Photo Album FAQ

We design and print premium handcrafted layflat photo albums and photo books from your own photos: wedding albums, family albums, and Treasure Albums made from old prints. We also scan printed photos, slides and negatives, and help families organize their digital photo libraries.

No. We don't take photographs or cover events. We work with photos you already have, whether they came from a professional photographer, a family member or your own phone, and turn them into a finished album.

Every album is designed by hand by our founder, Amar Chakraborty, who brings over 31 years of design and craftsmanship experience. There are no templates or automated layouts. Each page is arranged around your photos and your story.

Crafted Memories Photo Album LLC is a Central Texas studio serving customers from Waco to Austin, including Temple, Killeen, Georgetown, Round Rock and Cedar Park, and we ship finished albums across the United States. Most of our work happens by phone, video call and online file sharing, so you don't need to live nearby.

Online services are automated: you pick a template, upload photos and a machine prints the result. We work the other way around. We talk with you first, curate and design every spread by hand, and let you review everything before printing. The album itself uses rigid layflat pages, archival paper and premium covers, so it is closer to an heirloom than a photo book.

A layflat album, also called a flush mount album, has pages that open completely flat with no center gutter. Photos can run across both pages as one uninterrupted image, which is ideal for panoramic wedding shots, group photos and landscapes. For the full picture, read our guide: What Is a Layflat Photo Album?

A regular photo book is bound like a magazine, so pages curve toward the spine and hide part of each image. In a layflat album, each page is bonded to a rigid board so it opens flat and stays durable. The result looks and feels more like a piece of art than a printed book.

Our standard sizes are A4, 12×12, 12×15 and 12×18 inches, and custom dimensions are available on request. You can compare every cover style on our Premium Album collection and see full specifications on the album specification page.

• 12×15 is our most popular size: wide enough for panoramic spreads and right at home on a coffee table.
• 12×18 is the statement piece for large weddings and dramatic venue shots.
• 12×12 and A4 suit smaller collections, parent albums and gifts.

For family albums that span several generations, we usually recommend a larger size so each era gets room to breathe. We'll suggest a size once we see your photos.

A standard album is designed around 20 sheets, which is 40 pages, and more pages can be added. We typically place 2 to 6 photos per page, leaving space around each image so your best moments have room to stand out.

Yes. Covers come in leather, leatherette, fabric, foiled, wood and other finishes, and names, dates and other details can be added with a naming plate from our catalog. Many customers also place their four favorite photos on the presentation box, the album cover and the first and last pages, framing the whole story.

Our albums are built with archival, fade-resistant photo paper and professional layflat binding, so with normal care and storage away from direct sunlight and moisture they are made to be handed down for generations.

A Treasure Album is our signature service for turning your "hidden gems" (old prints, slides and negatives sitting in boxes, or photos forgotten on a hard drive) into a beautifully designed layflat album. We scan, restore where needed, and design it into one heirloom the whole family can enjoy.

Each album's starting price is shown on its page in our Premium Album collection. Your final price depends on size, number of pages, cover material and options such as a presentation box. We confirm the full price with you before any work begins. For a simpler, lower-cost option, see our Family Photo Book.

You pay a $250 deposit at checkout to start your project: $200 goes toward your album and $50 is a non-refundable administration fee. The remaining balance is due after you approve the final design and before your album goes to print.

Yes. New customers get 20% off their first 12×15 album with a personalized coupon. Just ask us for yours when you get in touch, and we'll set it up for you.

We accept major credit and debit cards and PayPal through our secure website checkout. Crafted Memories will never ask you to pay by gift card, cryptocurrency or wire transfer.

Because every album is custom made, refunds depend on how far your project has progressed. The $50 administration fee is non-refundable. Full details are in our Refund Policy, and all of our policies are listed on the Legal & Policies page.

• Talk: a no-pressure call about your photos, story and budget, and an itemized quote.
• Share: send us your photos, and we confirm your project is a great fit.
• Start: pay the $250 deposit to begin design work.
• Design: we curate your photos and lay out every spread by hand.
• Review: you see the full design and ask for changes.
• Approve & print: once you approve and pay the balance, your album is printed and bound.
• Deliver: it's inspected, packed and shipped to your door.

Read the full step-by-step guide on our custom album design process page.

At a normal pace, a custom album takes about 4 to 6 weeks from the time we receive your photos to delivery. The design and review stage is usually the longest part, so the timeline stretches if reviews and approvals take more time. If you have a deadline, such as an anniversary or a gift date, tell us on the first call and we'll plan around it.

Always. You review the complete layout and can request changes. Nothing is printed until you approve the final design.

Yes, we work with digital files all the time. Full-resolution originals give us the most flexibility for full-page and panoramic spreads. Edited JPEGs work too, although heavily compressed or low-resolution files can limit some layout options. Please avoid sending photos through text messages or social media apps, which shrink the files.

Absolutely. Many of our customers come to us with wedding photos that have sat on a hard drive for years. Whether your wedding was last month or twenty years ago, it's never too late. See our custom wedding albums for ideas.

• Digital photos: share a Google Drive, Dropbox or WeTransfer link. If you don't use those services, we'll send you a link to our secure upload page after your first call.
• Prints, slides or negatives: mail them to us. We'll walk you through safe packing first, and your originals come back with your finished album.

Yes. Your photos are used only to design and print your album. We never share or post them without your written permission, and when we work from a shared link, access goes back to you once your album is complete. See our Privacy Policy and Copyright & Photo Rights Policy.

Yes, this is one of our specialties. Prints, slides and negatives are scanned at high resolution, and basic restoration improves fading, color casts, minor tears and age spots. Photos from the 1940s can sit right beside last week's phone pictures. Our family photo albums are built exactly this way.

Our Scan & Album package starts at $230 for 40 photos scanned and designed into an A4 layflat album, plus a $50 administration fee. New scanning customers also receive a Standard Presentation Box at no extra cost. Details are on our photo scanning and album printing page.

Yes. We gather photos from phones, computers, drives and cloud accounts into one organized, backed-up library. Photo library organizing starts at $750 with a fixed quote before work begins, and album curation is $149, credited in full toward a Treasure Album ordered within 60 days. We always work on a copy of your files, never your originals. See photo organizing in Central Texas.

For in-home photo organizing, yes. We work in person within about 60 miles of our Central Texas studio, including Temple, Killeen, Georgetown, Round Rock, Austin and Waco, and farther by arrangement. Album design and digital organizing can be done remotely anywhere in the US.

Yes. We ship to customers across the United States. Every album is inspected and carefully packaged so it arrives in perfect condition.

Within the 48 contiguous states, shipping is a flat rate paid together with your final balance:

• $25 per Family Photo Book
• $50 per Premium Album

If you'd rather pay shipping later, it is billed at the actual carrier cost once your album is ready, and your album ships after that payment is received, which can add a few days. Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. territories and expedited shipping are quoted at actual cost. See our Shipping Policy for details.

Yes. We handle curation, album design and printing for professional photographers, with partner pricing for approved photographer accounts. Learn more on our album design for photographers page, and review the Photographer Partnership Agreement.

Most photographers share a Google Drive folder with us. Draft and final designs go back to the same folder for your approval before anything is printed, and once the album is finished you remove our access. Client photos are never used for anything else without written permission.