We're so excited to share some wise words from Align client and Massachusetts photographer Deborah Zoe today! We just LOVE these paragraphs she wrote up to share the why's and how's of her album process! Without further ado, I'll let Deb introduce herself!! 
 
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I'm Deborah Zoe, a Boston area wedding and portrait photographer - Inspired by a rugged coastline, classic architecture and the beauty of New England, I'm passionate about creating images that will serve as a family's history, honoring what was and celebrating what is to come! I'm married to my college sweetheart (just celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary!) and together we're raising the most adorable three year old around!! When not behind the camera you can find me digging my toes into a sandy beach, getting lost in a good book or watching entirely too much Fixer Upper!

As I shared above, an exceptional client experience is a cornerstone of my business. I knew that if I was going to offer albums, I wanted to offer my clients the best. I found a match in Madera Books, whose quality, attention to detail and customer service cannot be beat. I've been working with Madera since 2011 and have been pleased to partner with them to create beautiful albums for my clients. Recently I've expanded my heirloom offerings to include a matted folio and album from Cypress. Their commitment to quality and the client experience is the perfect fit for my business.  
 
Part of the exceptional client experience I've already talked about is in the actual album design. I'm a photographer, not a designer and I knew from the beginning that album design was something I needed to outsource. Align Album Design takes care of all the design aspects of the album. I love being able to confidently (and easily!) share an album design with a client knowing that they will love what has been created. Each layout is thoughtfully created with the client's desires and specific wedding day in mind. Knowing that this part of the album experience is cared for by professional and talented designers not only gives me peace of mind but frees me up to take care of other aspects of the client experience like delivering fun surprises or thoughtfully addressing their planning questions. 
 
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Deb, thank you so much for sharing your story and experience with your fellow photographers! You rock! And a bonus thank you for sending us some photos of one of your recent printed albums! The following photos are of a Madera Books 10x10 album with a khaki leather cover that Align designed. 

To view the full album design, click through below! 
 

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Design by: Andrea (View More) // Design style: Classic (View More) // Blog post written by: Denise

Sharon Elizabeth is a wedding and women's beauty photographer based out of Smithfield, Virginia. She recently placed two wedding album design orders at the same time. Album Design #1 was for a bride from a few years ago who Sharon had tasked with selecting her own album images (Sharon's OLD album process). For Album Design #2, Sharon submitted her own favorite images and asked her Align designer to pick the best ones to tell the story of the day (Sharon's revised workflow). After receiving the initial designs, the difference between the two albums was VERY apparent to Sharon. For #1, she commented that "the album seemed all over the place and didn't seem to flow well." For #2, the design only needed a couple of image swaps to be perfect! 
 
Maybe it's because we're album nerds, but Sharon, her office manager, and all of us at Align found this fascinating and it sparked a great discussion! Sharon was SO happy that she had revamped her album process to eliminate the client's selection step. Align's owner Melissa Jill has shared why SHE chooses to select the initial album images herself, but it was neat to see a back-to-back comparison between the two strategies!  
 
We asked Sharon if she had any album workflow advice she would offer other photographers, and below is a resulting letter she wrote: 
 

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Dear photographer, 
 
WHY are you asking your client to go through the 1000 images you delivered to them to narrow it down to about 150 of their favorites?!  
 
Is it because you thought it'd be easier... you thought your clients would WANT to have control... or did you think they'd love their album MORE if they designed it?! I've been there... I've been the photographer allowing my clients to select their own images. I've been the photographer finalizing albums TWO YEARS LATER. I simply just didn't have a policy in place. I always figured I'd handle the album process with each client individually. 
 
I was hurting myself... and my clients. Through this process of change and growth, I've discovered there are 3 ways in which allowing your client to have control over image selection can hurt the album process: 
 

1. The album does not tell the story...  
   Clients may have a strong emotional connection with EVERY photo ...OR they're going to fixate on whether or not hair is in the right place and if Aunt Judy's hand is pointing the right way ...OR they're going to choose the photos that Mom and Uncle Bob want in the album. These are items that can wait until AFTER the story has been initially told... not to determine the storyline itself. 
    
   The album will not flow like an album should. An album should tell the entire story without a) being long-winded, b) rushing through, or c) missing pieces. It should tell the beautiful love story that was their wedding day. Your client may be too close to the story to be able to tell it accurately. 
    
   
2. The album does not get designed quickly...  
   If you are relying on your clients to select their favorite photos, you have to remember that THEY JUST GOT MARRIED! They have a honeymoon to attend... a house to buy... puppies to bring home... and futures to think about. The LAST thing on their mind is designing an album... because well... they're not album designers (in most cases). They'll use their last little bit of down time to pick a few favorites here and there. But this will lengthen the amount of time it takes to get the ball rolling on the album design.  
    
   I've determined that none of my clients should be getting their album back YEARS after their wedding.... Not even 6 months. This process should not take this long. 
    
   
3. The album will not be as beautiful...  
   I'm going to make a confession here, but I have never had an album where the client picked the images that I personally loved. In fact, most of them make me cringe a little. My heart even breaks on the inside a bit. The albums don't showcase the best images from the day and the story isn't cohesive.  
    
   I should LOVE LOVE LOVE what I am sending to my brides and grooms. I should be able to stand behind what I'm giving my clients. Not only am I dropping the ball if I don't love the album itself, but I'm not delivering quality service with love if I'm making my clients do so much work. I think we can all agree that a salad tastes better when we don't make it ourselves. Right!? Stop having your clients cook their own food when they hire you to be the chef. 
   

