Best Practices and Solutions to Backup Your Wedding Photos
After your big day, you’ll be left with a lifetime of memories and numerous photos to help you relive them. These photos are heirlooms, mementos celebrating you and your partner’s love. But how can you ensure that your photos survive the test of time and are able to be accessed for generations to come? Below, we’ve compiled our best advice for storing images from you wedding.
There are three main ways to store and backup your photos: with external hard drives, using cloud backup systems, and through high-quality professional albums and prints. Each method has its own benefits and the best practice is to use a combination of all three.
External Hard Drives
External hard drives are an excellent and stable way to store your wedding image files. They’re available in many different sizes (meaning the number of files that can be stored on the drive) to suit your needs. We recommend you store copies of your wedding photos on at least two different external hard drives: one you can keep at home, and one that you can keep off-site—perhaps at your office or with a trusted friend or family member. This off-site backup ensures that in an emergency, you will always have access to memories from your big day.
Another important reason to have at least two backups is that, simply: all hard drives fail eventually. Recovering data from a failed drive can be costly and frustrating. Having two separate backups on two separate hard drives means that if one fails, you’ll still have at least one more copy available.
Cloud Backup Systems
Cloud backup systems have recently emerged over the last decade and provide an easy-to-use and convenient way to store backups of your images. The major benefit of a cloud backup is that you have access to your photos from any device that can access the internet, such as your smartphone. These images are stored on a company’s server, usually in a secured location with professional grade storage systems.
The downside to cloud backups are the continuous costs (usually a monthly fee paid to the company housing your images). Because your image files will be physically stored with this company, you may lose some control over your images: companies can close, change their prices, or alter the amount of data you can upload or download at any time.
Albums and Prints
One of the best and most beautiful ways to relive memories from your wedding day is through professional wedding albums and prints. We offer a variety of album and print options for your photographs. To learn more about those options, please click here.
There’s something special about seeing your wedding memories displayed in a physical album, or printed and framed in your home. And while modern technology has made it possible to view and store hundreds of photos at your fingertips, there’s nothing quite like the magic of professional-quality archival prints and albums. These heirlooms are time-tested ways to share your memories for generations to come. As an added bonus, they don’t require access to internet or software updates!
Multiple Systems
Any one of these methods will help ensure that you, your partner, and family can relive your wedding memories for many years; however, the best practice is to use more than one method. Combining an external hard drive with cloud storage will ensure that your files are properly backed up and emergency-proof, while professionally designed albums and prints will mean your favorite moments from your big day are displayed elegantly in your home and available to you anytime.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Palm Springs and Boston wedding photographer Todd Danforth Photography is an LGBTQ+ and POC-owned wedding photography team specializing in capturing joyful and candid moments. As storytellers and craftspeople, we believe in the power of visual narratives. Our mission is to create honest and authentic photographs you can share with your loved ones for generations to come.