I think this is the most intimidating part of the process. What product…exactly…do you want to present you photos. Should it be a traditional frame? A framed canvas? Regular Canvas? Smaller desk prints? An album? Geez, I’m a photographer and even I have trouble with this. Think first about how you will want to view your photos in the years to come and then the decision becomes quite a bit easier. My husband and I had lots of discussions about the best way to display our wedding photos, but the first thing we did was design and purchase an album. And it was the best decision we could have made but I will also explain why this was our first choice.
The Album
The wedding album is the most traditional option to display your wedding photos. Thankfully with design improvements, a wedding album is now a true example of how modern design (digital prints mounted flat across the 2-page spread) and luxurious finishes (distressed leathers, classic linens, and deluxe silk bookcloths) come together to create a more sophisticated representation of your day.
The wedding album will forever be traditional. One day, after meeting my husband’s family several times, his mom brought out her wedding album. The day she brought the album out to me I knew we had crossed some invisible boundary. Showing me that she was ready to share one of her most precious items and let me glimpse into their photo legacy also meant she trusted me to be a part of the family. It was a special moment. So after Ryan and I were married I was not at all surprised that the first thing he wanted us to do with our wedding photos was to create an album. And it is stunning! We have it displayed on a coffee table and I love looking through the album with him a few times a year. It is 12×12 linen album (I’m a sucker for linen or silk covers…just my personal preference because I feel like linen can never go out of style) and is 36 pages long. We chose a 18 spread robust design even though we only had 30 guests at our wedding and 3 hours of photo coverage. So yes, you can design a beautiful album from only a few hours of photos. We designed it in the same way I do for all of my clients, and then we looked through it together and made changes until it was perfect.
I think there isn’t a bad album, in fact any way that you have your photos protected for years to come is a good thing. But here at Lexi Photography I offer a 10×10 album and a larger 12×12 album. Both are the same company and will be sure to please despite their differences. The 10×10 is smaller with slightly thinner pages, it is more of a coffee table style book. The 12×12 album is obviously larger with thicker pages and is quite heavy. It is something that feel a bit more like a family heirloom, but I assure you either will stand the test of time. It really is just personal preference.
Framed Wall Art
bottom: 8×10 & 5×7 beaded silver frames
Man do I love framed wall art! We are still in the process of creating the best wall art for our own household but I have narrowed it down to more traditional frames to blend in with our gallery wall. This choice was not at all easy. We gave away small 4×6 and 5×7 framed family photos for gifts the year we got married, and even have a few for ourselves, but large framed photographs will always stand the test of time. They are undoubtedly timeless and fit with any decor. So since we are not in our forever home and our tastes may change in the next few years, I wanted to choose pieces that would blend with any decor. Hence, the framed photograph. Our framed photographs are printed on a hahnemühle fine-art paper (think of a slightly textured watercolor paper) and professionally framed with a paper backing and acid free materials. They’re beautiful!
But one last item remains up for discussion. The framed canvas.
Luxury Framed Canvas
The framed fine-art canvas is a favorite of mine for sure. For a slightly more modern touch, canvases offer the highest quality with a distinctly sophisticated feel. This decision between framed photo and framed canvas was the most difficult for sure, so I chose framed prints for the gallery wall in our sunroom and luxury framed canvases for our bedroom. Both options are stunning, both will stand the test of time, and it really depends on your personal home decor. Are you a little more traditional and transitional in your style? Or a little more industrial and modern? If you lean towards industrial & modern and appreciate clean lines, I think you might really love the framed fine-at canvas. They are printed on a semi-gloss surface and are presented in a float frame. They are mounted with 1/8” space between the frame and the canvas, so that your print appears to be floating within the frame. Offered in black, white, gold, walnut wood, or natural wood finish frames. They are beyond stunning in person.
So I hope this is helpful in making some decisions about how you want to display your photos. It really, truly, is entirely up to you. But I assure you that the products I am offering will remain timeless, and classic, and will be as beautiful 20 years from now as they are today. Let’s get you some albums and frames!
