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Wedding album workflow

custom luxury wedding album in green and pine wood colours

Wedding Album workflow by Peter Lane Photography

Wedding albums (any albums) – the right workflow

NOTE: It’s not about wedding albums only. The rest of the albums, like: christening album, bar mitzvah album, birthday or baby album, portfolio album, etc, follow the same or very similar workflow.

Why do we still order albums in the 21st Century? The camera obscura gave the birth of photography as a tangible product, and since then, any essential memory is expected to have high value as such. To be printed, archived, and cherished.

Why do we –  Peter Lane Photography – still offer albums to our clients, and also design and provide the service to other photographers?

The answer is simple. We love to do it as it brings massive joy to our clients. We always shoot our events with the album in mind as a finished product. 

What do we do better than others?

Well, most of the photographers out there are not even photographers. Sorry about that! I’ve seen a lot, so I can say it. Having a website and a business card that says a photographer, doesn’t necessarily make one. This is half of the problem. The other half is, there are brilliant photographers in the industry, but they don’t have any knowledge and experience to design, layout, tell a story with images, and very important – to print! I mean it.

90% of the photographers now just use drag and drop software, which will do the layout job. No storytelling at all! Just populating empty pages with randomly spread images. Next, next, and finish! Print.

Roughly the same process when you order from cheap online vendors.

Now you know the wrong way, so let me explain the right one.

Technical education

Every digital file photo is just a source of information. If you want a nice-looking and sharp print with vivid colors, using this image is not enough. Every printer or offset works with different profiles and settings. Different papers also have different profiles and instructions for the printer and the ink. I’m skipping monitor calibration and tons of extra technical knowledge. So, printing a non-optimized image for the specific printer and paper will deliver mediocre results. Well, if the client doesn’t have the chance to compare it with a professionally printed image, they can still like it, but this is another story.

This is about the technical stuff. Scratching the surface of course.

Our wedding album making workflow

Now to the designer’s part of album making. The goal of every album is to tell a story. The layout should lead the eye and provoke feelings. Every spread should reveal a unique story. The good album is like the good wine. Aging makes it more attractive and desirable. 

NOTE: When we speak about aging, it’s very important to note that we always work with the world’s best providers, offering durability and longevity. If the client is “on budget”, OK, your wish is my command, but we won’t leave our logo on the last page. It’s a shame to open your album in 20 years and to realize that colours fade off, corners split apart, etc.

So, our wedding album workflow and what to expect by working with us:

1/ The very first page comes with a nice font introduction that usually comes from the client. It could be just “Our wedding” and date, a poem, a vow, etc. The second page (still on the first spread) is either a romantic photo of the bride and groom or a close-up detail, like a wedding ring, wedding dress, etc.

2/ The last spread is again a photo of bride and groom (whoever the event hero is) on the left page, and our studio signature on the last page, the right one. The album starts and finishes with the couple. 90%.

3/ Every spread tells a certain story in chronological order. No overlapping! We don’t mix let’s say venue details plus first dance, group shots with bridal preps, or ceremony with dancing people. This is taboo! This rule guarantees certain feelings in the viewer years after the event. You look at the ceremony spread and discuss with your guests’ memories from this moment. Then you flip the page and you remember the funny speech of the groomsmen. Everybody laughing. Then next spread, everybody crying, etc. The good album is not just a book with images, but rather a memento experience.

From time to time we have requests “we’re on a budget and want to merge the pages”. We have to explain that merging the dancing page with another one is fine if the client can live with smaller photos, of course. But merging one story with another is totally wrong from the designer’s point of view.

4/ Every spread we design, we pick a hero photo and make it full-page or larger than others. If there’re few photos that compete with each other, then we make an exclusion and design accordingly.

5/ The album workflow is a step-by-step interactive dance with the client.

