooks. I am quite aware that we're living in the digital age, but I try to educate my clients to something important: wedding photos aren't just for sharing this week on Facebook, they're for sharing with your grandchildren in 40 years. And the only way to count on being able to do that, right now anyway, is to make prints.</p>

[picturesque]

<p>Why not offer all possibilities? I do. I don't limit myself to disk only or album only. I customize my offering to what the client wants. You can never tell anymore. My last prospect told me she wanted a traditional album--the old, slip-in type--and she is not an older bride.</p>

[joshroot]

<p>I never sold albums. I knew I was leaving money on the table, but I just wasn't interested in it. So I priced myself where the money was worth my time and left it at that.</p>

[rt_jones]

<p>I don't understand why offering additional items should be considered a public service. Everything you sell above the shoot is money on your bottom line and you should be happy to do it. (Assuming you've priced things correctly).</p>

[mark liddell]

The shoot 'n burn photogs usually go for the lower end of the market and high volume, if this fits how you want to run you business then go for it.

[simon_crofts]

<p>At the moment, most of our clients want an album, though it's not included in the package. Surprisingly perhaps at the moment I think more going for that than going for a CD. Quite a lot want both. I think most people like to have something physical and special they can browse through. Some of the ones who went for CD only are now coming back a year or two later and asking for an album.</p>

 

[david_schilling___chicago_]

<p>Once upon a time there was a land that included album reps. These folks were very knowledgeable about photography and the industry, they cared about the products that they represented and took a genuine interest in helping studios maximize their growth and profits. They catered to a very select professional crowd, visited studio owners in person, addressed photographers by their first name and supported industry tradeshows/conventions. Course that was a different time and place.</p>

[booray]

<p>I include the CD with my basic package and the album is an add-on. So far this year I have had only one client not buy an album. I can't imagine not offering them. I offer over a dozen different items and the album is always the first one people buy. I think the key to album sales is to offer a creative, unique product and impress upon people that this is the first "family heirloom" that they will create as a couple.</p>

<p>If you plan to branch out into the Bar/Bat Mitzvah market they are a must.</p>

[neilambrose]

<blockquote>

<p>Once upon a time there was a land that included album reps....Course that was a different time and place.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>It's still that time and that place. Just depends where you shop.</p>

[natalie_grimmer]

<p>All of this is very helpful-thank you for the advice and feedback!</p>

[djphoto]

<p>We may save ourselves time and our clients money by not creating an album for them, but in doing so we have served them very poorly. As William Porter says, it's not just about photos to put on Facebook -- it's about creating a document that is one of the foundations of a family heritage and legacy.<br>

My wife and I were married almost 45 years ago. We had a nice but small church wedding, but there was no money for a photographer, and honestly, we didn't give it much thought. (This was several years before I became a photographer myself.) So all we had in the way of photographs were some slides my dad took, and some 3x3 snapshot prints her sister took with a box brownie. The negatives were lost early on.<br>

Last summer, I scanned those small prints and slides, worked on them a looong time to make the best possible 5x7s, and had them bound in a good leather album from Zookbinders. Most of you wouldn't give the photos a second look, but my wife cherishes her album, and our grandchildren will fight over it.</p><div></div>

[natalie_grimmer]

<p>I just want to say that I am not denying books to my clients, they simply have not wanted one. I'm just trying to get a feel for what the client wants and taylor my business off of that, but offering an album couldn't hurt either.</p>

[booray]

<p>I just want to say that I love that Dave posted a picture from his wedding!</p>

<p>Natalie, do you have a big, beautiful sample album? </p>

[natalie_grimmer]

<p>I have a decent portfolio if that's what you mean. I'm sorry maybe I'm misunderstanding your question Booray.</p>

[neilambrose]

<p>What Booray means is unless you show clients a truly superlative album they're not going to ask you for one. People buy what you show them — and won't buy what you don't show them. If you show people something that fires their imagination you can supply albums as much as you want.</p>

[DWScott]

