What's a Wedding Proof Album?

A wedding proof album is a way of showing you a 'rough version' of your wedding photos. From this selection you choose which photos you want in your main album or as prints.

By 'rough version', I mean the images might not have been edited, and they may have a copyright watermark stamped on it.

A Digital Wedding Proof Album

As a side note - all digital photos require some degree of editing in a program like Photoshop. Even though a photo may look ok straight out of the camera, a couple of simple enhancements can make it infinitely better!

Having this first draft lets you pass around your wedding photos without worrying too much about them getting damaged.

It also lets your friends and family order prints from the photographer.

The main thing you need to know from your photographer is whether you get to keep the album or if you have to hand it back after a certain an amount of time. Also, the style of the album.

Traditionally they consisted of large prints fastened into plastic wallets, which in turn were fastened into an album. This was a security measure so people couldn't make illegal copies of prints.

What's popular now are digital proof albums. Multiple photos are printed directly onto a magazine-style page, with a reference number underneath.

Digital Proofing

In the digital age the wedding proof album could become a thing of the past, which would be sad because they give you a record of every photograph from your wedding.

(You may only have 60-100 photos in your album, out of the hundreds that were taken).

But, so you don't miss out on having proofs, more and more photographers are turning to digital proofing methods. These take the form of DVD's or online galleries.

Online galleries are great because all your friends and family can see them, as well as your cousins in Australia that weren't able to come to the wedding! Galleries can also give the option of visitors buying prints online, so you don't have to worry about showing an album around and collecting orders.

Here's a list of things to ask your photographer when it comes to proofing:

• Can I keep the album? If not, how long can I keep it for?
• Will the photos be watermarked?
• Is the album traditional or digital?
• Will I have an online gallery?
• Is it password-protected?
• Can people buy prints online?

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