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Okay...if it were me: (READ: My opinion, nothing more, nothing less...)
I would do 12 x 12. Reasons being: Weddings tend to be "expansive" events...I think you'd lose that in a 6x6 album. You could do 8.5 x 11, but most of the papers come 12x12 (waste...I foresee snippits, scraps, unusual size cuts that we are never usually able to discard...) I think that you'll find *many* more examples of 12 x 12 wedding albums than you will 6x6...and I'm going to go out on a limb here and say you'll find *LOTS* of examples in heritage publications, too. (I only bring it up because on your Avatar, you look to be about my age...my folks were married in '66, their photos already have that "aged" quality that looks great done in vintage/heritage style.)
Just my thoughts....but also keep in mind that I'm a pretty seasoned scrapper. A task of this magnitude will have a different effect on someone at my skill level that it would on a beginner/novice, intermediate, or comfortable-in-my-preferred-size-range scrapper.
Best of luck with your decision and *Please* post photos as you go! ~ K
__________________ Hi...My Name is Kaylyn...I'm An Alphaholic.
[B]
Thanks...yes, their wedding was in '69 and have been in a magnetic photo album since :( ..... Her bridesmaids' dresses that were "Flame" at the time have faded to a perfect Ruby Red.
Do you think that with that few pics it would be worth a 12x12?
I see what you mean about the 6x6 losing the 'feel' of a wedding....I just love how quick and easy the pages are...
I have been LOVING scrapping with the 6x6 brag book. I counted - right now it has 19 pages (that would be 38 fronts & backs) I was also curious as to how many pictures I had in it. It is of my grandson, by the way. I have 46 pictures on those 38 pages! No more than 4 per page, which are cropped really small (baby parts) and usually just one or two to a page. You might ask yourself if you plan to do a lot of cropping of the pictures or use them as is. If "as is" the larger size albums might be a good choice. If you're going to do a lot of cropping, the smaller size will work.
I personally like to crop really close and get the faces pretty big in the picture. I don't want too much background to detract from the picture.
My daughter is using the 12x12 which is nice too. I think it is all personal preference. I think the 12x12 might lend itself to being a bit more "elegant" especially for a wedding, but I love the smaller size for design-wise. If you are comfortable designing and planning greeting cards, the 6x6 is very similar. It is also more convenient to carry around, so you might also ask what you plan to do with the book. Display it? Carry to other family homes?
I've never used the 8 1/2x11. I'm sure it is nice too, but it just reminds me too much of a notebook.
I just read the other posts after I typed all this, and I think I agree for a wedding, especialy since you may not want to crop pictures that you can't replace. I'd probably go with the 12x12. Maybe you can include lots of journaling for family members to contribute their thoughts! How about a page for each one and what they love about your parents? You can really stretch it out if you want to. Have you mom include lots of "I remember..." It would be totally awesome to have that as a keepsake, with or without the pictures! OH,,, How about "the funniest moment..." or the swwetest moment..." Pictures of "then and now" with the different family members. The ideas are starting to flow!!!
That's my 2 cents, I've written way more than I expected!
HTH
About the number of pics: that certainly created a "hmmmm....." moment for me! (Garsh! I nearly went speechless!!...*AS IF*...)
Well...how much journaling is there? When she put them in her album, did she include anything else? I'm thinking: Her invite, a thank you card, her garter, menu from reception hall, church program....if any of these are around, then I'd *definitely* consider doing at least an 8.5 x 11 album. Otherwise, you'd never be able to include them. Ask her & post back. LMK what else she's got other than photos.
And see if you can get her to dictate some journaling to you about each photo...take a photosafe marker and number each one on the back according to what she can remember about the chronology. Then get her to give "commentary" about each photo, correspond the commentary to the photo...and voila! You have your journaling.
I think once you have both the "extras" and the journaling together, you'll have a better idea of the size book you'll need. ~ K
__________________ Hi...My Name is Kaylyn...I'm An Alphaholic.
[B]
I just finished mine and did a 12x12. I have some pages with only one or two photos on them, but I like putting all the embelishments and stuff on them, plus journaling. I think it emphasizes the pictures better. I got married in Vegas so I really didn't have a big wedding or lots of pictures to start off with. My first two pages have no pictures, just thoughts from both my dh and I on our first date, how we met and when we knew that it was love!
I definitely agree with the 12 X 12's . You want to allow as much space as possible for journalling, et cetera. This should be a great family project for all of you! Enjoy!
I am in a similar boat. My dad made a sb for my mom right as they got married-it is incredible and full of lots of pics of both of them and love notes/poems/cards back and forth between the two of them. My dad was a hopeless romantic and the book he made has a lot of his handwriting (in a silver pen on black pages-about 45 years ago!) that I want to save. I am doing a 12x12 and then adding their wedding pics onto the back.
I just think a 12x12 is easier to add to and allow for journaling.
Good luck with it-I am sure it will be lovely.
__________________ I want people to be afraid of how much they love me-M. Scott
I did 8X8 and found it perfectly managable. I think that with 12X12 it is more difficult to focus on one picture when you want to. Just my opinion!
