Wedding photos are a tangible record of a significant life event. More than that, they’re documented proof of your love story, capturing a monumental chapter with images that will forever make your heart swell. But between the engagement, rehearsal dinner, bridal portraits and the wedding day gallery itself, those images can start to add up. 

When it comes to weddings, I typically produce 100-150 professionally edited images per hour. Book 8 hours of wedding day coverage and that will give you a stunning gallery filled with around 850 files. If that sounds overwhelming, don’t worry. You don’t need to make sacrifices! Every phase of the process is worth documenting. All you need is a few tips for storing and organizing your wedding photos. 

Storing and organizing your wedding photos:

Digital Images

Once you receive a gallery of images from your wedding photographer, it’s important to download them onto your computer. Over time, your gallery could be archived, and you’ll want to make sure you have all your images for yourself when that happens. Since most files are high-resolution, this could take up a lot of room on your device! That’s why I recommend saving them to a reputable (and free!) cloud storage service like Google Drive, DropBox or iCloud first. This will allow for quick and easy access, too! 

In addition to cloud storage, I also recommend saving your wedding photos to an external hard drive. It’s always good to have backups, right? Should something happen to a server, or you forget your password after a few years, you’ll always be able to pull your images from a safely-kept drive. You can usually find an external hard drive anywhere from Target to Best Buy or Amazon, and depending on the size you choose, it should run you less than $50. For reference, there’s 1,000 gigabytes in 1 terabyte, and 1,000 high-resolution images should take up about 20 gigabytes of storage space. 

Once your images are downloaded, I recommend separating the images into different files. Sifting through 800+ thumbnails can be exhausting! You want your wedding photos to be accessible and easy to navigate. Separating them into different categories can help you do just that! You’re welcome to come up with your own system, but here are a few folders I’d suggest:

• Engagement Photos
• Getting Ready
• First Look
• Portraits
• Family
• Ceremony
• Reception
• Details
• Favorites

Pro Tip:

Once your “favorites” folder is filled with a highlight reel of your big day, I’d save that particular folder to your computer itself, too. You never know when you’ll want to upload a file for canvas prints and holiday cards, or even just to share with someone electronically. If you know your go-to wedding photos, having them readily available to share can come in handy. Can you narrow your favorites down to a top five or 10 images? Transfer those images to your phone, too. That way they’re ready for any social posts or text messages, and they make great lock screens and wallpapers, too. 

Printed Images

There are so many benefits to printing out your wedding photos! Okay, in this day and age maybe you don’t want all 850 images. But having a wedding album is such a valuable keepsake, from a simple photo album to a fully designed custom photo book. Professional prints, canvases and framed wedding photos make great gifts, too, especially for parents, grandparents, or even your anniversary. 

While you don’t need to print out your entire digital gallery (though you certainly could), having tangible proof of your wedding is definitely a must. 

Here’s how I’d go about it:

Option 1:

Fill an old fashioned photo album with your favorite images. That’s right, they’re making a comeback—one that’s a perfectly nostalgic way to keep your wedding photos. If you want to go big, you can even invest in a set of matching albums, one for each category of images: portraits, ceremony, reception, etc. 

Option 2:

Create a custom photo book. If your wedding photographer doesn’t offer printed photo books, there are plenty of websites out there that can do the trick. Think Mixbook, Shutterfly, Vistaprint or Minted. This will keep all your images in one place, beautifully designed to give you a keepsake worth sharing. And the best part? These printed images will be saved digitally, so you can always go back and order additional copies as gifts, or should something happen to yours. 

Pro Tip:

Make sure your photo albums are stored in a cool, dry place, away from any direct light. This will keep your wedding photos from fading, and will keep your prints in high-quality shape for generations. 

No matter how you’re planning to preserve the day, I’d love to help you preserve the memories. Planning a wedding? Let’s chat! From that first dream wedding Pinterest board to safely storing the images forever, every step of this journey should be a joyful one.