HELP! 20 page/layout album

Have you picked your supplies yet? When I work on a project like that I find working from one collection makes things go much faster. The designer made everything to match anyway, so why reinvent the wheel?

I think I would pre-plan photo placement first. Especially if you only want to do 20 pages. Throw each photo(s) into the page protectors. Then I would decide on page design. and two page spreads could make things faster, as well.

I think you have time to get it done. But then, I'm a glutton for punishment also.

No, not insane. Sounds like a fun project to me! If you can get your hands on Scrapbook Generations travel sketches book (I believe you can get it as a downloadable book from their website), you might be able to find some layout ideas that can work for larger photos and tweak them a bit, or try Googling "scrapbook sketches for 5x7 photos" and see if anything there pops up that you like. Keep in mind that a good sketch can usually be flipped or rotated so you can often get more mileage out of the ones you pick, and the repetition will also help the finished book to be more cohesive.

Now look at the photos you really want to include, and see what matches up. The sketch can help dictate how many and the type of papers you need to look for and also can give some idea of what to do for embellishments as well. From there, you can make it as simple or as complicated as you want.

You can do this!   And I'm sure the scrapbooks will be very well received, too.

I do two albums (25 double layouts) of all of our vacations. I usually have them halfway completed before we even leave. I write down the pictures I want to get for sure and make sure that I take them vertically and horizontally. I also make 8.5 x 11 index cards that hold about 100+ tiny photos. I number them and write down on a piece of paper what size and what layout they will go on. I use tons of wallets for the scenery pictures. I have all of my planned pages in baggies so I can just slip the photos in there with them. In the baggies I have all of the paper, embellishments, and title work. I also put a sketch in there for motivation. Sometimes I use it, and sometimes I don't.

I made two wedding albums for friends that were married one week apart.  I wrote down all of the major events in a wedding and started there.  I didn't have any pictures to go on since I gave the albums as wedding shower gifts.  At the back of each album I put in several Project Life pages so favorite pictures of the bride and groom could be added.  The first page was the engagement photo, then the rehearsal dinner and then the wedding activities.

Aaaaand I was just looking at the retiring stamps on another thread, and found this picture of doilies in silver and gold, either of which might look great with your deep purple.

You can get metal dies in various doily shapes and sizes that will ensure AF. Otherwise, no.

I wish I had a gold doillie for this layout. I don't have any advice for you, but what a great gift...and I would love to do a purple wedding album.

I hope you show us your album!

Ha ha, yes, it is a discount store like TJ Maxx or Marshalls that sells home goods and other close out stuff. They are known for having a decent selection of scrapping and crafting stuff lately. I recently saw a Spellbinders machine there, and they had a couple other different ones a few weeks ago.

I just looked quickly on Amazon and the Vintag themed version of the Big Kick is currently selling for about $60 (with Prime) which is a pretty good price. I think I paid about that when I bought mine at Michael's with a rare 50% coupon on Sizzix stuff. I don't know what all comes with it though on Amazon. The Cuttlebug is a slightly smaller machine, that one is going for a little over $46 on Amazon right now but you might need different shims/platforms to cut the various brands of dies.

I know Michaels has the doily die usually available if you have that store. It is a thin die, so it would work in a number of machines if you go that route. Do you have Craig's List? Lots of people are getting rid of machines on there.

the doilies would usually be put  in behind other papers, so they would be fine if they are not actually touching your photos. i have used them for years and see no issues in my albums.

One thing I have done in the past is, pick a sketch that is simple and can be flipped. You could end up doing 4 pages with the same design, but different looks. Then, just change up the embellishments.

If I can find my pics, I will post a couple as examples.

The more simple the design, but you can always embellish more and change it up some. Have fun!