6 Tips For What To Do With Wedding Photos After You Receive Them

As newlyweds, one of the most exciting things that happens right after your wedding is getting your wedding photos. I mean, all of the joy and excitement from the best day of your life captured in pictures – what more could you ask for? But, you may now be wondering what to do with wedding photos after you receive them. 

It can be tough to decide what to do with all of these beautiful images. One thing’s for sure: you don’t want them to get tucked away, never to be seen again. That’s why we’ve put together this list of our top tips for what to do with wedding photos after you receive them. Hopefully, some of these tips will help you preserve these photos as timeless keepsakes and enjoy them every day! 

Back them up, back them up, back them up! 

Hands down, this is the most important tip and the absolute first thing you should do after you get your photos from your photographer. You never know what can happen in the future, and the last thing you (or your photographer) wants is for you to lose all of the amazing photos and memories of your wedding day. Computers crash, hard drives fail and technology changes so proactively backing up your digital photos is important.

Once you get your photos, I strongly suggest backing them up in a couple of different places. This can be cloud-based storage options, like Google Drive or Dropbox, an external hard drive, or a USB stick. Having them in a few places will also help you avoid any issues that may come up with losing something like a USB stick or external hard drive as you move around over the years. (We all know how easily things seem to disappear when you move into a new home!)

Backing them up on a cloud-based system like Google Drive also gives you easy access to them from your phone and allows you to share links with other people in just a few clicks. 

Work with your photographer to put together a wedding album 

Now, this may be something that is included in your wedding package, but if it isn’t, working with your photographer to create a wedding album is a great way to put together your favorite moments from your wedding day. Even if your photographer doesn’t offer album design as a service, odds are they will have some great recommendations on how to put together your album and where to get it made. 

Not only are albums a very reliable form of backup for your photos, but they also become your first heirloom as a new family! Good, archival quality albums, like those you can get by working with your photographer, can be passed down from generation to generation. You can look back on them with your kids in the future, talk about how amazing the day was, and reminisce about how far your relationship with your partner has come. 

They are also the perfect thing to put on coffee tables or on a display shelf throughout your home so guests can flip through them and relive your wedding day when they visit. Albums are my favorite way to keep your photos front and center in your life and home in a tangible way. Every time you walk past that coffee table, you, your partner, or a visitor will feel the urge to pick up the album and enjoy it for a few minutes! 

Share them on social media

When you first think about what to do with wedding photos after you receive them, the first thing that comes to mind is probably to post them on social media. This is a great way to share about your day with friends and family members that may not have been able to make it to the wedding. 

The hardest part about this is going to be picking what photos you want to post! You will most likely get hundreds of photos from your photographer, and you’re not going to be able to post them all. 

My top suggestion is to make digital albums of your favorite pictures from each part of the day. For instance, you can separate them into categories like your getting ready photos, first look, ceremony, cocktail hour, family photos, reception, etc. This way, you can share pictures from each and every part of your wedding day with all of your favorite people! Use wedding photos to say happy birthday on social media, to celebrate Mother and Father’s Day, or just because! 

Print your favorites out and frame them for your home 

Getting prints of your favorite pictures is a great way to sprinkle bits and pieces of your wedding day throughout your home. Now, getting prints can mean a variety of things. 

You can go classic and just get small, standard prints, like 4x6s, 5x7s, and 8x10s  that you can place in classic frames to showcase around your home. They also make great gifts for family and friends as thank yous after the wedding, for birthdays and for holidays. If you’re short on wall space, you can get a print box that features a custom wooden box, engraved with your wedding date and names. Then inside, it’s filled with around one hundred prints! Print boxes make for a beautiful display on a shelf and can hold more photos from the day. 

If you are looking for something that is a bit more of a statement piece or on a larger scale, canvas prints and large framed prints hung up as wall art are perfect. These tend to be more of an investment, but are a great way to highlight your favorite pictures and are designed to live in your home for a long time. It’s also something you’ll walk past and enjoy every single day.  

Use the images to create gifts for your family members 

When you’re thinking about what to do with your wedding photos after you receive them, making gifts for your family members may not be the first thing that comes to mind. However, this can be a great way to use your photos and give your family a meaningful and memorable present. 

Gifts like mugs, pillows, keychains, and more are great gifts for your parents or grandparents and are a great way to share your photos in a more non-traditional way. There are many places online that will let you get your photos printed on all sorts of different items, or you can find small businesses on places like Etsy! 

But as a side note, while I love places like Shutterfly for non-traditional gifts, when it comes to prints and albums (basically, any photo printed on paper), it’s best to work with a reliable print lab. I understand the appeal of working with large-scale online labs like this or places like Walgreens because of the price, but you get what you pay for. Lower quality prints mean colors that look different than what your photographer intended and what you see on screens. It also means a shorter life span so over time, these prints will fade and change colors, especially if they’re hung up on walls and exposed to sunlight. 

Pick out a few of your favorites to use on thank-you cards for your guests

Once you get your photos back, a great way to share your favorites with your guests is to use them as thank-you cards. There are a ton of online stores that will help you build and print out the perfect, personalized thank-you cards for your guests. Choose one photo from the sneak peeks your photographer will likely send you, or just wait until you receive your wedding photo gallery and pick your favorite. I know I love receiving thank you cards from clients and from my own family or friends after weddings, so I know your guests will love it too.  

Your wedding photos are a lasting memory that you’ll be able to cherish forever, so it’s essential not to let them go to waste! Hopefully, these 6 tips help give you a few ideas of what to do with wedding photos after you receive them! 

If you are still looking for the perfect photographer to capture your wedding or elopement day, click here to get in touch. We would love to chat with you and see how we can help capture your amazing memories that will last a lifetime!