FAQS — WEDDING ALBUMS

Are your wedding albums available to the public or just to professional photographers?

The Coffee Table Book has specialised in creating professional quality wedding photo albums for couples directly since 2006 — so we’ve been doing this a long time.

However if you are a professional photographer, please reach out and ask us about our Album Design Service for professional photographers and the Album Referral Program.

How much does a wedding album cost? Why are wedding albums so expensive?

A high quality wedding album is definitely an investment, but we feel worth every dollar. Having tangible memories you can easily share with your family, friends, your children and grandchildren is priceless.

The more expensive albums like our heirloom albums are printed using premium archival quality photographic paper through professional photographic print labs. The construction of the page spreads are seamless with lay-flat binding so when the book is open, there is no disruption to the photo down the seam from the spine — perfect for panoramic images. The binding is handcrafted by master bookbinders using high quality materials.

The Wedding Album Price Guide can be found HERE or the online Photo Album Shop HERE

Are photo albums still popular?

Over the last 10 years our wedding album design business has been steadily growing each year, proving wedding photo albums are still popular today among couples. Wedding albums definitely did not die out with the introduction of digital photography. Our fine art wedding albums are our most popular product with the wedding magazines not far behind filling the gap of a contemporary, alternative photo album.

How many pages are included in an album?

The base album includes the first 30 pages (15 spreads) and can hold anywhere between 60-90 images depending on the design. Additional pages can be added up to a maximum of 90 pages (45 spreads) for an additional cost. Most albums end up around the 70-90 pages (35-45 spreads) and can hold around 160-300 images depending on the design.

What album cover options are there?

Choose from a range of fabrics and leathers in an assortment of colours. View the swatches HERE

We also have a new Velvet Album collection in 14 decadent jewel tone colours with bohemian vibes — learn more about our Velvet Albums HERE

Also available are Photo-Wrap Covers as a great way to personalise your cover. For inspiration check out these Photo-Wrap Album Covers HERE

The fabric and leather album covers can also be personalised with a custom-design, for example your names, initials, wedding date or words. We have a huge library of fonts to choose from — view designs from some past couples albums HERE or take a peek at our Album Cover Templates HERE

How many photos can we include?

Our design style is modern and minimalist to allow your images to breathe on the page. We suggest not cluttering the page with images and therefore suggest 4-6 images per spread. That said, some parts of the wedding day like the hugs & kisses following the ceremony and various parts of the reception lend themselves to more images per spread. Working on those numbers the base album which includes the first 15 spreads can accommodate around 60-90 images. However your album can have as many photos as you like by adding extra pages for an extra cost.

Do our images need to be taken by a professional photographer?

Generally most of the wedding albums we create are using photos captured by a professional photographer. Read the article on Why We Recommend Hiring a Professional Wedding Photographer.

Can we included photos not taken by our professional photographer?

Sometimes couples want to include other photos taken by friends in their album. This comes with a maybe we can — whether we can use the photos depends on the device the images were taken with, file size and quality of the image.

From past experience, we haven’t been able to use these kinds of images as they were taken on older mobile photos and the quality just wasn’t good enough to print.

Things to consider when using other (non-professional) photos in your album — a photo taken on another device, in a different format, by a different person or in different lighting is going to look a whole lot different to your professionally edited wedding photos. Therefore the photos won’t blend or sit nicely on the page alongside your professional wedding photos — in fact the other non-professional photo/s will stand out like a sore thumb! For this reason, we don’t recommend using other non-professional images in your wedding album.

Generally, we wouldn’t mix the images together on one page because style, lighting and quality need to be uniform for the page design to look good. But if you absolutely must, we would suggest dedicating a full spread to keeping all these obviously sentimental photos on the same page that way they don’t interrupt the flow of your professional images.

If you do decide to use these kinds of photos in your album, depending on the quality, will also determine how much we can edit the photos. Editing .jpg files is very limiting, especially if its poor quality. The more you edit a photo the more it deteriorates the quality. 

And its just not possible to make these other images match the professional photographer’s images no matter how much editing is done, different devices give different results in colours and every photographer edits differently so the images can never be matched exactly.

It really is a case of we need to see the images to properly answer this question.

We can’t decide what photos to chose?

Not a problem! We include a curation service with all albums purchased. Simply provide us with your full photo gallery and we will narrow the selection down to the best images as a starting point for the initial design layout. Then during the proofing process you have the opportunity to provide feedback and we will make changes to the design for you to review. No matter what, we won’t go to print until you are 100% happy with the photos and design.

However, if you would like to send us a shortlist of your favourites to ensure they make it in the album design, the best way is to create a separate folder called “favourites” only containing your favourite images and that way we will make sure they are used in the design.

Can I just supply only the photos I want in the album?

