The album design we are sharing with you today is the very first one we designed for East Coast wedding photographer Francesca Marie. Francesca captured this Briarcliff Manor wedding in the Hudson Valley region of New York this spring and she did such a beautiful job!  
 
She loves a clean, classic album design with decent white space, so that is what we delivered! Francesca opted to use our Hands-off Service to streamline the revision process and the finished design ended up being 20 spreads (40 pages). Francesca did a great job of sending us a variety of images shot in the same locations which allowed us to design visually cohesive spreads that tell the story of the wedding day in a beautiful way. 
 
We love how this design turned out! Here are a few of our favorite spreads: 
 

To see the design in full, click through the slideshow: 
 
 
 
It was an honor working with you and your beautiful images, Francesca!

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

We are so excited to share a stunning album design we worked on for the fabulous Kaitlyn Phipps -- a Virginia wedding photographer! We have had the pleasure of working with Kaitlyn for the past decade, which is such an honor. What a blessing to be able to work with photographers over the course of their entire career, serving their clients and seeing their photography and businesses evolve! Kaitlyn does such a great job capturing the joy of each wedding day in her characteristic clean, bright and timeless style. Her images are always so great to work with because she excels at storytelling -- her albums practically design themselves -- haha! 
 
Kaitlyn likes to have us leave one spread open for family photos and she asks her client to pick the images for us to design that spread during the first revision round. This particular album ended up being 18 spreads and was finalized in less than a month after only one round of revisions! It was a super-smooth process! 
 
Here are a few of our favorite spreads from this beautiful design:

To see the design in full, click through the slideshow: 
 
 
 
Thank you, Kaitlyn, for trusting us with your clients and images for so many years!

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Design by: Shannon (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 20 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

We have had the pleasure of working with New Jersey wedding photographer Melissa MacDonald for the past 4 years. She photographs some of the most grand, beautiful weddings, and we are so excited to show off the most recent design we created for her clients today! 
 
Melissa's work is truly outstanding! She has a unique gift for showcasing her clients in a way that feels both editorial and effortlessly genuine. You can see some of the other designs we've created for Melissa over the years by clicking here. 
 
This particular design was approved with NO REVISIONS from her client, which is a huge compliment to us! We ADORE how it turned out as well! Here are a few of our favorite spreads from this stunning design:

To see the design in full, click through the slideshow: 
 
 
 
Thank you, Melissa, for trusting us with your clients and images for so many years!

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

Today we have a beautiful album design to share with you that we put together for the talented Anna Lowe -- a Maryland wedding photographer we have had the pleasure of working with for the past 7 years! Anna loves a more minimal album design style with fewer images per spread and plenty of white space. We too are fans of this design style because it allows each image to shine and not get lost in an over-crowded design!  
 
Anna opted to use our Hands-off Service for this design and that really streamlined the process -- allowing us to directly communicate with her client throughout the revision process. 
 
We love how this late summer Maryland wedding album design turned out -- complete with the cutest white pup, thoughtful details and stunning garden views. Here are a few of our favorite spreads from this beautiful design:

To see the design in full, click through the slideshow: 
 
 
 
Thank you, Anna, for trusting us with your images and clients for so many years!

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