When an album arrives, I have to admit to dropping whatever I am doing and rushing to open the box, and see the treasure inside. It always makes me stop and think, if I am this excited, just how excited will the couple be. I like to get them out of the box, checked and then packed for delivery to the couple double quick.

With honeymoons, image choosing, design, and then album production it is often several months after the wedding when the album arrives. Usually just after all the cards have been packed away in the memory box, the presents have been used for the first time, friends have shared all their images of the day, and all the stories of the magical day told. Memories and the excitement from the day are starting to fade. Wonderfully, so my clients tell me, the album always brings back all the emotions and reignites the magic of the day for a bit longer and continues to do so every time it’s pages are opened. (I know this from looking at my own wedding album, it really does make me smile every time I open the pages and see those precious memories.)

For Sally and Jon, this is very true. Having moved house 6 weeks after the wedding and then with a host of other commitments, we only finalised their album design in late 2009, some 6 months after they got married. Sally said when we were designing it, how fabulous it was to see the images as they really reminded her of all those wedding day memories and emotions. I love my job, it’s knowing that I have captured those memories and emotions that people treasure that just makes it for me.

Sally and Jon also chose a Jorgensen album, with a plain black leather cover, it’s very simply, beautiful.

And now I have just received another parcel of albums as I write this, yipeee! This time it is the new soft kiss books album for Ellen, Peter and Charlotte’s portrait session so you’ll have to check back next week to see that one.

Wedding albums for me are very personal to the clients, it shouldn’t be full of images I have chosen, but those that my clients love.  I work with each client to produce an album they absolutely love and that is full of the images they want, telling their story how they want it to be told.

We usually get together and choose the images and talk about the style of layout. Some people want lots of large images, others a contemporary look.  I put together a draft album with the selected images, and using some really cool software, clients can preview the album,  seeing how it will look in reality. The software allows comments on each page and then it automatically emails any comments to me so I can make any changes easily and update the online version for final approval. This makes the design process really simple and ensures that all my clients can be involved in the design of their treasured wedding album.

So onto this weeks arrivals. First Emma and James’ album. They chose a beautiful Jorgensen Album, with an oh so touchable black leather cover and stitch detail.

Jorgensen albums are matted albums. What does this mean? It means a real photo mounted onto a page. Matted albums have a timeless appeal, and unlike our parents wedding albums, which invariably only allowed for one picture mounted on each page,  we are now able to have many photos mounted in many different ways on one page. This allows for true flexibility in design and with their beautiful thick pages, turns the album into one to be adored.

Here is a sneak preview:

I have recently had a number of queries about producing beautiful albums of peoples personal images. It seems in today’s electronic age we are popping them on the hard drive and rarely taking the time to look at them. Recent queries have shown that people are realising this and  are wanting albums to showcase their memories not lock them away on a hard drive somewhere.

If you would like an album creating from your personal images please Get in touch for more information.

Don’t forget to check back later this week to see Sally and Jon’s album.

Maja and Toby choose a stunning black kiss wedding book for their album and it finally arrived. I love to open the kiss album boxes as you can smell the sumptuous leather as soon as you do. This order was extra special as they had ordered a little kiss book of their wedding images for Mum’s birthday. As you will recall from my last kiss book post, Mum Love’s the little kiss books, a lot!

Here’s their album in all it’s beautiful glory:

All my albums get a little extra special HayleyRuth Love before they go their new homes. (It’s so hard to let them go as I just want to keep them they look so beautiful)

Unusually I was there with camera in hand to capture their reaction to their album, even though it was an unreasonable 8.30am! Apparently the excitement of a birthday doesn’t fade as you get older, so we all had to be up early for the opening of cards and presents. Maja and Toby hadn’t arrived until midnight the night before so I saved their album for the morning.

I was also able to capture Mum’s surprise and joy at receiving her little kiss book. The knowing look is because as you all know she makes the stunning little Kiss pockets for me, to keep your albums safe, so had an early idea what her present was.

