This book was a labor of love.
It took two and a half ink cartridges and a lot of patience.
It follows the same basic format as our engagement album. I used the same colors, font and many of the same page layouts to put it all together. However, it's about four times as thick. I wanted to use the same size Russell + Hazel binder but quickly realized there was no way I'd fit all 104 pages in the half inch binder rings.
So I decided to dismantle a R+H binder.
I used an x-acto to cut the covers from the spine and then sealed the edges with washi tape. I added patterned paper to the insides of the covers and then punched three holes through them and the pages. To bind it all together, I used three 2" binder rings.
I think the overall effect is not as clean and "perfect" looking as if I had an actual binder to case the book. However, I love the page size and am so glad I stuck with it instead of moving up to 8.5x11. I also considered separating it into a ceremony album and a reception album, but when I tried to work that out it broke up the flow of the story.
So this is working for now. Maybe eventually I'll find a small thick binder and then I'll transfer the pages over.
I am still looking for a suitable ampersand for the front. Right now it's just a white letter sticker, but I'd like to find a chipboard (orange) ampersand.
I did not use any digital templates to complete this book. I just took each page at a time and worked my way through our 705 wedding photos chronologically. The final book has 175 photos. Basically, I picked my favorites and the ones that best told our story. The text that accompanies some of the photos is taken directly from my wedding wrap up posts here on this blog.
You can read a bit about my design process (for the engagement album, but same idea) here.
The final pages are 8.5x6.75. When I was making them in Photoshop Elements, I started with 8.5x6.75 canvases at 300dpi. I printed each page at home on 8.5x11 photo paper and then trimmed down to size. I put the pages in order and adhered them back to back (with a tape runner adhesive around each edge) before punching the holes.
BOOK DETAILS :
Printer : HP PhotoSmart 2575
Photo Paper : Office Depot professional photo paper semi-gloss (highly recommend)
Patterned Paper : Snow + Graham
Adhesive : Tombo Mono permanent adhesive
Paper Trimmer : Fiskars rotary trimmer
Hole Puncher : Crop-A-Dile II Big Bite Punch
Album : Russell + Hazel mini binder
Typeface : Helvetica
Photography : Lisa Welge
I've taken photos of every spread in the book and they can be seen here. Below are 25 of my favorite layouts :
Again, the pages above are just about half of the book - the full book can be seen here.
Thanks so much for looking, I hope you enjoyed! Huge thank you again to Lisa + Geoff for the beautiful wedding photos.
AND : Happy two month anniversary to Paul. This book is your present.