  • – We always design more pages than the agreed amount, as our clients love our photography and the majority of clients just want more. It is easier for us to offer more and let the client remove the excess than the opposite. It’s a great time saver and guess what? 99% of our clients approve and love the extra pages.
  • – The proofing process goes in 2 stages. The first stage is design approval. The client receives a link with their digital online album, with the ability to click on a photo and comment the desired changes, like: replace with …, remove, add on another one, make it bigger, move it to another page, etc. Approve the whole page or mark for removal. After clicking on the finish button, we receive the clients’ comments and redesign according to the desired changes. The client has one free layout review.
  • – After layout approval, we start working on beauty retouching, body shaping, other improvements, coloration, sharpness, skin smoothing, etc. Followed by file optimization for the specific printer and paper type. To save time we don’t retouch all hundreds of images piece by piece. We export each spread and treat it as an individual image, that contains other images. So we don’t provide retouched images afterward, but only retouched spreads for the purpose of the album. This is the reason that we don’t accept structural/layout amendments at this stage, as we have to start everything from scratch. Unless paid of course.
  • – Next step is choosing the colour theme and cover/boxing material preferences. We offer hundreds of them to please everyone.
  • – Next step before printing is to request the payment for extra pages/materials, etc.
  • – The album comes in 1-2 months. The client can’t hold tears of joy, and we’re over the moon for the great job that we deliver.

So dear ladies and gentlemen, now you understand why our albums can’t compare to others. Why do we spend days finishing an album compared to a few clicks by other “colleagues”. We always request the local wedding couples to come and visit us. We know that they’ll meet other photographers too, but the moment they touch and feel our albums, they don’t go any further.

Sanel & Necip – Hylands House

The Big Fat Cypriot Turkish Wedding Story of Senel & Necip, by London Wedding Photographer Peter Lane

Cypriot Turkish wedding in Highlands House Essex

Being wedding photographers we meet a lot of people, listen to their stories, dreams and worries. Here a short story of one amazing couple.

Once upon a time In Instagram a beautiful lady texted me: Peter, I love your work, it so different and alive… are you available for my wedding? I didn’t see it immediately and I got a phone call from a groom to be asking for a meeting. At the end of the meeting I had to say, if you like what we do you must be quick with deposit as there’s another client interested. The lady from Instagram. Then I was surprised that she is his fiancée!

All booked – full package photography and video and we started counting the time. We were very exited. Not as much as the groom who kept on contacting months before with that kind of messages: Peter, the wedding is tomorrow, lets discuss it. 

So, here the Big day. We arrived in the beautiful Essex Highlands House, such an amazing wedding venue. Two things captured our attention. The bride was calm and confident, even when everyone around her panicked about the lost bridal dress ribbon. The dress was something unique that I haven’t experienced before. I’m sure it was more than 20-30kg. I tried to lift it up and hang in corridor for a dress shot and I couldn’t. I had to ask my assistant to help me up.   

Senel & Necip celebrates and amazing Cypriot wedding by the Turkish traditions, music and food. Our team of wedding photographers and videographers had a great time and wish you guys long life, health and happiness! 

For those of you planning a wedding soon, feel free to contact and please take a look at our portfolio, incl the videography portfolio.

 

Wedding photography trends

Wedding photography trend – the before and after 

Being a full time professional wedding photographer for 15+ years already, I have always been looking at the trends and trying to adapt and please my clients. Upgrading cameras, lens,  computers, software, etc. every year. 

Turkish Wedding Photographer Southgate

You’ve probably been fascinated to find and look at your grannies albums. Accomplished by old primitive technology but the photos look so refined and everything looks put on the right place – poses, expressions, light. Photography equipment was expensive when I started my career and photographers were knowledgable and skilled with their profession. This month we decided to expand our presence in UK and opened a casting for new photographers. 1 out of 100 attracted our attention. 80% of them were educated in photography and arts. Such a waste of parents money! Tragedy for the industry and even bigger tragedy for those brides who will book them. 

I love the new technology and the way it contributes to photographer’s creativity. Same time I want to cry when I look at the mass wedding photos out there together with the wedding albums. Everything looks so cheap! Having a special and expensive event and to end up with mediocre memories, it’s a nonsense for me. This year many professional photography studios closed down after 20-30 years of full time professional work and great feedback from clients. This is the reality of wedding photography 2.0 and the word is C H E A P. Let’s name it in another term “fast food wedding photography”. Do I need to explain more? 

Every year more professional wedding photographers will close down. To remain on full time service a photographer should be able to afford the often gear and software upgrades together with the corresponding learning curve and unfair competition. Our photos will look plastic and not important. In a given moment the bridal party will change the photographer with a selfie stick. 

There is a bright side though. And of course bright brides and grooms who appreciate the good everlasting wedding photography. We’ve always been concentrated on educating our clients and stay on the bright side. We’re blessed to remain full time wedding photographers having clients locally in London, whole UK and in other countries. We’ll continue to upgrade, learn and give more until we have awaken clients who appreciate our work. 

