Can you help me to select the photos for my wedding book? I'm asked this question all the time as a photo organiser, so I thought it was about time I put a blog together about it.

Photo Selection

A good well balanced book in our opinion has 30-40 pages with 80 -100 images. Chances are you have been given in excess of 300 photos either from your photographer or friends and family.

First of all take out all the rejects – those that have people looking the wrong way, have blurred limbs or don’t appear to be anything in particular.

Make a pile/file of all the shots that just have

1 Bride and groom

2 Group photos, Bridesmaids, Best man, Parents, Siblings, Friends

3 Venue, Flowers, Cake, Rings, Decorations, Food

Now go through and choose the best photos, those that are flattering to you and your guests. Make sure you have at least one shot of all the people that are important to you. Don’t forget it is your wedding album, so don’t be shy of the fact that it will be full of shots of you. Try not to have repeat shots. i.e 5 shots of you looking into each others eyes at the church entrance will become boring so choose the best one.

Generally photos from group 1 will be larger and more important, with group 2 having more to a page and group 3 the least important but still memorable photos.

Re-visit the discarded pile and set aside any that have a good shot of the bridal party that can be cropped. This makes a good fall back pile if you don’t have enough shots of a particular person or it is a lovely shot of the bride and groom.

You can decide to tag some or all of your photos but it makes designing easier if you have a preference beforehand so space can be allowed from the onset although generally it is easier to add text once the book has been created.

You may also want to add whole pages of text to your book (with or without photos) and ideas include

How you met

The proposal

The Engagement

The wedding preparations

Hen/Stag nights

Honeymoon

If you have any humorous out take photos and are a fun loving person then why not add an out take page to the back of the book.

If you have been given any photos that are not digital and you are going to scan them then make sure you use a minimum of 300dpi and if possible 600dpi

If this all seems a bit too much effort and you would rather relax with your new spouse then contact me tracey@bless-ewe-creations.co.uk, telephone 01799 522938 and i'll get stuck in for you!

After a fall put my 98 year old nan in hospital we thought this may be it for her but no today she is on her way home.

Could her fabulous photo book have played a part in her determination to battle on?

Last time I visited I was introduced to every nurse and doctor on the ward as the creator of her wonderful photo memory book. Everyone ooh'ed and ahh'ed in the right places and it has been a a great topic of converstaion for visitors when the weather conversation has ran out.

More than anything it shows that my nanna did have a very active life before her legs gave up. It shows those that are now giving her care how she once cared for others.

A proud member of the cycling club, numerous long haul trips are depicted within the book, along with all the departments she once worked in at the Co-op.

It shows how she started out as somebody's daughter, grand-daughter and sister before marrying and becoming a mother, grand-mother and Great Grand-mother.

She wasn't born old - she lived, laughed and worked just like the rest of us.

My nan loves reminiscing with her memory book, it really is her life, maybe it has even saved it!

It's 7pm and my nanna has now been in hospital for one week. She has been brilliant staying in her own home 97 years but as 98 approached she took to her bed, prefering to sleep the day away.

Concerned, my father called in the carers. Just prior to her stay in hospital she had the same lady most days calling for breakfast, dinner and tea. Now she has fallen a couple of times this will increase to include bedtime too assuming she recovers well enough to go home.

It breaks my heart to see her losing her marbles, hardly able to hear, miserable in a body that won't work anymore. Her legs look like she has been in a car crash and she has been put in isolation as she has contracted the MRSA bug (probably in hospital). She is lonely and just wants to go home to die, yet at the same time she is scared of dying. She is is scared of getting to heaven and bumping into my grandad who left her 44 years ago for another woman. She is scared of pain. She is scared of leaving my dad on his own.

She forgets that my dad has re-married. We lost mum 10 years ago (2003) to cancer and she misses her.

She loves my Steve and held his hand for ages on Saturday. He is so good with her, he thinks she should be allowed to go home. I think she will be safer in a residential home but you hear of so many people giving up in homes and being mistreated. Still its not my decision to make. My dad is her next of kin and he is waiting to be told what to do by the doctors.

We had a giggle my daughter and me on the ward at the week-end. A young lad came in and asked nanna if she wanted a cup of tea. "do you take the dead ones" I enquired, meaning the empty cup from earlier, the look on his and Zoes faces - they had never head of that expression before, good job nanna can't hear!

We leave her with her photo book, going through her memories. Her short term memory is quite short now so everytime she picks it up it is like the first time she has ever seen it. Olive Russell - This is Your Life.