Preserving Memories: What to do with your wedding photos

You spent months planning, hours going over the color palette and your seating chart, and getting all the details just right for your perfect wedding celebration. Before you knew it the big day happened; you laughed, cried, and smiled for hours. Now you’re likely wanting some recovery time for everything, cause let’s be real, that was a lot. 

So you’ve started to relax and before you know it a couple of weeks pass and *bing* a new email from your wedding photographer. Your entire wedding gallery is ready, and it’s got you in tears fondly remembering the day, and all of the planning chaos is a distant memory. As you’re scrolling through your gorgeous photos, a thought appears — what should I do with my wedding photos now? 

There are the obvious ideas of sharing to social media, framing some, and thank you cards. But there’s SO MUCH more you can do with your wedding photos to really get the most out of your wedding photography investment — and who doesn’t want to relive those beautiful emotions and memories over and over again.

Grab a notepad because you’re going to want to jot these ideas down! Let’s get into it!

Framed Photos in your Home

Let’s start with a simple one — framing those beautiful photos! Displaying images of your wedding day around your home is a simple way to relive those memories, while at the same time creating beautiful decor for your space. 

There are a couple of ways to go about this. You can take your images and get them professionally printed and framed — if you’re not a DIYer this is a fantastic choice! Yes, it can be a bit pricey but it’s all done for you, outside of actually hanging them around your home. (But hey, that’s what partners are for!) Also consider that these photos will likely hang in your home for decades, unlike annual update photos. 

Second, you can have them printed at a local Photo Shop and then go out and pick up some super cute frames that match your vibes and home interiors. And don’t forget the office! Do you have an office cubicle, desk space, or work-from-home office? Be sure to include one or two beautifully framed wedding images in these spaces as well. 

Now this is a fun idea — a collage! Can’t pick just a couple of images to show around your home? Maybe a collage is for you! You can pick out 3,5,7,10 photos… the possibilities are really endless (depending on the frame!).

My favorite framing place for framing wedding photos — CraigFrames, check them out here!

Custom Wedding Albums

Are you someone who has a tough time making decisions and narrowing down from a wide array of items? If this is you, then a wedding album might be perfect for your indecisive ways! Creating a custom wedding album for yourself, or for loved ones is a great way to showcase your beautiful photos and preserve them for years to come. 

There are many professional services online, or you can DIY — both allow you to create beautiful wedding albums. A wedding album can capture many images and really tell the story of the day. You can include getting ready photos, first look photos, the wedding ceremony, the reception, and of course any fun activities from during or after the wedding! 

If you have an upcoming holiday or occasion this could also be a great time to make some custom wedding albums for family members such as parents, and grandparents.

I do offer custom albums for my clients, made locally in Eagan, MN with natural, sustainable materials. I work with my couples to include their most precious moments, and to finish the album to be consistent with their day (i.e. cover color, embossing, etc.). 

Personally, I like to think of albums this way: while a digital gallery is meant to tell the full story of your day, your album shows the best of the best highlights! It’s also a physical piece of art to have in your home and to share with visitors or while the power is out. 

Wedding Slideshow — Elope & Destination Weddings

If you eloped or had a destination wedding and are planning to have a wedding celebration with friends and family this could be a great way to include your wedding photos. You can compile some of your favorites and put them together in a slideshow to show as part of your wedding celebration! 

This is a great way to share with guests that may not have been able to attend your day of celebration and bring them along on your wedding day celebrations! You could even have some images printed on your signage and for your wedding celebration stationery!

Thank you Cards

If you’re planning to send physical or digital thank you cards to your guests, this is the perfect place to include an image or two from your wedding. If you’re sending digitally (which is my preference!) you can even include additional photos or share a link for guests to access additional images or your complete wedding gallery (if you choose to share it all!). 

Pro tip from a wedding photographer: Choose an image of both of you on your wedding day. A simple photo of you two smiling is perfect for conveying your thanks to your loved one, and having it as a beautiful photo to accompany any text you have on your thank you cards. Adding a photo to thank you cards helps your guests relive all the beautiful memories they shared with you on your wedding day.

Thinking of this ahead of time? Work with your photographer to create a special photo just for your thank you cards!

Holiday Items

What to do with wedding photos during the holidays you might be asking? Well here are a couple of simple ideas: You can take your favorite images and make them into a puzzle photo collage for your partner. As well, you can have a wedding photo professionally printed on different items such as ornaments, blankets, pillows, mugs, mousepads (yes these still exist!), and magnets. 

You can also use your wedding photos to be included in holiday cards. Offer your family wedding photos to those in your family that were there with you to use in their own holiday cards. May as well get the most out of being all dressed up, right?!

Share on Social Media

Do you have social media accounts that you love to share images on with family, friends, and maybe even work colleagues? This is a great place to share some images with others about your special day! These can be great ideas for anniversaries, holidays, and throwbackthursday posts. Just post them whenever you’d like — because you don’t need a special day to share your beautiful wedding images. Believe me, we all want to see them! 

If I did your wedding photography I’d love you to tag me @Jess.Knighton on social media posts so I can share the love and gush over your big day with you! 

If you’re keeping your images digitally be sure to back them up! Whether you’re saving them on a USB, cloud storage, or on a photo storage website ensure you have multiple copies in multiple places. You’d hate for one system to have an error or have technical issues and you lose all your beautiful wedding day photos!

Have any ideas of your own? I’d love to hear all about them in the comments!