Yes, that is not a problem. However, as mentioned above we do offer a complimentary curation service where we go through all of the photos and select the best images that tell the story of your big day to show you what is possible in the first design draft. We actually prefer if you provide us with the full gallery as it gives us more creative freedom.

We see this as a collaborative process between our experienced designers and you, giving you ample opportunity to make changes during the proofing process. This ensures all your favourite wedding photos are featured and your album won’t go to print until you are 100% happy.

How many pages do we need in our wedding album?

First just some technical jargon to understand — we use the term “spread” when talking about an album page layout. A spread is made up of 2 pages – the left side and the right side when open. We talk in terms of spreads because we design to make sure the two opposing pages blend seamlessly together.

Most couples end up with an album around 30-40 spreads (60-80 pages) accommodating anywhere from 150-300 photos.

We design as many pages as we think best tells the story of your wedding day from the photos supplied. Even 10+ years doing this we still have a hard time knowing how many pages the album will be just by a number of photos. Most couples send us hundreds of photos, so first we cull them down to around 300 photos first. Other couples just send us their selection of photos they want in the album. But without knowing what the photos are off or the breakdown of how many photos are from each part of the wedding day, it’s a hard question to answer how many photos or pages do we need?

We break the album design down into sections of the day rather than a number of photos. Hopefully, this might help give you a better understanding of how big your album might end up. Keep in mind you may not have photos or not want certain sections of the day in the album so please disregard pages for that section.

Generally, we don’t mix photos from the different events/parts of the day because the colour tones of the photos don’t work together, either because they are in different locations or different lighting situations. 

Below is a rough guide for how many photos would fit in an album based on the wedding day events and estimated number of pages required for each.

The first draft is then sent to you to proof. Through our easy online proofing process, you get to review the design and make any necessary changes. This way all the important photos make the design as well as keeping within your budget. 

Changes can include swapping, moving, removing or adding photos as well as removing or adding entire pages or spreads.

We find most couples usually need 2-3 rounds of revisions to get the album design to the point they are happy with the design and also works within their budget. After each revision, we will give you an update of where you are at with the number of extra spreads and a chance to proof the revised design.

A wedding album is an investment and it’s more important to us that you are happy with the final result, as its an heirloom you will have for a lifetime. 

I’m not sure what material or colour cover I want on my photo album — can I change the material/colour before going to print?

Yes. We understand sometimes it’s hard to pick the album cover before you see your photos laid out in the design, so at any stage up until approving the design for print you may change the material or colour choice.

Also if we feel the cover material or colour you ordered doesn’t suit your wedding photos or the design, we will let you know and provide you with alternative recommendations to consider.

How do I send my images to you?

Super Easy. We do require high resolution .jpg files for printing purposes. Either post us a copy of your digital files on USB or simply share your online photo gallery with us and we will download them our end.

We accept files via any online service (ie. Dropbox, Google Drive, etc) or the online gallery your photographer supplied so long as they are high-resolution digital images. Just share the link plus the password or download PIN if necessary with us via email.

If posting us a USB, on receipt of your order we will provide details on how to supply your images.

Can I see a draft of my album design before it goes to print?

Absolutely Yes. We will definitely provide a digital proof of your album design before going to print asking for your feedback. There will most likely be some photos that you will want to change. Using our simple online proofing system you can easily let us know any changes you require from the comfort of your home. There are two rounds of changes included in the price.

Will my photos look different when printed on paper to how I see them on my computer/phone?

Yes. Digital photos displayed on a computer monitor and mobile devices will appear different when printed. The difference occurs because of the different media used to display the images — computer monitors and mobile devices have glossy luminous screens whereas printed pages have a flat matte finish.

What kind of paper do you use in the albums? Is it archival quality?

We print on fine art paper with a matte finish so you don’t get that annoying glare or shiny effect from above lighting that standard photo prints often have.

The pages are 1mm thick so they are more of a thick heavy-duty paper. They are thicker than the pages in a standard magazine or photobook. In fact, our albums are a totally different product than that of a photo book, but it’s the easiest way to explain the differences. The pages are sturdy so that the pages won’t tear/fold/crease. The fine art pages are truly beautiful quality and the reason we offer it as our standard album page paper stock.

How long do you keep the design on file incase we would like to print another copy?

We keep your artwork in our archives indefinitely so should you ever need to have another copy printed we have access to your original artwork. We do offer discounted prices for extra copies – please enquire.

Can you use the images supplied by our professional photographer to create a wedding album?

The simple answer is Yes.

But just so you understand who owns copyright of your images, the Australian Copyright Council automatically assign copyright for domestic photography, including weddings and family portraiture, to the client or you in this case. Where no contract is signed between the client and the photographer, the copyright belongs with the client (you).