Wine and wedding photographers

Choosing your Wedding Photographer

how to choose a wedding photographer?

The Event Planner – Wedding photographer’s Best Friend 

This post is based on my conversations with leading London event and wedding planners and caterers like: Perrys Weddings, Niemierko, Quintessentially weddings team, Ali Welsh Events, Arens Caterers and others.

We, the wedding photographers rely on our good communication and relations with event planners. It’s a blessing to work with established high-end wedding planners as they cover a huge part of our communication with the client and vouch for us.

“The photographers are like the wine, said once Mr Errol Perry (the owner of Perrys Weddings – North London, Winchmore Hill), some people like red wine another white or rose.” He added, we are happy to supply different but nice quality “wine” to our clients.

Think about it, how many photographers get recommended by high-end event planners? Just a fraction of the mountain of “professional wedding photographers” out there. Here is a good moment for you to read my article about “The professional wedding photographer”. Good wedding planners are very cautious to recommend wedding photographers, being very picky to protect their reputation and your wedding day.

I like the wine comparison. Everyone has a particular taste, even bride and groom who share the wedding have different preferences and vision about their wedding and wedding photography. But think about it, you don’t drink and never tried in your life. You’ve been watching how others do it and now you have a serious location to buy your first bottle of wine. So, which one? Red, white, fizzy … documentary photographer, artistic photographer, local or destination photographer, etc. which one?

You start asking around and everyone recommends different colour and brand that you haven’t heard of before. You read all brilliant reviews, hear testimonials, people share experience but for you this is still an abstraction. You decide to test them all having different experience – headache, hangover, nice tingle … Here is the moment where the wine comparison ends. 

We’re trusted experts in the wedding industry

Choosing your wedding photographer is a very serious decision and you have to dedicate time and take your homework seriously. You can’t test your photographers and you don’t buy a tangible product. You trust this person and book him based on his work to other people.

We’re happy to educate you and introduce you to an unknown to you field and moment of your life. You don’t get married every day, right? So, we’re the experts and will show you the real truth behind the lens. Our team is excited to meet you and hear your story. We’ll go through the wedding day and give you precious tips how to improve your overall wedding experience. If you don’t feel the click we’ll be happy to recommend another wedding photographer.

Curious Wedding facts – you won’t believe it!

Wedding facts – you won’t believe it!

Italian Wedding videographer London

  • 1. 52% of couples don’t have wedding-night sex
  • 2. 52 songs – the ideal playlist for a three-hour party
  • 3. 2.5 inches – the optimum heel height for blister-free, dance-all-night happy feet
  • 4. 65% of grooms hire a suit
  • 5. 45 seconds – how long it takes to glide down the aisle, on average
  • 6. Out of all the different destination weddings you have to chose from, Las Vegas is the most popular with more than 100,000 weddings there every year and Hawaii is second, home to 25,000 each year.
  • 7. The tradition that brides wear a white dress in the Western world was started by Queen Victoria in 1840. Until she set the trend, brides wore their finest gown to wed their groom. Japan happened to be way ahead of Queen Victoria as white was always the preferred colour for brides.
  • 8. The tradition of a wedding cake comes from ancient Rome, they used to break a loaf of bread over a bride’s head for good luck. In the 17th century, a French baker decided to frost a stack of buns -creating the world’s first tiered wedding cake!\
  • 9. The largest wedding attendance was a Jewish wedding in Jerusalem in 1993 where 30, 000 people attended.
  • 10. February 10th is World Marriage Day.
  • 11. About 70% of all brides wear their ring on the fourth finger of their left hand.
  • 12. Queen Victoria started the Western world’s white wedding dress trend in 1840 – before then, brides simply wore their best dress.
  • 13. In Japan, white was always the colour of choice for wedding dresses – long before Queen Victoria popularized it in the Western world.
  • 14. A Malaysian man holds the record for being the best man at over 1000 weddings.
  • 15. Princess Victoria established the tradition of playing Wagner’s “Bridal Chorus” during her wedding processional in 1858. 
  • 16. Stag parties were first held by ancient Spartan soldiers, who kissed their bachelor days goodbye with a raucous party.
  • 17. The longest wedding dress was found in Germany with a length of 515 feet.
  • 18. In Chine 26, 000 couples get married every day.
  • 19. Seventeen tons of gold are made into wedding rings each year in the United States! 
  • 20. The most expensive wedding cost over £22 million and was held in a purpose built stadium in Dubai for a Sheikh’s son.
  • 21. Peas are thrown at Czech newlyweds instead of rice.
  • 22. Temulji Nairman and Lady Nairman hold the record for the longest ever recorded marriage of 86 years. They were married at 5 years old.
  • 23. In many cultures around the world the hands of a bride and groom are literally tied together to demonstrate the couple’s commitment to each other and their new bond as a married couple. This is the origin of the phrase “Tying the know” 
  • 24. In 1976 Los Angeles secretary Jannene Swift officially married a 50lb rock. The ceremony was witnessed by more than 20 people. 
  • 25. 67% of women continue to wear the same fragrance they wore on their wedding day
    26. The tradition of the bride wearing something old (for continuity), new (optimism for the future), borrowed (borrowed happiness), and blue (fidelity, good fortune, and love) on her wedding day stems from an Old English rhyme.
  • 27. An engagement between a Mexican couple lasted for 67 years before they finally tied the knot in 1969.
  • 28. Elton John’s once charged £2 million to secure him singing at a wedding.
  • 29. Harry Bidwell of Brighton was 101when he was divorced from his 65-year-old wife in 1980.
  • 30. 39 per cent of women were involved in picking out their own engagement ring.
  • 31. Queen Victoria’s wedding cake was three yards wide and weighed 300 pounds.
  • 32. Queen Elizabeth II had 12 wedding cakes. The one she cut at her wedding was nine feet tall and weighed 500 pounds.

