Step 1 – Snap lots of photos.
Don’t limit yourself to just pictures of your wedding day. Shoot photos of your bridal shower, rehearsal dinner, and other special times. If you’re moving into a new house after getting married, take pictures of it! Make sure a friend or relative has a camera ready at times when you can’t be the photographer.

Step 2 – Wait for all the photos to come in.
There’s nothing worse than creating your “dream” scrapbook page, only to find weeks later that Aunt Betty took much better pictures. After my wedding, I got to choose from wonderful pictures by my mom, a few close friends, and the professional photographer we’d hired for the ceremony.

Step 3 – Decide the theme of your album.
Some brides prefer to have a separate album for their honeymoon and wedding. Others may combine the two, but have a separate album for pre-wedding events (such as dating and the engagement). This is entirely up to you.

My husband and I dated only 10 months before we got married, so I didn’t have many prenuptial photos. For our wedding album, I included everything from our first impressions of each other to pictures of our first home together. I created another album for our honeymoon memories, plus a separate album that holds all the precious wedding cards received from family and friends. Study the pictures you have and pick what’s right for you.

Step 4 – Decide the style of your album.
Experienced scrapbookers may opt to have a particular color scheme of theme running through an album. Check out Wendy Bird’s background in Figure 1 (on the layout ideas page) — it’s a wonderful mix of colors that compliment the photos. I chose to stick to pastels on my pages (Figure 2 on the layout ideas page), but you can also create more dramatic looks with darker or more vibrant background colors (see Figures 3 and 4 on the layout ideas page).

It’s also important to consider how much time you’re willing to spend putting an album together. Your primary interest might be getting your photos in an acid-free environment quickly. Then again, you might want an artistic challenge. You might want to create something people will “ooh” and “ahh” over for years. You know your skill level and the amount of time you have available. Be realistic, but by all means don’t limit yourself! Your wedding album should reflect your personal style.

Step 5 – Sort your photos into categories.
Some examples? Dating, engagement, bridal shower, shopping for your dress, getting ready, the reception, the honeymoon. Sorting your photos not only helps you to get organized, it breaks a large project into smaller, more manageable pieces. Store your photos where you can access them easily. Archivally safe folders, envelopes, and photo boxes can help store pictures safely until you can scrapbook them.

Step 6 – Shop with page themes in mind.
Boy, do I wish someone had given me this advice before I spent my hard-earned cash on wedding stickers, die-cuts, and paper! Don’t get me wrong — there’s a lot of great stuff out there — but I ended up with items I’ll never use because I didn’t think my pages through.

So how do you come up with page themes? Think of the most obvious elements of your wedding — the preparation, the ceremony, the celebration, the people. When I found decorative paper with a cake that looked just like our wedding cake, I know I had to include it in my album!

Step 7 – Consider two-page layouts instead of single pages.
They seem to make an album “flow” better. Of course, you may not have enough photos with a certain theme to create a two-page layout. You can achieve a similar effect by using the same color scheme on facing pages.

Step 8 – Personalize your album by including memorabilia.
Consider items such as fabric from your dress, receipts from the florist, notes from your sweetie or plane ticket stubs. To make them archivally safe for your scrapbook, place them in memorabilia pockets or spray them with a deacidification spray. Fabric is safe to use as is. If you’re not sure whether to include a particular item, hold on to it. You can always part with it later if you decide not to use the item in your scrapbook.

Step 9 – Include photo journaling on every page.
Write the who, what, why, when, and where. Share how you felt, the funny things people said or did, quotes and more. I recommend using your own handwriting, even if it’s not perfect. Handwriting is so much more personal than a computer font, and years from now your great grandchildren will love seeing your handwriting on the pages you created.

It’s also fun to have your spouse do some of the photo journaling. If this scares you, have him record his thought on acid-free paper. You can cut his writing out and mount it on coordinating paper. Presto!

Step 10 – Don’t procrastinate.
Choose a particular group of photos and work until you’ve got them scrapbooked. It’s amazing how much accomplishment you’ll feel as you complete your pages.

Compiling a wedding album can be somewhat time-consuming, but it’s worth it. Soon you’ll be popping a question almost as big as the one you answered: “Why’d I take so long to get started?”

Tags: wedding album, wedding scrapbooks