“Every bride needs her dress and every wedding needs its album,” writes Eugene Nagawieki, marketing and content specialist at nPhoto Lab, an album manufacturer in Zaczernie, Poland. Like a beautiful gown, wedding albums should be unforgettable and breathtaking—the perfect vehicle to showcase your images and the couple’s special day.
Nagawieki suggests the following hot new trends to make a wedding album more memorable:
1. Acrylic or Crystal Cover Albums. Enhance the album’s cover image with a flush-mount crystal album cover of hardened acrylic to add depth as well as crystal clear definition to the photograph.
2. Combine Digital and Print. Satisfy the customer’s classic and digital needs with a beautiful printed album, matching storage box and USB drive coated in the same textile as the interior of the box.
3. Keep Layouts Simple. Less is more in wedding album photo spreads. Images pop when they stand on their own or are surrounded by a minimum number of competing photos.
4. Signature, Panoramic Spreads. Get yourself noticed with at least one or two beautiful, dynamic two-page spreads in each album.
5. Must-Have Parent Albums. Offer a discount on packages of three for the same wedding project: one primary album for the couple and two smaller copies for parents. (Read more at blog.nphoto.com.)
nPhoto Lab
Nagawieki bases his recommendations on nPhoto Lab’s best-selling album products, including the company’s popular Acrylic Prestige collection. Acrylic Prestige albums are available in three sizes, with a choice of four papers as well as a range of cover materials. Each features a cover photo framed with an eye-catching acrylic window, custom made to fit the image.
Most of nPhoto’s best-selling album collections incorporate Nagawieki’s #2 trend by combining a handmade lay-flat album, matching album box with lift ribbon, and separate USB case with memory stick (available in various capacities). The company also offers a Complete DreamBook 4K set, printed on the high-definition Canon DreamLabo 5000 inkjet printer, with matching album box and USB drive. WPPI Booth #773
Renaissance Albums
Located in Mineola, New York, Renaissance Albums is a prominent manufacturer of handcrafted photo albums. Established in 1988, Renaissance provides album binding services, printing and binding, as well as full-service design printing and binding. In addition, the company’s best-selling album is the SoHo—a contemporary, flush-mount album designed for showcasing full panoramic prints. Scored down the middle, each page is a full printed spread. As a result, seamless panoramas and layouts flow across the center of a two-page spread.
The SoHo is available in 20 sizes/formats, ranging from 5×7 to 20×8 inches. Moreover, the thick, cloth-infused pages are unique compared to other album pages. Layers of cloth make them firmer, stronger and less prone to warping. The acrylic cover is one of the company’s most eye-catching options, consisting of a metallic print mounted on a piece of clear acrylic. Acrylic covers are available on SoHo, Fine Art and also Galleria albums. WPPI Booth #264
Floricolor USA
A professional photo lab in Porto, Portugal, Floricolor USA provides high-quality, fashion-forward albums to photographers in more than 25 countries. The company offers a variety of album designs—from the Antique collection with handcrafted wood covers and genuine leather spines to the Hippie Chic collection, available in 13 colors as well as 77 embossed cover designs.
Floricolor’s Kant collection, a recent introduction, is a lay-flat album with a silk cover. The silk gives each album a slightly glossy, textured look. The albums are available in four colors with four cover options: 1) plain silk; 2) silk with a 2.8×2.8- or 4×4-inch photo window; 3) embossed in one of seven colors; 4) embossed with foil. You can also add gold or silver gilding to the edges of the album’s sheets at an additional cost. Floricolor also offers a handmade storage box, the Boîte de Luxe, comprised of two wood frames, finished with fabric and magnetic closures. WPPI Booth 273.
RedTree Albums
Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, RedTree Albums specializes in handcrafted wedding albums, matted folios and fine-pressed books. It also offers custom wood boxes. Moreover, its mission, “Equipping photographers to share and preserve stories through the experience of print,” is fulfilled by a diverse collection of products. Its most popular album is the high-end flush-mount RedTree album. Handcrafted with archival materials and thick, lay-flat pages, it is printed on photographic paper. RedTree cover options include genuine Italian leather, European linen as well as Japanese silk. Optional enhancements include a cameo cutout photo, standard text debossing (stamping) and also custom debossing.
The company’s Fine Art albums closely follow the popularity of the RedTree album. They are printed on acid-free, fine art papers such as Giclée Matte, Hahnemühle Bright White and Hahnemühle Museum Etching. WPPI Booth 949
Art Point
Based in Thessaloniki, Greece, Art Point serves professional photographers in 19 countries. Established in 1992, Art Point was the first company to offer high-quality digital photo albums to the Greek market in 1999. The company offers a variety of flush-mount albums as well as art books. Cover materials range from laminated canvas to synthetic leather, linen and also natural wood. Moreover, clients can choose personalized cover designs, simple and decorative windows, matted prints or even photos printed on wood for their wedding album covers.
Digitally printed, Art books are perfect-bound albums with thin pages. In addition, Classic albums feature handmade covers, perfect binding, acid-free inner sheets in three colors and nearly lay-flat openings. WPPI Booth #774