Having a career of 15+ years as a wedding photographer I would add lots of spicy stuff but I think you already had enough to read for today. Looking for top quality wedding photographer or wedding videographer ? Peter Lane Photography team will be happy to cooperate.

Royal Wedding Photographer

The royal wedding photographer 

Is Peter Lane a royal wedding photographer? Yes, no or maybe?

If we all have to treat every wedding as a royal event and every bride as a princess, then yes, I’m a royal photographer. No, I’m not at the moment only because the royal family haven’t heard about me yet. Maybe, because sooner or later some of them will discover my talent in photography. Not just as a wedding photographer but as The Photographer – Sir Peter Lane. 

As I live in London, England I’ve been always attracted by the royal family. My favourite personalities are – the duchess of York and prince Harry. They have a special charisma that I can feel but can’t  explain. 

A story of a future royal photographer 

royal photographer london, duchess of york

Here a funny royal story I had. A year ago I was happy to shoot a Quintessentially event with a guest the duchess of York. Christmas time, on the background of Themes river and London bridge. Strangely but she arrived first. I was busy with the room shots and lights setup and here she came to me. First impression, she asked me for my name. Nobody does it. People don’t care. Then, she asked me for a photo next to the Christmas tree. And then here and there and here and there… I still wasn’t aware that I’m in a presence of a royal person. I kindly said “woman, I’m here all nigh long and will make you as many photos as you like but for now please let me finish my preps”. Slowly the event manager cane to me a quietly whispering “Peter, this is the duchess of York”. Oh noooo! I’m such a silly vanilly, I said to myself. 

The party and dinner were 5 stars! A lot of international wealthy business people. Sarah, the duchess of York decided to leave earlier and said goodbye to the important people. I was invited to have a dinner with all guests and I took a strategic position at the end of the table where I can see everyone coming in and out, so I stood up to take few documentary shots. She left the restaurant and in 10ish seconds she appear at the door again. I thought she’s forgotten something. She came straight to me. Peter, she said, thank you very much! … and she left again.

I was shocked! She remembered my name and turned back to say goodbye to a stranger and express gratitude. That was a huge lesson for me.

Dear Sarah, prince Harry and other royal members, if you read this you can count on me as your trusted and talented photographer – pet photographer, portrait photographer, lifestyle and fashion photographer and finally a wedding photographer. 

Luxury London based photography & videography services

In Peter Lane Creative Studio we are proud to have an unbeatable photography and videography portfolio. Offering high class photographers & videographers with unbeatable experience in their field. Turnaround delivery speed, edit, vision, style diversity - things that our returning clients love and appreciate. Enjoy Peter Lane Creative Studio.

Multi-cultural wedding photography London

In Peter Lane Creative Studio we respect all different cultures, religions and ceremonies, we enjoy to photograph many different weddings in London, whole UK and destination locations.