One of my “before I turn 30” goals was to create and order an heirloom-quality wedding album. We splurged on our incredible wedding photographer (worth every penny and more!), so including one of his beautiful albums in our package was not a feasible option for us. At the time, I didn’t know of a place where a non-photographer like myself could design their own album with the same types of gorgeous details and impeccable quality that photographers’ albums included, so I put it off…and now, I’m so glad I did because it gave me the opportunity to wait for Artifact Uprising’s stunning layflat albums!

I’ve loved Artifact Uprising for years, and actually used them for my wedding gift for Dave (a hardcover photo book with photos from our relationship and our whole love story, which I started writing days after we reconnected) and wedding photo books for both of our parents. The layflat albums were two years in the making, and I was over the moon when Artifact Uprising invited me to create my own.

I opted for a 10×10 album in “Smoke” fabric with our names in silver foil, since that best matched our wedding color palette. Then came the delightful, albeit tough, task of combing through our nearly-1000 photos! I made a separate folder on my computer to narrow down the images I was considering, and then uploaded my final selects to Artifact Uprising’s website. From there, the design process couldn’t have been easier. Artifact Uprising offers a generous selection of templates to choose from, so all I needed to do was pick my template, pop in the photos, and make a few adjustments to the positioning, if needed. Here’s a peek at a few of my favorite spreads–I still can’t believe how amazing the layflat pages look.

The biggest challenge was the curation–even after making my initial selections from my photos, I often had to choose just one or two images out of the five I had selected for one particular “wedding moment.” If there’s one thing about photo selection that I learned from my days at Southern Weddings, though, it’s that one AMAZING image has much greater impact than multiple really-good images. I took that to heart as I made my final decisions, and went through a few rounds of editing down (after I ended up with way too many extra pages the first time!). I’m so proud of the finished product–the best way I can describe it is that it feels like our wedding. I’ve always thought that about our photos, but holding them in my hands in a tangible album makes that feeling so much stronger.

I can’t even count the number of times I’ve flipped through my parents’ wedding album from 1985, and it gives me butterflies to think of Charlie (or, maybe more realistically, a future daughter!) doing the same thing twenty years from now. I hope that he’ll cherish the images Ryan Ray captured of me twirling in the dress of my dreams, Dave digging up the bourbon, our emotional first look and reverent ceremony, our families and dearest friends smiling alongside us, the details we intentionally chose to nod to our story and to make our loved ones feel welcome, the joy of our packed dance floor, and, most of all, simply Dave and I together on one of the happiest days of our lives. I have no doubt in my mind that this album will be cherished for generations to come.

If you’re like me and you’re a few years into marriage without a wedding album that takes your precious photos off of your computer and into your hands, or you’re engaged and eagerly anticipating your wedding (!!), I’m overjoyed to share that Artifact Uprising is giving away a layflat wedding album WITH their all-new design services (a $350 value) to one Something Pretty reader!! Whether you’re not confident in your eye for layout or you simply don’t have the time to dedicate to designing your album, their design service is made for you. It’s simple, but thorough, starting with a phone call so your designer can learn about your personal style, your wedding, and your dreams for your album. Next, you pass along your photos and they’ll design a layout they think you’ll love. You’ll have unlimited revisions to ensure your book is absolutely perfect before they put it into production!

To enter this amazing giveaway, please complete the simple form below. The giveaway closes one week from today, on October 16, and the winner will be selected and notified on October 17. All other entrants will receive a special gift from Artifact Uprising.

Good luck, sweet friends! And to whoever wins, PLEASE share a photo on Instagram and tag me so I can see your gorgeous finished product :)

Artifact Uprising, a company I have used and loved for years, generously provided me with my album for this post. Thank you for your support of the brands that support Something Pretty!