<p>I agree completely. I was married just prior to the digital explosion. Our photog was a pro with a good commercial business. He had 8 or 10 sample albums for us to peruse, all of which were stunning, and each of which were very different materials and presentation styles. The tactile/visual experience of those books made it impossible to not choose our favourite and order that one. I had lots of opinion about the photography when we met with the photographer, but had never considered an album until he showed them to us.</p>

[vitadesigns]

<p>I give an album to the client in my top two packages. The bottom package it is an add on.</p>

<p>I also include a DVD with selected photos at a 5x7 resolution. If they want larger prints I ask them to print through me so I can run quality control. All the clients have been more than satisfied with this policy.</p>

<p>If they want to purchase the RAW files they can, at a price because these are my negatives and all my print / album business leaves with them. </p>

[djphoto]

<p>Natalie, it was not my intent to denigrate your business model. Obviously, we all have to sell what our clients will buy. But I do want to emphasize the importance of placing an album in their hands, if at all possible. Photographs in an album have real, objective existence. They can be looked at again and again without any special equipment. They can be treasured, they can be passed down as an inheritance.<br>

A digital photograph, on the other hand, is ephemeral. It has no real existence. It is only an arrangement of electrical impulses until it is printed.<br>

My wife and I were at a party some years ago, before the digital age, and in one of the games we played we were asked to name three things we would try to save, other than our children and pets, if our house were to catch fire. Every person there named their photographs as one of the three things they would save, and more than half placed their photographs first.<br>

Nowadays, I guess we would try to save our computers! I know I would, along with the boxes of family prints and the album I made for my wife.<br>

My point is, though, that I think we serve our clients best and give them the most lasting satisfaction when we encourage them in every way possible to leave our studios with an album of their wedding photographs in their arms.</p>

[shawn_mertz]

<p>I agree with Dave Jenkins, long term they are better off with an album.<br>

But: The past two years the only couples that have even thought about getting albums before talking with me had parents very involved in the planning. So I show them albums, some decide to get them but most leave it as something to maybe add later. I don't think anyone ever has decided to get one later.</p>

[natalie_grimmer]

<p>That's what I get alot of too. That they are either limited to what they can spend, because they are paying for the wedding themselves, or they want to put together their own album later on. They don't seem as anxious for the album as long as they have the images/prints.</p>

[natalie_grimmer]

<p>What amazes me is the amount of people who need to be convinced of even hiring a professional photographer for their wedding. Alot of people are just going with a guest who has a good camera and letting them take the pictures to save money. So it's not only trying to convince them to get an album, it's convincing them to have a professional photographer there at all.</p>

[fotografz]

<p>Well, if the clients are interviewing you in person, where an album discussion would come up, they probably already made the decision to hire a professional wedding photographer.</p>

<p>For a long time I was able to sell a traditional slip-in type album with most packages without a fully printed sample ... then the bottom fell out of the economy.</p>

<p>Album sales went from 80% to 20%.</p>

<p>So I located a local lab that made a really nice bound type album ... but the best thing is this lab's prints are some of the best I've ever seen. Turn around time is less than two weeks, and I do every album as a custom design for a fee.</p>

<p>By having just one of these (a 20 page/40 sides book) in hand at meetings, album sales jumped back up to 70%, and more clients are ordering parent albums because the design is already paid for.</p>

<p>When I print this year's albums, I'll pick two or three more to do different samples to have on hand. It sells. </p>

[dmcgphoto]

<p>Grandchildren should not have to see their grandparents on a screen saver.<br>

Just providing the CD of images puts you in more of a churn/burn category. There is a market for this photographer, but this market is the one that takes the biggest hits during hard economic times. This client base, who totally deserves their wedding photography to be the best they can afford, may not feel they need an album, and in truth probably don't want one. However, that would indicate to me..a cross of old and new school, that the photography isn't particularly important in the way they see things. Can you educate that client? Do you want to? Or is your photography business more for the quick cash and turnaround then it is a boutique style business? Only you can answer that.<br>

Though RT and William's initial points are spot on!</p>