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We meet many bride and groom’s who ask if we provide a ‘Disc Only’ option for their wedding day photos.
Firstly, the term ‘disc’ now usually means USB or Digital Download, by that we mean discs are old technology and that the preferred option now is to have your photos on a USB stick or have them sent to you for downloading in the same way we download music. We replaced CD discs a few years ago with USB flash drive sticks and now, in most cases, we transfer the images for downloading.
So although we still use the term ‘having all the photos on a disc’ it’s not discs we actually use.
The main point of this short article though is to look briefly at what we think provides the best value for bride and grooms after their wedding day photos have been shot. The choice is between having either a wedding photography album or all the ‘photos on disc’, or better still, both options if they’re available.
Instead of using the term ‘all photos on a disc’ let’s use the correct term ‘all of the digital files’.
The main reasons we find a bride and groom choose the digital files option are cost and that you have possession of everything. Because you have possession of all the digital photos you have the freedom to do anything you like with them and in the process will be saving money. You feel like your getting a good deal, it’s value for money.
Then there are those couples who aren’t too concerned with having the digital files and instead prefer a wedding album.
As professional photographers in Bedfordshire it’s very rewarding to see our work retouched, colour corrected, printed on high quality paper and presented in a final wedding album. It’s a piece of art for us at Abraxas, it’s our work presented to every bride and groom which we know will be treasured and passed on to future generations. That’s not value for money, it’s much better than that. Your wedding album will be priceless.
A wedding photography album will become one of the most treasured possessions for everyone, if you had to rescue only one or two things in the event of a disaster at home how would you feel if your wedding day photos weren’t saved? Other things can be replaced but your wedding photos may not.
We live in a time where we look at real photos less and less, instead we’re constantly flicking through photos on our phones, which is great but it’s not the same as say getting together with family and looking back at real prints. They have a magic, they make the image more precious. Would you simply tear up an old family photo because it’s a little out of focus or someone’s head has been cropped? Probably not, however you wouldn’t think twice about deleting it on your phone, particularly if you’re running out of memory.
For some couples though they simply don’t want a wedding album, they feel they can save money by printing their own images, buying a digital frame or they may design their own album using one of the many online software packages available.
There’s also a generation who just post their wedding photos on social media with Facebook and Instagram being the most popular, that’s good enough for them.
The downside to having just the digital files from your wedding is that most couples never actually do anything with them, they simply never find the time.
We’ve heard countless times how after a wedding nobody has seen the wedding photos, no parents, no family or friends because the bride and groom haven’t found the time to ‘share’ them somewhere. Life’s busy!
So you have all these photos from your wedding but nobody ever looks at them.
Imaging getting together with your closest family for your first Christmas s Husband and Wife and someone asks to look at your wedding photos, it means having to get around the PC, laptop or tablet….it’s not quite the same ‘wow’ factor as looking at your wedding album.
A big advantage in having the digital files is that you can print your own photos and save money, that’s very true, why pay the prices your professional photographer is charging for extra copies?
From our point of view here at Abraxas every print a couple order is retouched, colour corrected, edited and printed on Fuji Crystal Archive photographic paper. You’ve spent the money on having some great photos, you’ve chosen your favourites and want to put them in a frame or give them as a present to family. If you decide to simply print them yourself and not have them edited correctly, the end result of all that money you spent on your wedding photography will be having photos that don’t look professional…it doesn’t quite make sense.
Our advice is to try and find a wedding photography package that gives you the best of both worlds, a professional high quality wedding album with your absolute favourite and essential images and also the digital files.
However the digital files should be for you to keep and look back at whilst knowing you have possession and own all of them. If you want to have extra prints we advise ordering them from your photographer as you’ll be getting high quality and corrected prints…it’s what your wedding deserves.
The wedding packages we offer at Abraxas can include a stunning album and digital files.
