DIY Fantastic: Wedding Album

This is a very special diy that I've been working on for a very special couple. Last year I had the honour of being a bridesmaid for a dear old school friend and I was determined to ensure their wedding gift was as memorable as the day itself. I worked on an 'alternative' wedding album - incorporating all those important days and dates in the lead up to the wedding day that weren't captured by the official photographer and all those silly snaps that might not have made the cut into the official album!

The ingredients I gathered together for the job:

1. Printed photos and any other materials you've collected (I had the wedding invitation and the order of service that I'd saved especially, but things such as ticket stubs, travel tickets etc would be perfect)
2. Album (I chose a very simple plain album with thick cream card pages)
3. Craft knife and ruler for trimming
3. Ribbons, sequins, gems, washi tape and any other pretty bits and pieces for decoration
4. Glue stick/spray mount
5. Black ink pen for commentary, illustrations etc!

The best thing about this album is that you can make it to remember any special day, holiday, birthday,  celebration - it's not just for weddings! But having had our first wedding of the year yesterday I'm in full on wedding mode so the time seemed right!

The actual steps to put this together are very simple, trim all the photos to the desired size using the ruler and craft knife. I mixed it up with lots of photos of different shapes and sizes and some with borders and some without as I wanted it to feel more relaxed and eclectic. But you could also trip them to all the same sizes and shape if you want it more co-herent.

I also drew some little illustrations to add some labels and commentary to the photos, these were simple black ink sketches on white card such as those you can see below:

Finally it just came down to arranging the composition of the material within the album. Sounds simple right? Trust me it's not!!! :p I opted for a loosely chronological order starting with a girly visit to the venue, invitation making, hen do and then on to the big day!

Here are some sneaky peaks of some key spreads:

Illustrated rosette and washi tape add some interest to this spread from our visit to Royal Ascot! 

A small amount of editing prior to printing meant I could add some fun captions to the photos, I love 'The Slow Dance' and 'The Kiss' with the inflatable parrot! 

The original invitation was a little bulky, I was tempted to leave it out but very pleased I worked with it in the end.

Some simple white pearly sequins used to decorate the final preparations of the bride!

I love the interactive 'book-within-a-book' feel of including the invitation and order of service!

And finally, you know you can't resist a fun gif to round things off, so here you go:

You can play with this in so many different ways to add character and interest, go experiment!

The only tip I'd add is if you're planning a similar project is to be prepared - collect as much as you can from the actual events so that you can add those personal touches that are easily discarded but when collated together like this can mean so much more than the sum of their parts!

Congratulations Lisa and Steve and thank you for waiting patiently for your gift! :)