Ordering a digital album online can feel like handing over the responsibility for your precious album to some complete strangers that may or may not create an album for you that you really love. Still, there are several characteristics of your wedding album that any good album design and printing company should allow you to choose yourself.

The cover

First an foremost there is the choice of the album cover. This entails several very important characteristics:

• The album size
• The cover color
• The cover material
• The cover text
• The cover photo (if any)

All those are important and can make the difference between a digital album you love and one you merely like. The size of a album is usually a choice between big or very big. To make the correct choice you should also take into account the design style of your album and the quality of your photos. Panoramic photos, e.g. sunsets, impressive landscape, are ideal for a 16"x12" album, whereas photos taken from a wedding celebration at home are more suitable for a classic 12"x12" album. When choosing the cover color you typically chose between going down the classic route (white/black) or creating something slightly more alternative and individual (brown, pink, blue). The choices of material are typically between leatherette (faux leather) and real leather. Regarding this choice, I recommend reading an article I have published earlier (Why to buy a real-leather wedding album). You MUST be allowed to put a personal cover text on your digital album. This is naturally adding a very personal note to your album. Besides picking the right text, make sure to choose a font-style and font-color you are comfortable with. Also, putting a photo on the front-cover might be a good idea, especially if among your wedding photos is one that you simply adore and want to look at as often as possible.

The pages

A good digital album maker should let you choose the page color (usually black or white) and the page thickness. Thick pages are not only stiffer and harder, but they also make your wedding album heavier. Choosing thicker pages will always make your wedding album a more substantial object and make it appear more valuable.

The layout design

Naturally, the layout design is the most personal part of your digital album. Your wedding album maker MUST allow you to take part in the design process. You should NOT by your wedding album from a company that does not allow you to make modifications to the layout design or limits the modifications you are allowed to make to a certain number. I am very adamant about this point, because no wedding album maker knows your personal feelings about your wedding and the photos that portrait it. And your personal feelings have to be taken into consideration, if the wedding album maker wants to create a layout design that satisfies you totally. A simple example: if you don't like a photo of yourself, the groom or anybody else, the album maker HAS to take the photo out, even if it might objectively be a very nice photo. Before starting the layout design of your digital album, the album maker should allow you to give general directives. Maybe you would like a contemporary looking wedding album design with a modern font-style or maybe you prefer something classic that resembles a self-mount album. Your album maker should be open to your wishes and suggestions and design your album accordingly.

The story

Digital albums are great at telling the very personal story of your wedding day. If your photos allow it, you should think of a great story and ask your wedding album maker to incorporate it into the wedding album design. If you need help with this, please refer to How to structure a storybook wedding album and not forget half the story.