1001 Ways to Use Your Engagement Photos

OK, 1001 is a slight exaggeration. We'll start with 1.

Let's face it, many couples take engagement photos and despite loving the way they turn out, often these images can end up underutilized. Maybe they find residence in a save the date or make their way into newsprint, but more frequently it seems as though they are just "squatters" in your iPhoto library (seriously, those files are HUGE).

My iPhoto library is bursting at the seams

Now Mr. Turkey and I weren't looking to paper our walls with the photos or anything, but we did want to find a way to share them with friends and family. One of the recent trends we've loved is the photo guestbook and, thanks to a great deal on Groupon, we decided to go the Picaboo route (I did a bit of googling before making the purchase and felt good about the reviews).

We perused all of the book options on Picaboo (there are a lot) before deciding to go with the Madison. This is one of their most expensive options, but it also seemed to be the most elegant (which works with the style we're going for).

Loved the lay-flat pages and leather spine

I won't bore you with all the details of how we put together our photo book (the software is very self explanatory and you can manage your own layout), but will say that we were extremely satisfied with the end result. It was far above the quality of any other photo books I've purchased online (again, in full disclosure, it was also more expensive).

Our book came in this black box

The front cover - glossy photo, leather spine

One of the lay-flat pages (we have a few)

However, when we received the book, I realized that I didn't know what sort of pen would work best for our guests. The pages are somewhat glossy (not like other books), so I worried that a "liquidy" ink might smear. Thankfully Sandy from Picaboo online support was able to help me!

Yes, I'm a dork and said "writing utensils"

So, my instinct to avoid liquid ink was correct, but since I'm not a pen expert, I did a little googling to ensure I had the right one. I will fully admit that I was not 100% sure what a ballpoint pen was. Oops.

In case you were wondering...

We've very excited to share this book with our family and friends at the wedding and later enjoy their written messages. However, we also really love this book style and are debating whether we purchase a second one (maybe slightly different) and keep it "clean" (true story: both Mr. Turkey and I were those people who didn't really love when others signed our yearbooks). But then again, do we really need 2 albums of engagement photos? Probably not.

So, there you have it - a single way we've put our engagement photos to work. We have one other thing in place as it ties to our invitation suite, but you'll have to wait until we do the reveal (coming soon!).

In what ways have you used your engagement photos? (can we get to 1001?)