Photobook help

MrsZiz

I've FINALLY come around to making our wedding album. Shawn Starr had 9+ discs with our pictures on them and I finally picked my favorites and I'm ready to make an album. (yep, it's only been 3+ years since we got married!) Now I'm trying to figure out what's the best service to use. We have a Mac but the apple books seem SO expensive compared to the other books and I've used shutterfly for books and calendars with good outcomes. So I'm here to ask the professionals, who do you think I should use to make our wedding album? I should add that there will be a TON of pages so I'm planning to spend some $ on this thing. I don't want to skimp because our pics are amazing. Suggestions? Tips? 

KShiz

I only have experience w/ My Publisher. I've ordered 4 hardcover and 2 paper backed and loved them all. I think they may have a deal through Costco too, but not 100% sure how that works.

lola808

We used mpix before we had a mac. It was about $60 for a 10x10 hardcover album with around 30 pages. The software was very easy to use. We had Shawn pics, too, and I really love how it all came out.

SanHawaii08

i used my publisher for our wedding album - i had about 100 pages, and they came out great!  I think we paid around $50 each, by using a coupon i found online.  i remember there were some (blurb, maybe?) that would have been *much* more expensive for that many pages. 

mrspresley

another vote for mypublisher.... the quality is good and the price is good if you find a coupon - there are usually coupons for 40% off or BOGO.  i made a honeymoon album with MP and was very happy with it.  sadly, i still haven't finished our wedding album (granted, I haven't worked on it in years!)

redshoegirl

I know Smilebooks isn't the most well known on the Knot/Nest/Bump, but I freaking LOVE them. I did a ton of research before I did our wedding photobooks, and I ended up choosing them because they have the best true color printing and they use the heaviest paper out of all the major photobook publishers (thin, flimsy feeling paper is a pretty common complaint when you read photobook reviews). They have tons of design help and layouts, or you can design pages from scratch. 

I was impressed enough with our wedding album that I'm already planning on getting the boys' first year album through them. 

Oh, and they're not the cheapest, but they have lots of coupons so you seldom have to pay full price.

mrspresley

redshoegirl:

I know Smilebooks isn't the most well known on the Knot/Nest/Bump, but I freaking LOVE them. Oh, and they're not the cheapest, but they have lots of coupons so you seldom have to pay full price.

oh I remember this! I do want to try them.... maybe for Miss A's one year album?

did you do the regular paper or photo paper?

also where are their shipping prices? i looked all over and even checked the FAQ but can't find them? 

what kind of coupons did you find back when you were ordering? will they have BOGO like MP does? at a quick glance I see they have 30% off right now but wasn't sure if that's par for the course or if there may be better deals in the future.... 

redshoegirl

mrspresley:

redshoegirl:

I know Smilebooks isn't the most well known on the Knot/Nest/Bump, but I freaking LOVE them. Oh, and they're not the cheapest, but they have lots of coupons so you seldom have to pay full price.

oh I remember this! I do want to try them.... maybe for Miss A's one year album?

did you do the regular paper or photo paper?

also where are their shipping prices? i looked all over and even checked the FAQ but can't find them? 

what kind of coupons did you find back when you were ordering? will they have BOGO like MP does? at a quick glance I see they have 30% off right now but wasn't sure if that's par for the course or if there may be better deals in the future.... 

I did the regular paper, and I have no regrets - it's a really nice weight, very durable, and the prints look fantastic.

Shipping varies from $3.99-12.9 depending on what you order (click here, and then on Shipping where it says    Photo Books   Calendars   Greeting Cards   Shipping   )

I've seen BOGOs (only about once a year) and 50% off coupons - the 30% is good, but they run 15-30% discounts all.the.time there may definitely be better deals in the future. 

Oh, one other thing about them - they have really good customer service, so if there's any problem with your order at all they'll fix the problem (usually by reprinting and sending replacements for free) ASAP. I don't know how other companies are - just thought I'd throw that out there. 

mrspresley

thanks for the info! let me know if you ever happen to see a 50% or BOGO coupon

redshoegirl

mrspresley:

thanks for the info! let me know if you ever happen to see a 50% or BOGO coupon

Will do.  If you sign up for their newsletter they email out offers all the time as well.