HOW TO IMMORTALISE YOUR BEST MEMORIES

‘We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospection’ said author Anais Nin – a musing I can strongly relate to.

I have a penchant for documenting things; I wrote a diary daily when I was a little girl and am always snapping away on cameras and iPhones – tendencies that undoubtedly led me in later years to blogging.

But in the age of online, photos tend to stay predominantly on screens and never make it to the print stage.

It’s been two years since our wedding and I’d still failed to collate any kind of album, which left me with a certain element of guilt given that it was hands down the best day of our lives. But finally I pulled my finger out. Being quite heavily pregnant combined with the shift towards autumn I'm naturally feeling an inclination towards hibernating: the ideal time to sink your teeth into a project like this.

Here I’ve road-tested the photo book by Papier. Needless to say there are a few options on the market when it comes to this kind of thing, but Papier is a brand I’ve come to trust. The notecards have been my weapon of choice for letter-writing for a couple of years now and, if you follow me on Instagram Stories, you may have spotted my current sea turtle pack. You either appreciate stationery or you don’t and these bring me a disproportionate amount of joy.

DESIGNING MY PHOTO BOOK

Full disclosure, I spent an unhealthy amount of time on this: swapping photos in and out, looking for a balance of close-ups and group shots on each page and offsetting black and whites images to colour. It doesn’t have to be as labour-intensive as I made it – the process is fool-proof – but I loved scrupulously going over it all.

It’s actually a low-key high-impact process. Start by choosing a template; I went for ‘minimal’ to keep it clean and let the photos do the talking. You can opt for hardback or paperback and there are various layout options to choose from for each page design, though I had so many photos I wanted to fit in I stuck mostly to the grid of four squares per page. Add and remove pages to your preference. To preview your photo book add it to your cart and there’s an option to do so there, with the opportunity to edit in and out last minute changes.

It’s as simple as that. And voilà!

Our wedding is storied beautifully within these pages serving as a mood-boosting window to the umpteen happy faces, the dress of my dreams, the wild flower arrangements – a touchstone to the best day of our lives, which now cohabits my coffee table alongside glossy mags and other treasured books.