I got married 3 years exactly to this month and during the time when we were searching for our…read morephotographer, they of course offer the wedding album as part of a package and/or add-on. As I'm sure everyone can relate to, spending more money than necessary at that time was very daunting and felt unneeded. My fiance (at that time) and I decided to wait on the wedding album once we gathered all the photos from photography, family, friends, etc... and save up the money and get the wedding album later on so it's not so much sticker shock all built up in one year/one day. In my opinion that's the way to go. During the wedding time frame, you have enough to keep you busy and going like collecting pictures from people, photographer, dealing with thank you cards and wedding gifts, possibly moving and honeymoon, etc... I would suggest other brides to deal with the wedding album later on if possible. There is the fear that you put it off and you may never get it done, but I always knew that I wanted an album of some sort since photo albums are a thing of the past. It would just depend on when I got around to doing it.
I found Blended Motion via a photographer that I was interviewing and I had asked if they had any wedding album services only since we decided to go with another photographer. Our wedding photographer charged a ridiculous amount for their day-of services and I wasn't about to add on a ridiculous amount more for a wedding album designed not to the exact way I would want it. The other photography company referred me to Blended Motion and said it was a separate company and that I could work directly with them to design my album.
I had taken a look at all the sample albums and styles on their website and came up with a bunch of questions for their services and wanted to see how customized they could make the album/process. I sent in an inquiry via their web form and received a prompt email response the next day. They also explained the entire process so there was no surprises, like how many times could I revise the album. I also wanted the styles to be mixed, not all of one style - i like variety. They were very accommodating and understanding, no hassle at all.
You start by paying for a deposit, once you pay the deposit, they send you a link to a dropbox to upload your images. Once they receive the images they get to work on designing, I think first round was received a full week later. You are sent a link to log on and use their web album for viewing and commenting. It's a pretty good process of being able to comment on each spread and submit the comments. I would screengrab the spreads and print them out and share them with my husband and we would mark and comment what we would like to change or replace certain images. The only downside about this image is that it was hard to specify WHICH image I was referring to if there was a lot of images on each page/spread, you just have to get creative with saying "top row, second column, image with lady in pink" etc...
Overall, it took me awhile, but I took mental (life) breaks between review rounds and would not respond for awhile because I got busy or was looking for new images to replace certain images. It's nice that they don't pressure you to finish within a fast turnaround time. But typically it should be a 2-week process probably. I took a few months haha. But after submitting comments, usually a turnaround would be next day or a few days later for another review.
My album came relatively quick after I approved the album and submitted payment for the remaining amount. They told me it takes about 10 days to 2 weeks, but I got mine a week later. It arrived via UPS in a box, which the album comes in a nice gift box with a bow, and it's wrapped in tissue paper inside (see pictures I posted). Overall, great presentation and great quality.
One minor thing I did notice, was a few images seem to be a little more on the red-side, but it wasn't across the board thankfully. I hope to have this and cherish it together with family for a lifetime.