I personally use 12x12, but I can see what she means about using an 8x8. If you are looking to focus on a single picture for each page, while still being able to embellish, decorate, and journal... that would probably be a good size. Gives more room than the smaller size, but a 12x12 might overwhelm the picture. Just a thought!
I like the 8 1/2 by 11....easy to store on the shelf.... but then so are the others I guess...but what ever you do......do some two page spreads of then and now..in similar poses would be kinda cool! make some color copies or take a couple of digital photos of the pics and do a couple of trial pages...you can always do the progessive scrapping...start with the 6 x6 and move on up if you feel you need bigger pages....I need to get busy on my scrapbooks!!!!!! I do want to try more 12 by 12....I love all the books!!!
Hi April,
You could also take the photo's to one of those Kodac machines and have some of them enlarged. It'll give you a few that are very speciall an added interest to the album. I think it's a great idea to dictate the memories, as well as add a few current photo's of the people from the wedding of how they have changed. I know my personal opinion is it's great to see how my dad when he and my mom married had a full head of nice think hair, now there is vertually no hair. Also maybe have them write a little journal of what they think life will be like in their marriage years from now.
Have fun with this... sounds like it'll be great memory making for you and your mom.
Oh, I got the 12x12 linen ring album from SU, love it, but I think a 8 1/2 x 11 would be perfect for your parents album... that way you would still get journalling space, any letters written could be put in a sleve and fit perfect. Did either of your parents have old love notes to each other? If so they could be added if they want to share them in the album... kind of a nice personal touch for you mom and dad.
I think the smaller book (6 x 6) are great for brag books or when you are going to be cropping the pictures. Since they are wedding photos I imagine that you are going to be doing very little cropping, but may be adding frames and other embelishments. Since the majority of the photos are square I would use a square album and wouldn't go smaller than an 8 x 8.
I Guess I am in the minority here -- I say go for the 6x6, and this is my reason why -- because of the size I feel they would be lost in the 12x12 or other size. I have a ton of those type pictures, and the age and size of the photos just didn't do them justice in a larger album.
I did a 6x6 album and did a format like this -- on the left page I had the names of the people in the photo, the year, the place, etc. (in this case since it was all a wedding you could just have the names of people) and then I put any comments I wanted to put. FOr instance a picture of my mother in her majorette uniform, it was black and white photo but in the comments I added that her uniform was powder blue and some info about her majorette years.
On the opposing page was the picture, and I embellished the photo by matting it accordingly, and either adding a stamped embellisment to the photo mat or to the side or bottom of the page iwth a simple border - all very simple and elegant. I am redoing a lot of it right now since I started the album with stickers and now finding it looks tacky so I am redoing with heirloomish stamps and embossing.
Anyway, that is my take. I had a whole lot of photos dating from 1930 to 1978 in one album and I found this was the best way to highlight each photo, was in the 6 x6.
I would also add that you might want to either put the photos in by using clear photo corners, or by copying all of them so that you have duplicates --course if you went to the trouble of scanning or using the kodak picturemaker you could always make them larger and enhance the colors also so then you could do another size album.
Wow! I was just coming on to post a similar question! I was planning on making a 6x6 album for my mom & MIL with pic. from my wedding & was wondering the same thing! After reading everyone's posts I think I'm leaning more toward 8x8, but I'm still not sure. I'll put my questions on another post so I don't hijack your thread!
I think an 8x8 album will meet your needs alittle better than a larger book. It's still very easy to complete - you mentioned you liked that about the 6x6 size. The pictures will still "stand out" in an album of this size...they won't be so obivious on a 12x12 page unless you enlarge a lot of them, becareful about enlarging them. They will get blurry if you enlarge too much. With an 8x8 you can still embellish the page and have room for a few journaling boxes. There are several companies that make the 8x8 books - and they are wonderful! I especially love the Chatterbox faux suede albums --- so soft!!
Sounds like fun! Enjoy this wonderful project!
I'm planning on creating one for my parents so I have something to pass on to my daughter. Although, the one I create will only be for me since my parents divorced after 25 years and they don't want one.
I personally like the 8x8 books for special events. Leaves plenty of room for do-dads and journalling. I have done 3 8x8 books and just LOVE them. One from a trip to niagra falls, one to wine country and one for my parents wedding. For the wedding I was able to put one picture per page and journal up a storm. They had very few pictures. For my wedding I did a 6x12 album. I LOVE this size too. I found the album at archivers. I loved doing the album, plus everyone thinks its a great size that has seen it.
Hope this helps. I'm a true believer of going against the norm (8x11.5 and 12x12) with all these new sizes available.
One bonus to doing 6x6 is you can get 4 pages out of a sheet of 12x12. With 8x8 you can only get 1 :( Although you will have a sizable piece left over if you get the 12x12 paper. (12x4 & 8x4) I just might have to trim the pictures *slightly* so I can use the scraps for matting! I think with the 8x8 size I will have a little more room for journaling & embellishments. Thanks for all the great advice!
Question for scrapbookers regarding size of book
