all photos by Wyn Wiley

It’s no secret that wedding photography is a big investment as part of your wedding budget, but are you getting the most value out of your wedding photos? We’ve learned that a huge percentage of couples getting married in recent years have decided not to print their wedding photos, but we’re hoping to change that trend for the future! If you haven’t thought about whether or not to print your wedding photos, we’ve got five excellent reasons to convince you why you should absolutely print your wedding photos!

1. The Power of Touch

On a psychological level, touch has an incredible power of us as humans. We become more deeply connected to tangible things (and people, of course!), once we’ve been able to touch or hold them in our hands. Seeing your wedding photos is nice, but the emotional response your body undergoes when touching them as an album or print is amplified. To get the most value out of your wedding photos – out of what you paid for – get them printed and let your sense of touch be part of the experience.

2. Your Wedding is a Story

From getting ready to your first look to saying “I do” to dancing the night away, the day of your wedding is as much a story as the relationship that brought you to this point. Printing your photos in an album allows you to re-live that story in a way that an online gallery of a few hundred images simply does not. Imagine looking through your wedding album together with your family during the holidays, and again on your anniversaries, and maybe even later with your children. Printing your photos in an album allows you to experience them the way your photographer intended.

3. Your Photos are Art

Speaking of your photographer, remember that they are an artist. You hired them not only to capture your day, but to capture it using their artistic vision. What better to hang on the walls of your home than the art you already commissioned for your wedding day! Not only do you get to display these stunning pieces of art that happen to include you as the models, but you’re able to walk through your house and remember those special moments every single day.

4. The Internet Isn’t Forever

Remember MySpace? Social platforms aren’t forever! Even if you were to upload your wedding photos (all 800 of them) to Facebook, how often would you and your family actually spend time looking through them there? And, you can only upload them if you’ve downloaded them from the online gallery your photographer provided! We hear from SO many photographers that their clients never download their wedding images and then when the gallery expires, the client emails in asking where the photos have gone. Not all photographers leave their galleries open forever, which is just another reason to make sure you’re making the most of the photos you paid for!

5. Family Heirlooms for Future Generations

When you print your photos, you’re not the only ones who get to appreciate them – your family, both present and future, do too! If you’ve ever seen your parents’ or grandparents’ old wedding photos hanging in their home or come across a box of old images from their weddings, then you know how special and meaningful those artifacts are. Your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren being able to touch, hold, and sift through your wedding photos is a powerful way to connect through generations.

Ultimately, the tangible value of deciding to print your wedding photos, whether as albums for your coffee table, art for your home, or gifts for your family, is unparalleled. Your wedding day deserves better than a Facebook album or USB drive that lives in your junk drawer. Photos are meant to be viewed, so make sure you’re giving those memories a chance to be re-lived – now and forever!

This post is sponsored by QtAlbums, the highest quality bespoke album company for wedding photographers. QtAlbums creates beautiful heirlooms to be enjoyed for generations to come. Find out if your photographer uses QtAlbums and send them our review as proof of why we believe QtAlbums should be every wedding photographer’s go-to for quality wedding albums and prints.