The Ultimate Guide to protecting your wedding photographs

December 5, 2017

The Ultimate Guide to protecting your wedding photographs by Wedding Photographer Gloucestershire

Without striking fear into the hearts of couples everywhere, picture a happily married life (easy enough of course). Next picture it is unexpectedly interrupted by a house fire, flash flood, burglary, house flattening earthquake. Or something as simple as a hard drive failure. All of these entirely possible events could result in the total loss of your wedding photographs and albums forever.

 Of course, your wedding photographer might still have copies, but what if this loss happens five, ten or even fifteen years from now? Generally speaking, most wedding photographers will limit the time they can store wedding photos. Simply because of space and cost to catalogue an entire careers worth of wedding photography.

How to protect your wedding photos



As a wedding photographer, one of my worst fears is that something happens to any of my client’s wedding photographs. To help eliminate sleepless nights worrying about my trusty external hard drives plummeting into their technological graves and taking years of my work with them, I’ve been researching the safest and most reliable ways to protect my wedding photography and here’s some advice on how you can too.

Protecting your wedding photos

Ask for high-resolution digital files

Whatever wedding photography package you book must must MUST make sure high-resolution files are included. Even if you only want prints and an album. This ensures that if anything unthinkable happens to the physical photos, you can always reprint and replace them.

Print your favourite wedding photographs

A home is a place to be happy, so adorn it with all your favourite moments and memories from the day. That way should the worst happen to your digital files you will have physical copies you can cherish.

photography back up strategy




Do NOT leave them on the USB or DVD album supplied.

Has anyone got a floppy disk I can borrow? *tumbleweed rolls by* Technologies are ever-changing and evolving and five to ten years down the line the beautiful wooden USB’s I supply to my clients may be totally obsolete. And we might all be storing our photos in our google hats whilst zipping around on jetpack shoes. Obviously maybe not exactly like that, but even if you don’t intend to print your wedding photos, or have an album made. It’s important that you download your photos onto an external hard drive. In the event that you change your mind about an album or prints in a decades time, you’ll still be able to access all your wonderful photos.

Wedding Photographer Gloucestershire

Back it up baby, back it up!

Now you’ve adorned your house with beautiful prints? Check! To be extra safe with your digital files is to always have copies on two external devices. Keeping one at a family member or a friends house. This minimises the risk of losing your photos in the case of a house fire, flood or hard drive failure. Next for extra good measure cloud storage is the perfect peace of mind. Meaning that should the worst happen, the digital files are safely stored.

BBC Gloucestershire Interview with Anna King on Protecting your wedding photos

After first sharing this advice, the security of photography hit the mainstream media. When a professional Jockey, Bob Champion, tragically lost a lifetime of precious photos in a fire. Being interviewed live on air, by Anna King from BBC Radio Gloucestershire. For my expert advice on how best to protect your photography, was a nerve-wracking experience. But it was so worthwhile being able to share my advice with others. So that they too can ensure their memories are kept safe. 

Looking for a Creative Wedding Photographer Gloucestershire?

It goes without saying if you’re looking for a Gloucestershire wedding photographer. That specialises in creative, relaxed and natural wedding photography. We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch to have a chat about your plans. Every wedding photography package includes travel within mainland UK. And we can create tailor-made packages if you’re planning a destination wedding.

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