Memphis Weddings: Choosing an Album or Wedding Magazine

What an album does best

A wedding album is the big, slow, heirloom piece. At 12x24, 16x24, 15x30 or 20x30 inches, it gives your best photographs plenty of space, and it is meant to be passed down. You can choose a classic binding or lay-flat, where pages open completely flat and a photo can sweep across both sides.

If you want to remember the whole day, from the quiet getting-ready moments to the last dance, an album is the right choice. Prices start from $240 for a 12x24 classic with 15 spreads and a photo cover, and you can add spreads up to 40.

What a magazine does best

A wedding magazine is 20 pages, 8.5x11 inches, in an editorial style with 10 original designs to choose from, for $70. It reads like a story, with a cover, headlines and a handful of the best frames. It is light, easy to flip through and affordable enough to order in multiples.

Couples in Memphis often have large families, with aunts, cousins and church friends who all want to see the day. A stack of magazines is a generous, inexpensive way to share it.

Picking the photos that matter

Start with the images that make you feel something, not the ones that are merely technically perfect. Look for expressions: your father seeing you for the first time, a grandmother dancing, a friend caught mid-laugh. Those are the pages people will return to.

Then balance the selection. Include a few wide scene-setters, some close details like rings and flowers, and enough group moments that everyone feels represented. In the Folio Forever designer, Smart Auto-Layout will arrange the photos for you, and you can swap or resize any of them before approving each page.

Display, gifting and generations

An album deserves a spot where guests can reach for it: a coffee table, a console or a bookshelf. Leather covers (+$25) and acrylic covers (+$39) give it a more formal presence, while a photo cover is included.

For parents and grandparents, consider a magazine or a second smaller album made from the same selection. Grandparents in particular tend to prize something physical they can hold, and a printed book travels easily when you visit.

Plan ahead for gift timing. Printing takes 5 to 7 business days after approval, followed by Express $60, Standard $32 or Economy $12 delivery to your Tennessee address, so a holiday or anniversary gift is easy to schedule.

A simple way to decide

If you can only make one thing, make the album. If you want to share widely or tell a short, stylish version of the story, make the magazine. Many couples do both, and the extra effort is small because the photo selection is already done.

You can preview every page before anything is printed, and the reprint promise covers every order.

Before you order, show the draft to one family member whose opinion you trust. In a Memphis family there is usually someone who remembers every name, and they will catch the cousin you almost left out.

Storing and protecting what you made

Keep an album flat or upright on a shelf, away from direct sunlight and damp, and handle it with clean hands. Heat and humidity are a fact of Mid-South summers, so an air-conditioned living space is a better home than a garage or an attic.

If something goes wrong in transit or in print, the reprint promise on every order has you covered, which is one less thing to worry about with a keepsake you only get to make once.