How to Safely Store and Back Up Your Wedding Images
Have you ever heard someone say that you need three versions, on at least two different portable media, and at least one offsite when it comes to storing files?
This is something my husband frequently says when it comes to safely storing your important computer files. He does a great job making sure my photos and documents are backed up in case something were to happen. When we received our own wedding photos on a CD (yes, it’s been that long since we got married!), we immediately transferred them to my computer. We definitely wanted to make sure nothing happened to them because they were very important to us!
Technology is great when it works, but we all know that it’s also unreliable. You can’t take any chances when it comes to your wedding photos. Your photographer may have backed up your images, but you can’t always be sure that you can get another copy. Plus, technology is ever-changing so you need some solid ways to back up your images! I’m sharing all of the easiest (and free!) ways on how to safely store your wedding photos.
External Hard Drives & Flash Drives
With external hard drives or flash drives, you can easily store your wedding images in multiple locations. Once you get your wedding photos, use either an external hard drive or flash drive. Download your wedding photos from your online gallery onto your computer. Copy the wedding images from your computer to your flash drive. Then plug in your external hard drive and copy the images again. Make sure you’re actually copying your images and not moving them!
You can store one drive in your house and another drive in a separate location, such as your parent’s house. That way if something happens to your computer and one of your drives, you still have one more copy of your wedding photos.
Cloud Storage
With so many free options for online storage, the possibilities are endless for saving your photos! The best places are Dropbox and Google Drive. I use both of these in my business to save and transfer images. As long as your keep your free account with either of these options, you can keep all of your photos online. Using online storage is a great tool to share your photos with friends and family! You can easily send images and add them to a folder so they can download their favorite pictures.
Another great option is Backblaze. You do have to pay for this service, but it’s unlimited storage. So if you want to save other important files and documents, you can use it to your advantage and just pay a small fee.
Prints, Canvases, and Wedding Albums
I encourage my couples to print their photos and purchase a wedding album. You will want to frame and hang all of your favorite images around your house. Looking back through your album on your anniversary is going to become something special for you and your spouse. Guests in your home will want to look through your album as well.
Be sure to print your images through your photographer or a website like Mpix for good quality photos. I make sure my clients know that I can’t guarantee the color of images printed at places like Costco or Walmart. If you order them from a professional printing website, your images will look exactly like they do on your computer screen.
Hopefully this has been super helpful and given you some good ideas on how to safely store wedding photos! Please reach out if you need any external hard drive or cloud storage recommendations!
