Every engaged couple puts an unbelievable amount of time and energy into making their big day special, and they know it will be over as fast as they can say I do. In the flurry of love, hugs, laughter, tears, and dancing, it can be easy for them to miss or forget all the details about what made the day so special.
That’s where wedding photos and videos come in. It’s rare to find a couple who doesn’t invest a good portion of their wedding budget into a quality photographer, videographer, or both. But what about after the wedding? Depending on the kind of package they’ve chosen, they may only be walking away with an SD card or flash drive of digital files — not exactly keepsakes in themselves.
Help them enjoy their investment more than the typical huddle around a computer screen with these wedding photo gift ideas.
The Traditional Keepsake
You can’t go wrong with nostalgia, and there’s really nothing like flipping through a stack of physical photographs, preferably in an organized way. Consider buying a unique photo album that suits their style. For example, if the bride is a big antique-er, try tracking down something vintage or one with a vintage look.
If you know they already have an album waiting to be populated, you could go the DIY route and spiff up a shoebox, a sentimental nod to the way many of us end up storing our photos. Just make sure it doesn’t look too much like a shoebox, of course. Make it worthy of their wedding photos. Then, place your card inside the shoebox along with a monetarily-appropriate cash gift and a note explaining what the shoebox is for.
A Printing Fund
Wedding guests often get stuck between wanting to honour a couple’s wedding registry, but also wanting to get something way more special and personal than a coffee pot. Thankfully, many online wedding registries today, like Zola, give couples the option to set up cash funds. If this is the case with your loved ones (which it likely is), help them populate their wedding photo album by donating to the fund they have set up, and again include a comment that explains what it’s for. Example: “For printing your beautiful wedding photos so you can enjoy them in your album.”
They may have already purchased a wedding photo package that comes with prints, but even so, your donation will help offset that cost and your note will let them know the intention behind your contribution. That way, it’s not just a blind cash gift, but one with meaningful thought behind it.
Home Decor
You may be thinking, there’s no way I’m just going to get them something as simple as a picture frame to hang up in their home as a wedding gift. But thanks to the digital age we live in, home decor is now part of the technological revolution, and that includes new, innovative ways of displaying our favourite pictures.
Digital picture frames have come a long way since they were invented in 2000 — they used to be clunky, tacky-looking, and had poor resolution. But if you look around at the options available now, there are many that look super sleek and fit right in, no matter the couple’s style. Some of them, like this one from Aura, are even able to detect and choose the best of the best photos to show.
And this way, they’ll be able to always have all of their photos on display, not just a handful throughout their home.
Something Personalised
This gift idea might be a little tricky to pull off because it would require you to have access to their wedding photos, but see if you can give it a try. First, try syncing up with the photographer and coordinate something within the first few months after their wedding, or try your hand at capturing a few shots of your own during the wedding day.
Then, you can go ahead and use one of the countless services out there that will put a photo on things like shirts, phone cases, magnets, pillows, etc. The options are endless! If the couples are coffee fiends, opt for a set of mugs. Or if they’re book lovers, put a picture on a bookmark.
If you can’t get your hands on a wedding photo worthy of using, you can always buy them a gift card from a site or store you trust along with a card that explains the idea you had in mind.
One final note — if you end up taking pictures and posting them on Instagram, don’t forget to use their wedding hashtag if they have one! Every couple wants their guests to have a great time, and this way they’ll get to see the day through your eyes, too.