Eight Weeks to a Wedding Album with Laura Kurz - Two Peas in a ...

Eight Weeks to a Wedding Album with Laura Kurz
Week One: Let’s Get Started!
How long have you been married? Still have those photographs tucked in a box on the top shelf of your
closet? Time to dust them off – in just eight weeks we will work toward completing that wedding album!
This course will provide you with the basics of creating a wedding album – from engagement to
reception – but feel free to work within the structure to add those events or moments that made your
wedding unique, like the polka band or the significance of a family diamond. The outline we will follow
is:
Week 1 – Album planning and organization/title page
Week 2 – Engagement and parties/showers/wedding planning
Week 3 – Rehearsal and Rehearsal Dinner
Week 4 – Ceremony
Week 5 – Wedding party/formal portraits
Week 6 – Reception 1 – toasts, dances, cutting cake, bouquet toss
Week 7 – Reception 2 – candids
Week 8 – Cards, gifts, and announcements
For week one, we’ll start with one of my favorite parts of any album: ORGANIZATION. If you want to
get your album done in these eight weeks, organization is key and will make the next few weeks that
much easier. We’ll focus on a few key items to help us get organized:
• Album Size
• Photo Organization
• Memorabilia
• Labeling
• Photo Printing
• Color Scheme
• Reoccurring elements
Album Size
First thing’s first – what size do you want your album to be? When making this decision, consider
whether or not you will want to do full-page photos. Also consider where you want to keep this album
when it’s finished – will it sit on your coffee table? Maybe you don’t want a 12x12 album that will take
up a lot of space. Or maybe it will be put where the rest of your albums are stored, so you want it to be
the same size you have always done.
I used an 8x8 album for my wedding. I love it because it’s more portable than some of the larger albums,
and is easy to show to friends and family. This is your call!
Some album suggestions:
• Beige Corduroy 8x8 Three-Ring Album (Making Memories)

• Black 12x12 Corduroy D-Ring Album (American Crafts)
• Black 12x12 Leather Post Album (American Crafts)
• Black 12x12 Cloth Post Album (American Crafts)
Photo Organization
I’m providing you with a template that will help you organize your photos once they are labeled. For
ease, let’s divide the photos into the events above (engagement, rehearsal, etc.) If you have an event that
you want to scrap that won’t be covered in the eight weeks, go ahead and add it. You can always do those
pages later or do them during a week you get ahead.
When organizing your photos, also think about the photos you really want to highlight (single photo
spreads, perhaps) versus the photos that can be used on the more “candid” pages with other photos. Go
ahead and label those photos as the ones you want to use as enlargements.
If you need to scan in photos, this is the time to do it! Also make sure that you have your photographer’s
permission to do this (our wedding photographer destroyed our negatives after a few years – I know, the
horror – so she gave us written permission to reproduce them however we want).
Memorabilia
This is the week to determine what “memorabilia” from your wedding planning and your wedding day
you want to include. The last week of this album class is focused on some specific memorabilia (cards,
announcements, etc.) but this is the time to organize the other memorabilia you might want to include
(invitation, save the date, wedding registry list, wedding program, etc.)
Labeling
You’ll want to label your photos for where they fit in to the class outline (engagement, rehearsal, etc.) If
you are organizing on your computer using iphoto or another storage program, it’s relatively easy to
create new folders and label them for the event you want. If you already have hard copy photos and won’t
need to scan or print anything, an easy way to organize is with file folders that can be labeled for each
week of the class. Use the PDFs provided to list which photos are supposed to go with which week of
the class.
Photo Printing
Each week, I’ll provide you with two digital photo frame downloads that you can add to your photos
prior to printing them. Because I’ll provide you with two frames each week, you might want to wait until
the beginning of a week to print your photos for that week. That’s just if you want to use the frames
though! If you don’t plan on using the digital elements provided, go ahead and get your photos printed
now.
For the photos that you labeled as ones you really want to highlight, consider getting them printed at the
size of your album (my album is 8x8, so the really special photos I had printed in 8x8). One of the
sketches I provide you with will feature a photo enlargement.
Color Scheme
Do you want your album to match your wedding? Entirely up to you. Some suggestions:
• Consider going with a neutral theme (creams, blacks, grays) and using a pop of color that you used

in your wedding for the accents (if you had pink flowers, use pink jewels as accents).
• If you really loved your color scheme and want to use it throughout, feel free!
• One thing to take into consideration with colors is whether you will be printing your pictures in
color or in black and white. Your wedding colors might have been pink and green, but you might
have a lot of photos of the mother of the groom wearing navy. All things to think about!
• Our wedding was December 29, so it was very Christmasey, but I didn’t want my album to feel this
way. So I used kraft, gray, and red cardstock throughout with clear jewels.
Reoccurring Elements
The beauty of creating a themed album is that it’s just that – a theme! You want your design to flow
throughout the album. So this is the time to determine what elements you want to use repeatedly.
Products you will most likely use throughout and some of my recommendations:
Letter Stickers:
• Black School House Letter Stickers (Making Memories)
• Silver Metro Shimmer Letter Stickers (Making Memories)
• Milan White Letter Stickers (American Crafts)
• Roosevelt White Letter Stickers (American Crafts)
• Sophie White Letter Stickers (American Crafts)
• White Moma Remarks Letter Sticker Book (American Crafts)
Rub-on Letters or Stamps:
• Black Purkey Mini Mark Rub Ons (American Crafts)
• Small Variety Alphabet Clear Design Stamp Set (Hero Arts)
Jewels:
• Lily White Doodlebug Jewels (Doodlebug)
• Spirit Clear Jem Pack (Creative Café)
Other Miscellaneous Supplies:
• Ancestry Black Photo Corners (K & Company)
• Black Cardstock (Bazzill)
• Cherish Acrylic Word Stamp (Heidi Swapp)
• Love Acrylic Word Stamp (Heidi Swapp)Elegant White Mini Mark Rub ons (American Crafts)
• Kraft Cardstock (Bazzill)
Week One Challenge: Title Page
What better week to do your title page than the week when you are organizing all the elements of your
album? Getting your photos and memorabilia together are sure to bring back the memories you want to
capture on your first page.
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