Homecoming Photo Book
Homecoming, Documented.
There are a few days in my life I’ll never forget: the days our sons were born, the day we got engaged, and parts of our wedding day (though much of that is a blur).
Another one I won’t forget:
My husband’s homecoming after a nearly 11 month deployment on board the USS Nimitz.
I wanted to get all of those beautiful photos printed and preserved in one place.
In this post I’m sharing
How this project came together (so you can do this for your own memories)
A few of my favorite tips and takeaways
Photos and a video flip-through of the entire book!
Here we go.
Make a Project Plan
At the start of any photo book project, I like to set a few parameters. A couple of the biggies for this project:
I like to decide on the scope of the project right up front.
This photo book would cover just our homecoming photos - not the deployment itself.
We had so many amazing pictures and since it wasn’t feasible to (as a friend suggested) wallpaper our home with them, printing them in a photo book was the next best thing.
I also like to decide on a photo book printer and the type of project I want to design.
I went back and forth with this one, but really wanted to try the premium softcover from Milkbooks.
I’m always happy with their print quality, but I’d never printed a softcover through them. I was intrigued by the ability to print on the cover and inside cover of these books.
Further reading:
Download my free photo book planner.
You’ll get a workbook that walks you through my entire design process, step-by-step.
You’ll get a printable checklist you can use over and over.
You’ll get my practical and minimal take on memory keeping.
Select the Photos
This step can be a tough one, but for a smaller project like this with a tightly defined set of photos, I think it’s actually fun and simple.
Rather than chasing down photos that span many years, you’re documenting a single event or occasion, so your photos are likely in one spot and are either edited by a photographer or have similar lighting across the board, making editing very simple if that’s your thing.
I’ve written about my process for selecting and organizing photos for a photo book, but the first step is to pick a rough number of photos you want to include and work backwards on the selections.
Focus on your favorites as you go, and don’t worry about what you’re “leaving out.”
Our photographer, Sarah Heinz, made this job both easy and challenging. She sent me tons of beautiful images, so I had my pick of so many great ones.
I went through and chose my favorites from each “set” of photos.
In this case, there were family pics at the beginning of the morning, the flyover and aftermath, running out to Nick, and more family photos at the jet.
If you’re choosing photos from a large set, pick a few “categories” from the event and make sure you include your favorites from each of them.
And for a project like this, I’m definitely not a minimalist - don’t be afraid to include lots of photos!
But know that you don’t need every moment printed. You don’t want the project to be overwhelmed by too many photos.
Further reading:
Design the Photo Book
I created a few custom pages to include in the book, but it’s definitely not necessary to include any design beyond the photos.
I would, however, add some journaling or section titles.
Even one section of journaling at the beginning of the book that explains the significance of that day or event will add context and white space to the project.
I like to upload all of the photos and identify a few things right off the bat.
Cover images
Choose your favorites and feel free to repeat them in the book.
In this case, I chose four - one front cover, one back cover, and two for the inside covers.
“Hero” images
These are amazing, beautiful, and/or particularly special photos you want to highlight with a large spread or two-page layout.
Sections
If your event can be broken into “sections,” then identify those groupings and make sure you have photos from each section.
You could break the sections up with captions or titles, but it’s enough to just put your buckets of photos together for each section.
For this photo book, I had rough sections that were chronological for that day: photos before, anticipating the flyover, the flyover, celebrating together, reuniting with my husband, family photos.
I made sure to include photos from each section and I didn’t worry about documenting them perfectly in “order,” but I kept those sections of the book flowing one to the next.
A Few Quick Tips
1 / Don’t overthink the printing
I’ll share a full review of the Milkbooks softcover, but I’ll say this now: it wasn’t my favorite book to flip through.
The binding is quite tight, and maybe it’s the size I printed (6x8 inches) but the pages are a little hard to turn.
However, the photo quality is stunning and the covers turned out better than I imagined they would.
My point in sharing this is that I spent way too much time thinking about where to print this book.
And you know what? It’s not my absolute favorite, but it’s totally beautiful and it’s DONE.
If you’re an overthinker (like me), I’d say give yourself a day to figure out where you want to print your project and go from there to the next decision.
I’m so glad this book is printed and finished and we love looking at it, even if it isn’t “perfect” (whatever that means).
2 / Choose your photos first
The hardest part of the project is selecting the photos.
Trust me when I say that it’s so much easier to select your photos first, upload them all at once to your photo book website, and start designing from there.
For a project like this you might even use the “autofill” feature that many sites offer these days.
You can always make tweaks or exclude or include a different photo, but I would do your selections outside of the design program.
That way you’re only working with the favorites when you’re designing your book.
The process will go so much faster!
3 / Let it be imperfect
This is an easy one to say for this project because I was working with photos from the very talented Sarah Heinz.
But when you’re working with memories related to your family, let them be imperfect.
Include the picture with the bad lighting that tells a funny story.
Add a photo that might be a little blurry but makes you smile.
Don’t sweat the perfect layouts or editing or design.
You’re not going to sweat the details when the project is done, so try not to while you’re in the middle of the process.
You’ll be so happy to have these memories in your hands.
Get Started
If you’re ready to tackle your next (or first!) photo book, you can download my entire, step-by-step process right now.
You’ll get a printable checklist and all the steps of my process in detail. You can do this!
