Why Photo Albums are Important - Culpeper, VA Photographer

Today is Ronnie and I's 12th wedding anniversary. Every year, on our anniversary, I get out our wedding album and it reminds me of why photo albums are important.

Beyond looking at the album on our anniversary, my daughter asks to look at it at least 3 or 4 times per year. She loves looking through it and has since she was about 2 years old. She always climbs up in our bed, because I don't want it to turn into the next coloring book, and spends about 30 minutes flipping through the pages, pointing, laughing, and asking who people are.

Today she asked who her great grandpa was, who passed away before she was old enough to remember. She told me how much skinnier I was before I had babies. She giggled and told me my hand muff looked like I had my hands in a roll of toilet paper. She told me how young Daddy looked. She "eeeewed" at our first kiss. We laughed and talked about so many things and people that were important in our lives before she was here.

When I was looking for a photographer for our wedding 13 years ago, I was initially looking for one that would just hand me the digital files so I could print them on my own. My co-worker had just gotten married and she brought in this beautiful album! I HAD TO KNOW who that photographer was and get them right away. I NEEDED that album. I had never seen anything like it. When contacting the photographer they had a great package that included an album, a framed engagement portrait and digital files. Perfect!! But boy was it expensive! We did indeed get all three of those items hoping that the value would be worth it in the long run. Our engagement portrait is hanging in our bedroom, the album is looked at a few times a year, and the digital images are somewhere on an external hard drive. I honestly have NO IDEA where it is. Sad right? Thank goodness for this album because I never did print those digital images. I had the best intentions to do so, but life happened and before you know it....its 12 years later.

This album is so much more than what it appears to be and really has no value to anyone outside of our lives. It means so much more to me now then it did 12 years ago. I couldn't tell you how much we even paid for it. I just remember it was "so expensive." Today, I would tell you that I couldn't put a price tag on it. It really doesn't matter because it is invaluable! Beyond our wedding, I make it a point to have a family album made every year. They change so fast, and these memories are so important.

So why are photo albums so important? They are important to relive those memories that we would have forgotten. They are important to your future family to know who you were and where you came from. They are important for remembering the ones you have lost. They are important for your family heritage. They are important as they help give your family a sense of belonging. For me, they are important because my little girl can climb in my bed with her messy hair and dirty feet and laugh and ask questions. I couldn't image not sharing these memories with her. My hope is one day, when I'm long gone, she will be sharing this album with her grandchildren and they can giggle and share stories about great grandma and grandpa.