Mum so thrilled to have her very own little kiss album she showed everyone at the big birthday party and they all loved it too. These little Kiss books are infectious, so much so I had some requests to make little albums of holiday snaps and family photographs.

If you would like an album making of your favourite images please get in touch.

This little beauty is 4 x 4 inches and can be an exact replica of the main wedding album so is great for family and friends. The great size means it is perfect for your handbag or pocket, ensuring you get to flash it to all and everyone whenever you want. Fabulous!

My mum was visiting the other day and drooling over the little kiss book. She said “ooh it’s perfect for going in my handbag so I could take it and show everyone”

My heart sank. Why!! I hear you scream at me, that’s exactly what you want to do with your album. And absolutely I agree, photos are for sharing and looking at often, so here is why. 

Anyone who knows my mum will know she is not known for a small clutter free handbag, in fact my brothers quote when they were moving house and apparently downsizing, is a family favourite. “Mum you can’t downsize your handbag let a lone a house”! That could only mean one thing, it would get crinkled and bent and lost amongst all that clutter! (They didn’t mange to downsize the house by the way, in fact it’s bigger than the last one!! so he had a valid point.)

The more we thought about this the more we realised that lots of people have big handbags, it’s the fashion, and these large bags attract a lot of contents. So everyone would have the same problem and these little albums are to be loved, cherished and shared, not lost at the bottom of your bag getting bent out of shape! ( The little kiss books don’t come with their own gorgeous pouch like the larger ones to keep them safe.) So what was the answer?

Well I am really excited to announce that anyone who orders a little kiss book from me will now get their very own pouch to keep it safe from the contents of your handbag, and because your Little kiss book will be as unique as you, they will be produced in limited numbers of each design.

The first 10 little kiss books ordered from me will come in this gorgeous hot pink heavy weight fabric to afford it maximum protection. As each new pouch design comes hot out of production you’ll get a sneaky peek on here.

Check out these gorgeous pink hotties!

And just a reminder of the fabulous little kiss books

These beautfiul printed books come in the softest leather, with thick flush photo pages that lay flat so you can have prints across the entire page without losing any of the picture and gorgeous dust bags to keep them safe.  

This is my 10 x 10 sample, featuring Laura and Iain’s wedding. As red is my favourite colour, Laura had stunning red roses and Kiss offer the amazing redlight red, well, you can guess I chose red for my sample.

Isn’t it lovely.

The pages are so stunning, thick and well just gorgeous!

And here is my little kiss album, these are so cute, and ooze quality, I just couldn’t help but order one of these as well.  At 4 x 4 with the same lay flat ability and oh so touchable leather covers, these make great parents or portrait albums, fitting in your bag or pocket so you can take your pictures everywhere with you and share your stunning images with friends and family. To ring the changes I ordered this one in Black and it features pictures from Joe and Sunny’s amazing wedding in Cambridge.

And these are all the lovely colours that kiss albums are available in.

All my clients will now have the option of having a Kiss album, and I am really excited about sharing these with everyone.

You may remember Carrie and Tom’s wedding from back in May. Well we meet over lunch a few weeks ago and spent several hours catching up, choosing pictures from their wedding for their album and munching on some lovely lunch prepared by Carrie.

They chose a stunning Jorgensen Album in black leather and isn’t it beautiful.

That black leather cover is so soft to touch, you just want to keep touching it!

It’s super thick because Carrie and Tom wanted so many of their pictures in their album and it feels great.

 Here’s a sneaky peek at the first page

It has extra special flip out pages which allow the story of their day to flow through the album.

I have a feeling I will be taking another over excited tumble down the stairs again in a few weeks, for those of you who follow me on twitter (@hayleyoats) or facebook (Hayley Ruth) you will know that I have ordered a new sample album from America, stunningly simple and oh so very beautiful, I can’t wait for it to arrive. Don’t worry I promise I will post some pictures on here for you all to see