The golden hour portraits in this album design we worked on for Florida wedding photographer Taylor Kaderly Photography are SOOOOO dreamy!! We can't wait to share this one with you! It has it all -- the couples' sweet pup, horses, a large bridal party -- Taylor did an incredible job documenting this gorgeous wedding! 
 
Occasionally photographers we work with end up jiving with one of our designers in particular and they request to work with them over and over again, and that is the case for Taylor. She loves working with our designer, Sarah, so we are happy to pair her up with her whenever possible. This resulting design is pure magic! 
 
Here are a few of our favorite spreads:

To see the design in full, click through the slideshow: 
 
 
 
Thank you, Taylor, for allowing us to work with your beautiful images!

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Design by: Sarah (View More) // Design style: Classic (View More) // Blog post written by: Melissa Jill

It's the end of an era! This is the last wedding album design we will get to feature of our long-time client Abby Grace Photography. We've designed a grand total of 80 albums for Abby over the course of a decade and have SO enjoyed our partnership with her! Abby has recently transitioned from shooting weddings to brand photography and she is KILLING IT! You should definitely check out her work here! We are so happy for her and of course are continuing to follow along on her journey through social media! 
 
Abby's work is so stunning and today's featured album really shows it off! Abby utilized our Hands-off Service to streamline the revision process, allowing us to communicate directly with her clients and grab any additional images needed directly from the online gallery. The process went smoothly and this design was wrapped up in one month's time!  
 
It was tough to pick our favorite spreads from this design, but here they are:

To see the design in full, click through the slideshow: 
 
 
 
Thank you, Abby, for trusting us to be a part of your team!

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Design by: Sarah (View More) // Design style: Classic (View More) // Blog post written by: Melissa Jill

This is a question every professional wedding photographer must face -- should I do my album designs myself, or outsource this portion of my workflow to someone else? Obviously, as an album design company, our view at Align is a bit biased. BUT I have also been a professional wedding photographer myself for over 18 years. I started running that business LONG before I started Align, so I myself had to answer this question early on before I had any idea I would be starting an album design company.  
 
I started my business in 2003 and I designed my first few albums myself. I had no clue what I was doing, but I also had no idea that I could outsource. I was completely and utterly clueless. I quickly realized I couldn't keep up with everything myself and still have time to do the things that would help my business grow. So I brought in some help -- an employee who did color-correction and album design for me. This worked great for years, but as my employee's job description grew to the point where SHE couldn't do it all, we started outsourcing our album design to Align. Utter freedom and bliss ensued.  
 
But outsourcing isn't for everyone. Each business owner has to decide for themselves.  
 
 
 
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From my point of view, there are two good reasons to do your album designs in-house: 
1 -- You have an employee you can pay to handle the initial design work and revisions. 
2 -- You just really LOVE doing album design. Like really love it. 
 
If you're having to do everything yourself AND you don't enjoy designing, better to pass it off and spend your time doing the things you are best at and that fuel your passion. That's how the most successful people in life succeed -- by focusing on their unique strengths and passion.  
 
Businesses that fall into the following categories are ideally suited for outsourcing their album design: 
1 -- Newer businesses where the photographer is also working another job 
2 -- Businesses with no additional employees beyond the business owner 
3 -- Businesses where the photographer is most passionate about shooting or growing their business in other ways 
4 -- Businesses owned by people who want to have a life outside of work and value family or recreation 
 
 
 
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Have you answered this question for yourself? Like I mentioned above, every business is different, so this isn't a one-size-fits-all decision. We would love to hear from you in the comments below! Which variables weighed in when you were considering the options? What was the ultimate deciding factor?  
 
If you fall into the category above that is ideally suited to outsource, why not give it a try to see if it could free you up like it has for me and the other photographers quoted above? Click here to sign up for an account with Align, and when you do so, we'll send you a free welcome gift -- our "Top 10 Most Popular Album Companies" Resource List. That way you can find out which album printing & binding companies are the most popular among photographers who use Align, and more importantly, WHY. Or if you already have an existing Align account and want a copy of this resource guide, you're welcome to email us for a copy.

In the coming weeks, I will continue to share tips for album workflow that can be applied by photographers who fall into both camps -- those who keep their designs in-house, and those who outsource. Stay tuned!

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Blog post written by: Melissa Jill

What a stand-out album design we have to share with you today! North Carolina wedding photographer Tierney Riggs Photography has such a beautiful, bright, fresh photography style and captured the stunning details of this historic estate wedding just perfectly! 
 
Tierney prefers an album design with as little white space as possible, and we are always happy to accommodate specific requests like this! This particular design is a great example one that does not feel too busy or cluttered while limiting the white space on the page. 
 
Tierney used our Hands-off Service so we were able to communicate directly with her client throughout the revision process and grab any needed images from the online gallery ourselves without having to bug her. And as a result, the design was approved after just one round of revisions in 2 weeks flat! 
 
Here are a few of our favorite spreads from this stunning design: 

Click through the slideshow to see the design in full: 
 
 
 
Thank you, Tierney, for trusting us and our partners from Woo casino Canada to be a part of your team!

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Design by: Kari (View More) // Design style: Classic (View More) // Blog post written by: Melissa Jill

Today's featured album design shows off the work of Alabama based wedding photographer Jolei Photography who we have had the pleasure of working with for 8 years now. We were drawn into the story of this wedding day that Jolei captured so beautifully. The couple is from a quaint small town and both have very tight-knit families. They also had a HUGE bridal party which Jolei navigated so well -- capturing such fun photos of the group! 
 
Our album design service comes standard with 3 rounds of revisions included, but the client approved this design after only one round and we love how it turned out! Here are a few of our favorite spreads from this lovely design:

To see the design in full, click through the slideshow: 
 
 
 
Thank you, Jolei, for trusting us to be a part of your team!

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Design by: Rachel (View More) // Design style: Classic (View More) // Blog post written by: Melissa Jill