Wedding scrapbooks: Capturing more than a moment

(CNS) - Jane DeBlasio had been making scrapbooks for a couple of years when she got married in 2003, so it wasn't surprising that by the time of her first anniversary she had created three wedding scrapbooks - one devoted to the preparations, one to the Vermont ceremony and one to the reception.

"They're pretty thorough," said the Rutland, Vt., woman, who works as an analyst for Central Vermont Public Service. Her keepsake scrapbooks contain "all kinds of memorabilia" such as photographs, the wedding invitation, response cards and lyrics of songs played at the wedding. The scrapbooks also contain shopping receipts for the wedding dress and rings, congratulatory cards, a wedding program, names of guests and an explanation of how DeBlasio's mother made the ring bearer's pillow and bridesmaids' purses. She added her wedding's Scripture readings "to show God's presence at the wedding." DeBlasio is a parishioner at St. Peter Church in Rutland. Since she began making scrapbooks in 2001, DeBlasio has made about 25 of them, some as gifts and some for herself. But her masterpieces likely are her wedding scrapbooks in which she has handwritten memories to be passed on to her family. "If you just had an album of pictures, no one would know the story behind them," she said. "There are touching moments, sad moments, funny moments. Scrapbooks are more than just pictures of a moment in time." Scrapbooks today represent a popular hobby and lucrative business, with whole sections of craft stores devoted to them. There are all kinds of scrapbooks and scads of stickers, papers, stamps, die-cuts and punches to decorate pages devoted to just about every holiday, season, pastime and sport. The cost of scrapbook albums range from a modest $35 acid-free version handmade with silk paper and 10 top-loading 12-by-12-inch pages to a $265 embossed wedding album with a deep-tooled cover, embossed spine and 12 thick 12-by-12-inch pages. Books like Darcy Miller's "Our Wedding Scrapbook" are resources for creating personalized keepsakes of the special moments and memories that make up a wedding. "The possibilities are absolutely endless," said Claire Hughes, an avid scrapbook maker from Greenfield, Mass. A librarian at Holy Trinity School in Greenfield, Hughes has been making scrapbooks for about four years. "I think outside the box," she said, explaining that she uses her imagination and creativity when making the memory keepers. She recently made a wedding scrapbook for her niece using white paper bags sewn together at the bottom so that the front and back of each bag formed pages, while the opening provided extra storage space for wedding memorabilia. "You can use just about anything and turn it into scrap-booking material," she said. When planning a wedding scrapbook, Hughes suggests making sure there are photos that show details: close-ups of the candles at the altar, the wine glasses used for the toast, the lace on the wedding dress. "It makes it more personal with things that are of interest, something you really love." It is also helpful to keep a detailed wedding journal for the scrapbook and to ask wedding guests to write down their thoughts for inclusion, she comments. Hughes thoroughly enjoys her scrapbook hobby as a creative outlet and a way to preserve memories for family and friends. She admits she is concerned about her own wedding album, a collection of photographs literally stuck in a once-popular magnetic-style photo album with yellowing pages. Looking at it, she emphasized the need to keep such important photographs in ways that will preserve them, using acid-free paper and archival-safe adhesives. "This is for your future," she said, adding her wish that her parents had recorded and preserved family history more thoroughly. Scrapbooks are "a way to take care of your family," DeBlasio said. "It's a legacy. Our history is such an important part of who we are. Scrapbooks show who we are more than a box of photos." Scrapbooks tell a story in a personal, meaningful way, said DeBlasio. She is thinking of making wedding scrapbooks as a small business. People don't get as much out of the customary photo album, she believes. "With a scrapbook, you can better convey the story of a wedding." - - - Urban writes for the Vermont Catholic Tribune, the newspaper of the Diocese of Burlington.

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