DIY Wedding Album Review - Somerset Albums
I created a wedding album through Somerset Albums (www.somersetalbums.com) to give Ben's parents as a wedding gift. Below is my review. You can view the E-preview of our album by going to the website and clicking on "find your album." Enter my email which is [email protected] and the password is 110709. I have posted pictures of many of the pages here but not all.
When beginning my search for a company to design the album through, I looked at five companies which I had found on The Knot: Album Boutique, Mpix, Black River Imaging, Nations Photo Lab, and Somerset.
Mpix does not have templates. Since I am not creative or a designer of any kind, I immediately ruled them out.
Album Boutique is not DIY -- they offer professional design services only. I really wanted the fun of designing the album myself.
Nations Photo Lab was the cheapest of all the companies. The softare was fast and easy to use, and it also gave you the ability to edit the templates, which Somerset doesn't. I actually designed my entire album using their software, only to find that there was NO preview feature -- there is no way to preview the album as it will actually look before ordering. This was a deal-breaker for me. So, back to square one.
Somerset is the sister company of Black River Imaging, which is for professional photographers only. Somerset's software is almost identical to that of Nations Photo Lab. The way you design your album is the same with both companies. I actually preferred Somerset's templates, although they were very similar to Nations Photo Lab. The templates are easy to use and self-explanatory. Video tutorials and sample albums are also provided. I also liked that Somerset provides a 100% guarantee on their albums. Somerset's software, however, was VERY slow and the images took forever to load. And uploading the pages once they were designed was also very slow. This is pretty much my only big complaint.
As you design your pages, you upload them to Somerset so that you can prevew them. You cannot preview your album through the software - you have to log in to your Somerset account online. Also, you cannot edit the pages through the preview feature, only through the software. To edit, you have to re-upload your pages using the software, edit, then resend to Somerset. So it's sort of a back and forth process, which was also sort of annoying, until I got the hang of it. Luckily, since I had already designed my album on Nations Photo Lab, I already had an idea of what I wanted the album to look like.
I created a very simple album -- that is, it is very clean and streamlined, using an all white background on every page. This is simply the look that I prefer. All I did was add a black border to the photos. However, Somerset does have templates where you can superimpose images, change the background, use black and white, sepia, etc. So you can make the book as fancy as you want, I simply chose to keep it simple. I also liked they they have panoramic templates (that go across both pages). You can also load your own templates into Somerset's software--they have a blank template you use for that. So that is an option also. Finally, Somerset (like Nations Photo Lab) also provides professional design services should you choose to simply send them your images and have them design it for you.
Now, on to the album. Somerset states that they have a 5 day turnaround time for their albums. I ordered my album on Sunday and received it on Thursday--pretty fast! Also, this standard shipping was free.
When beginning my search for a company to design the album through, I looked at five companies which I had found on The Knot: Album Boutique, Mpix, Black River Imaging, Nations Photo Lab, and Somerset.
Mpix does not have templates. Since I am not creative or a designer of any kind, I immediately ruled them out.
Album Boutique is not DIY -- they offer professional design services only. I really wanted the fun of designing the album myself.
Nations Photo Lab was the cheapest of all the companies. The softare was fast and easy to use, and it also gave you the ability to edit the templates, which Somerset doesn't. I actually designed my entire album using their software, only to find that there was NO preview feature -- there is no way to preview the album as it will actually look before ordering. This was a deal-breaker for me. So, back to square one.
Somerset is the sister company of Black River Imaging, which is for professional photographers only. Somerset's software is almost identical to that of Nations Photo Lab. The way you design your album is the same with both companies. I actually preferred Somerset's templates, although they were very similar to Nations Photo Lab. The templates are easy to use and self-explanatory. Video tutorials and sample albums are also provided. I also liked that Somerset provides a 100% guarantee on their albums. Somerset's software, however, was VERY slow and the images took forever to load. And uploading the pages once they were designed was also very slow. This is pretty much my only big complaint.
As you design your pages, you upload them to Somerset so that you can prevew them. You cannot preview your album through the software - you have to log in to your Somerset account online. Also, you cannot edit the pages through the preview feature, only through the software. To edit, you have to re-upload your pages using the software, edit, then resend to Somerset. So it's sort of a back and forth process, which was also sort of annoying, until I got the hang of it. Luckily, since I had already designed my album on Nations Photo Lab, I already had an idea of what I wanted the album to look like.