Take it from me, dear photographer, clients may THINK they want control over this process - but I could give you a list right now of three brides who would tell you otherwise. Before I put an album policy in place - my brides had to spend SO MUCH TIME selecting their album images! Let's encourage our couples to celebrate their marriage instead of putting them to work. They aren't on our payroll - we're on theirs, so to speak. Create your own album system and see how wonderful it can be for you AND your clients. 
 
How my process USED to look: 
1) Wait for client to ask about album  
2) Wait for client to tell me their favorite photos 
3) Realize it's been a year 
4) Send photos to Align Album Design 
5) Send album draft to client 
6) Realize it's been another year 
7) Remind client to approve their album 
8) Wait 3 more months 
9) Approve album 
10) Cry a little 
 
My process now: 
1) Select favorites during initial cull  
2) Upload favorites to PASS (so that it's the first gallery the clients see AND so that I already have my favorites ready to send to Align for the album design) 
3) Ask client to heart/favorite their favorite FORMAL portraits or any other MUST HAVE photos that are not ALREADY in the favorites gallery. Then add those to a 'MUST HAVE' gallery in PASS 
4) Send galleries to Align Album Design 
5) Send album draft to client 
6) Approve album 
7) Send to Leather Craftsmen to be created 
8) Order sample album for office :)  
 
I hope you can take away from my own personal failures and set aside some time to put together your own successful systems and policies in place. Not only will it allow your clients to have a beautiful, cohesive album... BUT it'll allow you to provide a polished client experience from start to finish... making you look like the PRO that you are! :) 
 
Best of luck --- Go be an album ninja!!! 
Sharon

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Blog post written by: Denise

Hear ye, hear ye! We'd like to introduce you to Align's newest Client Advocate, the talented Caroline Logan! She's a wedding photographer based in Pennsylvania AND she's a total sweetheart! Here's what she has to say about outsourcing with Align.... 
 
"The great thing about outsourcing my album design is that HALLELUJAH, I have my life back! Before using Align, I found myself nearly wishing that clients wouldn't invest in an album because I knew how time-consuming album design is and how overwhelming back and forth client revisions can be. But now, when clients choose to invest in an album, I'm excited knowing it's a win-win: my clients get to have a legacy album in their hands within weeks after their wedding, and I'll have more freedom than ever before. All because of Align. It doesn't get much better!" 
 
And we'd like to chime in and add that it's a win-win-WIN situation because WE get to work with Caroline's beautiful images, like those featured in the following fun woodsy wedding album! Thanks, Caroline, for sending us photos of the finished KISS Books album! We're smitten! 

And here is the album design in its entirety! Enjoy! 
 

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Design by: Michelle (View More) // Design style: Classic (View More) // Blog post written by: Denise

We have SO MANY amazing clients at Align, and while we love them all, we do have a few that we just can't help but brag about. Not only are they talented photographers, but they give generously to other photographers in the industry through their blogs, workshops, speaking engagements, and educational materials. In the process of helping other photographers, they often share about how they use Align to better serve their clients. They do this naturally -- because they're just awesome like that -- but we recently decided to make our mutual love for one another official by starting a client advocate program. Meet our client advocates: 
 

If you don't already know these photographers, you would be blessed to make their acquaintance and get to know them a little bit. To do so, click on our ABOUT page and then "Meet Our Client Advocates". Then click on each face to learn more, find out how they've partnered with Align to take their businesses to the next level (some of them share AMAZING expert tips on their blogs, so make sure to click through their article links!), and drop them an email to find out what they really think about our service. Align's client advocates are a great resource for you if you are looking to improve on your current album workflow and sales strategy. You can also click here to interact with them on the "Photogs Passionate About Albums" Facebook Group.  
 
Thank you to all of our client advocates for giving so generously and sharing their knowledge with others in the industry! You make us all better!

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Blog post written by: Melissa Jill

As a business that prides itself on making photographers' lives easier, nothing is more affirming than unexpectedly discovering one of our clients sharing their love for Align (and albums in general!) with their fellow photographers. Recently, North Carolina fine art film photographer Allison Mannella brightened our day by including Align in a blog post about her experience with albums. Here's an excerpt: 
 
"As for the design of the album layout, I learned very early on in my career to outsource this task to an outside party. Initially, this was out of necessity. I was working about 60 hours a week, not including my photography business, so I knew I didn't have the time or energy to layout quality designs to my clients promptly. Even since becoming a full-time photographer, I continue to outsource the design because I find that as the photographer, I am still too personally and emotionally attached to the photographs. It would be easy for me to spend a full two days laying out one album, which is probably not the best use of my time! I highly recommend trying out Align to save time in your workflow, especially if you don't enjoy the design process or if you're like me, and enjoy it way too much!" ...Read her full post here. 
 
And the cherry on top of this awesome surprise was getting to view photographs of an album Allison printed at Miller's Lab after Align created the album design. We LOVE seeing our work in print! Allison, thank you SO MUCH for taking these photographs and sharing your testimonial with other photographers!  
 
Here are some of our favorite spreads mixed in with the photographs of the final album...

Check out the full album design below: 
 

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Design by: Andrea (View More) // Design style: Classic (View More) // Blog post written by: Denise