I have to admit that when Dave and I got married six years ago, we didn't have a wedding album made. We were the "shoot and burn" couple who grabbed their DVD of images and never did anything with them. But being a photographer, there was always something in the back of my mind telling me that I needed to have a wedding album made. But days turned into months, months turned into years and we still didn't have a wedding album. Our images still continued to live on a DVD and on negative strips. Eventually I decided I had to put in the hard work of creating an album. It took several months to save up for, edit, design and order the book. And after I hit purchase I could barely contain my excitement to finally hold our wedding album in my hands.
When the album arrived I quickly ripped open the packaging and immediately started to poke through. There I was with my mom as we got ready. There Dave was as I walked down the aisle. There were all the memories of our wedding day.
Then it happened. As I stood in our kitchen I unexpectedly burst into tears. It had been several years since we were married and so while I expected to enjoy having a wedding album, I never expected to feel all of the emotions and happiness that I had felt on that day come flooding back.
Our joy, our excitement, our love. With each page, more emotion overwhelmed me as I let the tears fall onto the kitchen counter. Dave and I wrapped each other in our arms and allowed ourselves to relive not just each moment, but each emotion of the day. How I felt the moment I put on my wedding dress. How Dave felt the first time he saw me. How happy I felt dancing with my Dad. How joyful we felt to be surrounded by friends and family.
I never expected our wedding album to have that effect, but now every time I pick up our album to leaf through it's pages, immediately I am transported back exactly how I felt that day.
To me that was worth all of the pennies we saved and all of the work we put in to create our wedding album. Yes, it's a way to display our images, but it's so much more than that. It's a time machine that takes us back to July 21, 2006. Our album will be shared with our children and grand children and will be treasured for years to come. And as our children leaf through it's pages, we'll be able to share with them the joy we felt on that day. That, that right there is precious and meaningful. To us, that is worth everything.
If you have yet to order your wedding album, I'd love to hear from you. Currently I am running a 10% off special on all album purchases made before the end of April 2012! Feel free to email me directly at deborahzparker@mac.com to get all the details!
