The Best Wedding Photo Albums

Buying Guide for Wedding Photo Albums

Why buy a wedding photo album?

A wedding photo album isn’t just a group of related pictures thrown together in the same space– it’s a way to organize your wedding photos, so they tell the full story of the day, from start to finish. There’s something to be said for having a tangible copy of your favorite wedding pictures you can scoop up and flip through without needing to turn on any devices. A good wedding photo album allows you to personalize and customize how your photos are presented. You can store a copy of the wedding invitation or program in the pages, write comments in the margins, group the photos together however you wish and include pieces of lace from the gown or dried flowers. A wedding photo album also gives you a tangible piece to display in your home, a decorative accent piece, and a book of treasured memories. It may even become a family heirloom over time.

What should you look for in a wedding photo album?

• Number of Photos: You may not want a hard copy of every single one, but even narrowed down, that will still leave you with dozens of pictures to put into your album. You will want to consider if you only want to highlight a few of the best or as many as possible if you want one or two pictures per page and the size of the photos. These are all factors you should consider to pick the right photo album for your needs.
• Size and Shape: There are nice large ones you can display on a shelf or coffee table, and these can vary in thickness. Depending on your preference, they can take on a classic rectangular shape or more square.
• Cover Design: The sky’s the limit for different wedding photo album covers. There are various colors available, but the material, texture, and design of the album vary considerably. White, cream, and ivory are classic colors for wedding albums, but there’s plenty of darker and brighter colors and hues. The cover can have a window to display one or more photos from the wedding or have quotes or flowers.

What’s the difference between a wedding photo album and a wedding book?

While both wedding albums and wedding books are effective ways to save and display your favorite photos from your big day, there are a few notable differences. The main difference is that wedding albums have slots and windows that hold and show classic physical photos, while in wedding books, the images are printed directly onto the paper. Wedding albums also tend to be thicker and heavier than wedding books too. This means that wedding books take up less room and are more lightweight, but on the flip side, wedding albums are more durable and protective. Wedding albums also tend to feature multiple pictures per page, while wedding books usually (but not always) have one larger version of the photo on each page. Albums also tend to have a more formal and elegant look, while photo books are a bit more on the casual side– though depending on the seller, they can be customized and spruced up to look for sophisticated.

Our Picks for the Best Wedding Photo Albums

Pros: Wedding albums have a reputation for being a large expense, but this particular model is here to challenge that preconception. It’s inexpensive yet aesthetically pleasing with a protective cover and secure self-adhering plastic overlay to securely hold and shield your photographs. Not only that, but each page can hold photos of several different sizes rather than requiring they all be a uniform 4×6-inch size, and the cover is available in 16 possible colors and three alternative styles. As a bonus, while this photo album offers many pages (50 double-sided), the three-ring binder style allows you to add more pages if you run out of room.

Cons: Keep in mind that as great as this photo album is, it’s not wedding-specific.

Bottom Line: Not everyone wants a wedding album with a photo window on the cover or wedding-specific themes, but it can be tricky to find one that doesn’t feature one or the other. If you’d prefer a more classic, no-nonsense photo album for your wedding pictures, this is the wedding album.

 

Pros: If you’re having difficulty narrowing down which wedding photos you want to store in your wedding album, this model may be your best bet. With 120 pages able to store five pictures each, you can put up to 600 different photographs in this album. Despite this and the quilted faux-leather cover, it’s not a particularly thick or bulky or heavy model, able to slot nicely onto most bookshelves. There’s also a photo window on the front cover to display the image of your choice. If the quilted cover isn’t your liking or you don’t want a photo window, there’s an alternate cover option featuring metallic roses instead. Both cover options come in multiple color choices, and you can buy this album in a set of two.

Cons: While this wedding album offers a large photo capacity, keep in mind that it only works with 4×6-inch photos.

Bottom Line: Finding a wedding album capable of holding plenty of photos but isn’t extremely bulky and space-consuming can be tricky. Fortunately, this attractive, quilted faux-leather album strikes just the right balance of high capacity and compactness.

 

Pros: If understated, modern elegance is what you’re after from your wedding album as opposed to a big, traditional door stopper, you’ll love this little album. It’s simple yet refined and stylish, no matter which three cover options you choose. Each cover option offers a photo window slot for the display picture of your choice. It can fit up to 160 photos (two per page), and the interior pages feature a lovely paisley pattern and space along the sides of the pictures for you to write notes or label the photos.

Cons: While some people will love the compact size of this wedding album, its small size means that it’s not the best choice if you want a larger, more traditional album or plan to display the album in your home prominently.

Bottom Line: Not all wedding albums have to be big, bulky, and heavy. If you want something that’s more pocket-sized or portable, you’ll love this little wedding album and its simple, sleek, modern look with metallic cover accents.

 

Pros: This album offers a front cover with five different photo windows so you can showcase more than the usual one wedding photo. Pictures of the cake, rings, etc., can accompany the usual photo of you and your spouse if you so choose. This album also offers a pretty good capacity, too, able to store up to 240 photos in total. And, unlike many other models, the interior plastic photo sleeves aren’t only landscape (horizontal); there are portrait (vertical) slots to accommodate any photos that are taller than they are wide.

Cons: You may run into some issues with placing your photos in the interior pockets because of the way they’re laid out. Not only do the plastic sleeves only fit 4×6-inch photos, but there are two vertical and three horizontal slots per page, no variance at all.

Bottom Line: It can be hard to pick a favorite wedding photo when you’ve got hundreds or thousands of options. But thanks to this particular wedding album, you won’t have to narrow down the selection to just one– you’ll be able to showcase multiple wedding photos without even opening up the album.

 

Pros: Simple as this wedding album may be, there’s no denying that it’s beautiful to look at, even without any extra embellishments or sparkle. The ivory satin cover, enhanced by a fabric rose, and a few faux pearls suit a traditional wedding look and are as luxurious to the touch as it appears to be. Its classic yet understated beauty will be perfect for those who want to display their wedding album front and center in their homes. And if you ever want to add a few more decorations or embellishments to the cover, it’s incredibly easy to add more fabric roses or rhinestones or similar ornaments.

Cons: This model can only hold 48 photos at once, and there isn’t an extra photo window on the cover, nor are there any alternate colors or covers from which to choose.

Bottom Line: If you’re in the market for a smaller wedding album or one that will be beautiful to display in your home, you’ll love this traditional-looking little wedding album.

Final Thoughts

You may think of wedding photo albums as an old-fashioned thing of the past but there’s still plenty of merit in investing in one, even in this digital age. Not only do they provide easy, instant access to photos and memories of your wedding day but they display them in an elegant, sophisticated yet protective manner.