I created a very simple album -- that is, it is very clean and streamlined, using an all white background on every page. This is simply the look that I prefer. All I did was add a black border to the photos. However, Somerset does have templates where you can superimpose images, change the background, use black and white, sepia, etc. So you can make the book as fancy as you want, I simply chose to keep it simple. I also liked they they have panoramic templates (that go across both pages). You can also load your own templates into Somerset's software--they have a blank template you use for that. So that is an option also. Finally, Somerset (like Nations Photo Lab) also provides professional design services should you choose to simply send them your images and have them design it for you.
Now, on to the album. Somerset states that they have a 5 day turnaround time for their albums. I ordered my album on Sunday and received it on Thursday--pretty fast! Also, this standard shipping was free.
The album arrived well-packaged and enclosed in a box.
The album was enclosed in a dust jacket.
We chose the brown suede cover with our names and wedding date embossed in the right-hand corner.
I did a 10x10, 34 page album. The photos are mounted on the "hard" cardboard pages that lay flat--these are not the "magazine style" pages you see in photo books, like you would use for a guest book.
Closeup of pages.
The first page.
Here are some of the pages. As I previously stated, I just did a very simple, clean presentation.
Here is an example of a panoramic page. As you can see, there is very little "gutter" or seam going down the middle.
Here I tried to get a closeup of the seam.
Two more of the panaoramic pages.
The last page.
Here is a comparison of the Somerset album to the album we ordered for us from our professional wedding photographer. As you can see, the covers are almost identical. The difference in the quality of the Somerset album to the professional one was minimal.
Here are the two albums side by side using some of the same images. The Somerset album is at the top. The professional album has a slight sheen to it which my camera does not capture. The Somerset album has more of a dull or matted affect. The color quality of the professional album is only slightly brighter. Other than that, they are almost identical.
Here is a comparision with an almost identical layout. The professional album is at the top.
The Somerset album has rounded corners while the professional album has square ones. Although, I prefer the squared off corners of the professional album, this was not an option for the Somerset album.
If you plan to design your own album through this or another company, I suggest you break down your pictures into the ones you want to use and only upload those to the software, rather than uploading all of your photos like I did. Although I did this initially, I kept changing my mind so finally just uploaded all of my images and that was a mistake. It took forever to load the images every time I wanted to work on my album. Take the time to really decide the ones you want to use first, and it will save you more time in the end.
Overall, I could not have been happier with this album. It is very comparable to the wedding album provided by my professional photographer. The Somerset 10x10 album with 34 pages cost $413.00. So this is definitely still somewhat pricey, however, the quality is that of a professional album, and I had the fun of designing it myself. Customer service was great--I had a few questions along the way and a representative answered them promptly every time.
If you plan to design your own album through this or another company, I suggest you break down your pictures into the ones you want to use and only upload those to the software, rather than uploading all of your photos like I did. Although I did this initially, I kept changing my mind so finally just uploaded all of my images and that was a mistake. It took forever to load the images every time I wanted to work on my album. Take the time to really decide the ones you want to use first, and it will save you more time in the end.
Overall, I could not have been happier with this album. It is very comparable to the wedding album provided by my professional photographer. The Somerset 10x10 album with 34 pages cost $413.00. So this is definitely still somewhat pricey, however, the quality is that of a professional album, and I had the fun of designing it myself. Customer service was great--I had a few questions along the way and a representative answered them promptly every time.
DIY Blurb Photo Book
For my mom for Mother's Day, I did a photo book of our wedding pictures through Blurb.
Brides need to realize that the quality of a photo book is not the same as a photo album. My mom loved the book, but if it was all I had of my wedding photos, I would be disappointed. The pages do not lay flat like in an album and I am not sure this book will stand the test of time like the album will. But for $50, books like these make nice books for parents, grandparents, etc. and if you are on a budget, it is certainly better than nothing.
I did a 24 page, 10x8 standard landscape with an image wrap cover. I upgraded to the premium paper--which wasn't necessary, as the paper wasn't any better than the paper I used when I ordered our guest sign in book through Blurb. You can view the book here: http://www.blurb.com/books/1274752
Here are some pictures:
Cover:
Brides need to realize that the quality of a photo book is not the same as a photo album. My mom loved the book, but if it was all I had of my wedding photos, I would be disappointed. The pages do not lay flat like in an album and I am not sure this book will stand the test of time like the album will. But for $50, books like these make nice books for parents, grandparents, etc. and if you are on a budget, it is certainly better than nothing.
I did a 24 page, 10x8 standard landscape with an image wrap cover. I upgraded to the premium paper--which wasn't necessary, as the paper wasn't any better than the paper I used when I ordered our guest sign in book through Blurb. You can view the book here: http://www.blurb.com/books/1274752
Here are some pictures:
Cover:
Somerset also offers photo books which appear to be superior in quality to that of a company like Blurb, and start at around $150.