However, if the client (you) enter into a contract with the photographer, in most cases the photographer will ‘reassign’ copyright to them (the photographer). However, when they are asking you to sign over copyright, they do need to clearly advise you they are writing this into the contract and use the correct terminology of “reassigning” or “transferring” the copyright for the contract to be legally binding. Disclaimer: We are not lawyers so it is always advised to seek legal advice when signing a contract.

But to avoid complicating the situation, even when the photographer reassigns copyright, you as the client still have personal-use rights. What that means is, you have permission to reproduce/print the images for your own personal use. For example, it’s okay for us to use your wedding photos to create an album.

Depending on the terms in the contract, the photographer may have clauses referring to the editing — usually relating to the photos cannot be edited by another party. It is your responsibility to let us know any specifics in terms of use around the photos you are supplying us.

If in doubt, refer back to your wedding photography contract. In the case there is no contract, as I mentioned above the client (you) own copyright and can use/edit the photographs in any way you wish.

For more information on Australian Copyright Legislation refer to the Australian Copyright Council website.

Will you edit my photos?

Refer back to the above statement about Copyright, so generally no due to the binding contract between you and your photographer.

To elaborate, we don’t include editing as part of the design process because we work with couples that mostly use professional photographers and the photos are already edited to the photographers style.

Most photographers have a contract with the couple that stipulates how the images can be used as well as edited, which relates to copyright law and usually means we cannot edit the photographer’s images.

In cases where there is no contract, we can edit the images.

Some images need more editing than others depending on what issues need to be corrected. For example whether its basic overall exposure or colour balance issues or more advanced retouching like removing skin blemishes/spots, smoothing skin texture, etc and then how many images need editing.

If photo editing is required, we will need to provide a quote. This is usually done once we have designed the album and its been approved for print because then we know exactly what images and how many images need editing. This way you only pay for editing to the images that appear in the album.

Is there is a discount for parent albums?

Yes! We have already discounted the parent albums — refer to the wedding album price list. To qualify as a parent album, they must be ordered with your main album and are a replica of your main album. They can be a smaller size but must be the same orientation. For example, if your main album is a 12×9 horizontal album, then to quality for the parent album discount, the parent album must either be a horizontal album the same size or smaller so either the 12×9 or 10×8 but the parent album cannot be the 14×11.

When can I expect my first draft?

We will have your first draft of the album design to you within 10-15 business days from receipt of your deposit and images. During peak times, usually around major holidays and the weeks leading up to Christmas it might take a little longer.

How long does it take to receive my wedding album?

We can’t put a timeline on delivery as the review/proofing process relies on your involvement, so depends on how long it takes you to get back to us with changes as well as how many rounds of changes.

Depending on workload and if its around peak season or holiday periods, it may take 5 days or more to get revisions back to you to review. To give you an idea, generally most couples approve the design after 2-3 rounds of changes. For this reason we also can not guarantee a timeline or delivery date.

Once you approve the album design for print, production takes around 2-3 weeks. Plus allow time for delivery. Australia: allow 2-7 days for shipping depending on what part of Australia you live and whether you are in a major city or regional. International: allow around 2-3 weeks. We do provide tracking details when shipping so you can follow the status of your delivery.

We need our wedding album in a hurry — do you offer a priority service?

No we can’t offer a rush service on our wedding albums. Due to the nature of the album manufacture process and labour that goes into handcrafting the albums, we cannot speed up the process, therefore we do not offer a priority or faster service.

How do I care for my album?
What is the best way to store my album?

Our albums are supplied with care instructions that explain the best way to care and store your album to ensure its longevity. However, our advice for storing your album to continue looking great is —

— store flat
— keep away from direct, bright light such as sunlight
— avoid storing in a hot or humid environment
— keep away from sticky/greasy fingers

All albums are supplied in our standard packaging (either a cloth bag or paper wrap inside a heavy-duty cardboard box) to help protect it from dust and light. However you can upgrade to either a Boutique Box or Slipcase to match your album.

Do you have a returns policy?

Because all albums are custom made to order we do not accept returns. However your album is guaranteed under our 100% happy guarantee — if the album arrives damaged or the fault lies with us, we will bear all the costs to get the album fixed — guaranteed!

For the above reasons we insist you carefully proof your album design, especially proof-read text, because once you approve the album design for print we cannot make changes and we are not responsible for any errors.

What if I change my mind — can I get a refund?

No. Once we receive your order and your deposit is paid, we generally start work on your album design immediately, whether its downloading files or begin the process of checking the images are sufficient for printing, and curating the images.

Can your photo albums be used for other types of photography besides weddings, for example elopements, engagement shoots, family portraits, maternity and newborn sessions?

Yes. Our albums are also the perfect solution for printing any style of photography — from your engagement photos, elopement, as well as family photos. We can design any type of family photo album including maternity, newborn and baby photo albums.

Still have questions? You can email us here.