What exactly do you do with your wedding photos after the wedding day has come and gone? It was an amazing day, of course! A day you’ll remember for the rest of your lives! But now you’ve made it back home and received your wedding photos, and now you’re not quite sure what’s next.
You’ve been planning for months and months, and now all that’s over. There’s no planning left. You feel like there’s nothing to look forward to. But don’t worry! You still have a lot to do when it comes to your wedding photos!
Here are five ideas to keep you busy and to ensure your wedding photos last a lifetime!
What to Do With Your Wedding Photos After the Wedding
I know you were so excited to see your wedding photos after the wedding day! You’d probably been counting down the days. Waiting anxiously to receive your images and relive the best day of your lives.
Finally, you received your digital photos and you absolutely loved them!
All of those emotions came rushing back. You looked beautiful! And you’re so happy with the way everything turned out!
But then, a couple of days go by… Maybe a couple of weeks…
You’re back to your normal routine. Daily life. The grind.
Sadly, your photos sit. Untouched on your computer. Waiting for you to notice them again.
How can you avoid this?
How can you make sure that all of the time, money, and energy you spent on your wedding day doesn’t go to waste?
It’s time to share your memories!
Share your digital photos with family and friends
After you and your new husband have already seen the photos yourself (and gushed over all the amazing images you’ve received), it’s time to share them with your family and friends.
This is the most exciting part!
After all, your wedding photos were meant to be seen! They were never meant to stay hidden in a folder on your computer. Spread the joy from your special day!
The easiest and quickest way to share them is through an Online Gallery. We’ve already created the gallery for you, so all you need to do is send the link to your loved ones. All of your photos (from the getting ready to the reception) will be posted there. Easy enough, right? Share away!
Post on social media
After you’ve shared your Online Gallery, it’s time to head to social media. Post on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok. Maybe a new app that I’ve never even heard of. Go for it!
Just be sure to tag us (@puntacanaphotographer) in your post!
Your friends and family will love seeing all of the photos you share from your wedding day. And chances are, you’ll have distant family or friends that you’ve lost contact with who would still love to see the photos, too. So why not? Spread the love!
Back up your photos
This is number 3 on the list of things to do with your wedding photos after the wedding day, but it really should be number one. This is easily the most overlooked step, and it is the most important thing you can do!
Please, please, please – and I cannot stress this enough – back up your photos. Save them to your computer first, and then back them up on an external hard drive, a USB, and a memory stick. You can also upload them to the cloud or an online storage site. Wherever you find that is easiest for you.
As a general rule of thumb, the more places you store your images, the less likely you are to lose them. The safer they’ll be. So definitely store your photos in more than one place.
Bonus tip: save your images onto two external hard drives and give the second copy to a trusted loved one. That way, if anything happens to yours (god forbid) you know you always have another!
Now let’s keep going down the list.
Print your photos
Yes, that’s right! Prints are not dead. While you may not go print off hundreds of 4×6 photos like we used to do back in the day, your photos still deserve to be displayed on something other than a screen. They are beautiful works of art!
I highly encourage you to print out a few of your favorite photos and display them around your home. A large frame or canvas print would look excellent!
What better way to commemorate your wedding day than by remembering it every single day? Catching a glimpse of you and your husband every time you walk into your living room or through the hallway. Looking as happy as ever. Feeling the Punta Cana sunshine and reminiscing back on your amazing vacation.
Doesn’t that sound great? So print those photos! Frame them. And display them all around.
(Your parents and your grandparents would probably love a copy of their favorite photos, as well.)
Where to print your wedding photos
There are a million and one companies that still offer prints, but who do you trust with your wedding photos?
You can always try out your local print shop first. They’re usually flexible and will work with you until the quality and color look exactly right.
If you don’t have one of those nearby or you’d rather order online, these are the top three sites I recommend for high-quality prints:
You truly get the most value out of your wedding photos when you can experience them over and over again. Printing your photos and displaying them around your home allows you to experience them the way your photographer intended.
Now that you have a few nice prints, how about we think a little bigger?
Make a wedding album
Alright, I know I got a little dated with the printed photos, but this one is even more old-school. And I’m telling you… Wedding albums are not dead either!
Yes, you will completely love seeing your wedding photos on a screen. And you’ll love them even more hanging on your walls. But what happens when you can actually touch the photos? Hold them in your hands? Allow your sense of touch to be part of the experience?
Your body will have an emotional response. One that you can’t compare to anything else. And you’ll truly be able to relive your wedding day. Again and again.
You can get creative with your wedding album design. Be unique. Find one that you connect with. And then, choose your favorite photos to tell the story of your wedding day. You’ll love looking through it and remembering all of those special moments.
Plus, imagine you and your husband looking through your wedding album on your anniversary, during the holidays, or with your kids years down the line. Did you ever look through your parent’s or grandparent’s wedding album? I know I did, and I’ll always cherish that experience!
Send thank you cards
Last, but certainly not least, don’t forget to send out wedding thank you cards! Send them to family and friends that attended the wedding, as well as to anyone that sent a wedding gift.
Choose one of your favorite wedding photos after the wedding and display it on your thank you card for a personalized touch. Your family and friends will love to see you!
Traditional wedding etiquette implies that you should send your thank you cards within 3 months of the wedding date. That should give you enough time to receive your edited photos, choose your faves, order your thank you cards, and get them written and sent out.
I know it’s not the most fun, but you can do it!
Final Thoughts on What to Do with Your Wedding Photos after the Wedding
The options are endless when it comes to your wedding photos. Display them around your home. Show them off to family and friends. And definitely back them up! Put them on your thank you cards or make an entire album to look at whenever you want to remember your special day.
Keep those memories alive forever.
Because after all, this was one of the best days of your lives!! It deserves to be celebrated over and over and over again.
Even though your wedding day is over, the fun doesn’t have to end quite yet. Book a trash the dress session, a honeymoon photoshoot, or an anniversary session.
Hey, and a few years down the road, if you really want to re-live the magic of your wedding day, how about a vow renewal ceremony?
