Three Reasons You Should Have Your Photos Professionally Printed

It’s no secret that I never get tired of looking at wedding photos. (If I did, I might be in the wrong business.)

When I see my own, they stir such strong emotions—from the swelling tide of nostalgia I feel looking through my wedding album, to the gentle lift I get seeing a favorite image on the wall as I grab my keys and head out the door. When I look through my parents’ wedding album on the shelf, I feel tethered to the bigger story of my family across generations.

Wedding images weave powerful connections throughout my day. But only because I have them where I can see them.

What you don’t know about printing your wedding photos

Having a digital copy of your images is an easy, compact way to store them—much easier than binders of negatives. But it doesn’t matter how many great images you have access to when they live in a drawer.

We know it’s common to get a USB drive or DVD of images from your wedding day. Many couples seek digital image files as part of their package, or as their final product—intending to manage their own printing to save money.

This rarely ends well.

We want you to love the images you’ve invested in, and for them to live up to their full potential to inspire and bring joy to your lives. We’re here to make a plea for you to consider why we don’t recommend tackling printing your wedding photos yourself.

Three reasons you should have your photos professionally printed

1. You can’t hang good intentions on the wall.

Remember, you will have just been through the ringer of planning a wedding, and maybe a honeymoon. You have thank-you notes to write, and you may be moving, catching up at work, or focusing on any number of things that had to wait. It is overwhelmingly common to see clients never get around to it.

When this happens, you miss out on enjoying the photos you put so much care and trust into having created. The USB drive sits idle on your desk, and instead of bringing up warm memories, seeing it taunts or overwhelms you.

By choosing a photography package that includes prints and albums, you’ll make sure that your memories hang where you can revisit them daily, and not tucked in a drawer.

2. You’re done making decisions.

Location. Dress. Food. Centerpieces. Colors. Flowers. Attendants. Whether your “big day” was a giant party or just a quiet celebration, you made a lot of decisions to get through it. You’re probably tapped out.

When you partner with a full-service wedding photographer, you’re not alone after the wedding! You have guidance and support for choosing the products and prints that are right for your life, your space, and your memories. In fact, helping our clients choose their wedding images is one of my favorite parts of the job—it’s such a touching and personal chance to revisit the emotion of the day.

3. Professional printing brings unmatched quality that reveals the essence of an image.

The print quality of a drugstore or mass-market online printing service (Shutterfly, Amazon or Snapfish) can’t and won’t do justice to your gorgeous images. Some kid with a summer job rubber-stamping orders isn’t evaluating each print for color and contrast, and your images won’t be printed on high-quality materials that will remain vibrant—they may fade and degrade in just a few short years. The final product won’t be something that swells pride and delight in you and recalls the overtones and sentiment from the day. Moments of love and joy will be eclipsed by blown-out highlights, glare, and oversaturated colors. Perhaps most importantly you won’t be able to pass them down to new generations.

We only use a professional lab that we trust. We calibrate our monitors and optimize our files to work with their technology, and if needed we’ll keep refining a print until it comes out just right to ensure that when you see your images, you see your memories.

Professional photography deserves professional printing

Professional printing helps you make the most of your investment, while taking a burden of work and decisions off your shoulders. It’s a wedding gift you give yourself. Take advantage of the opportunity to let your photographer help you get spectacular prints and albums while you enjoy the nascent newlywed phase (and catch up on sleep!).

[Related: Wondering what to do with your wedding photos? Here are five fresh ideas.]

Are you looking for a full-service wedding photographer in Rhode Island or the Boston area? Contact us to start a conversation about your big day.