Admit it; like me you have hundreds of photos squirreled away on your PC/Laptop/Mobile/Cloud storage waiting to be used in photo projects you are putting off. You keep thinking about them and pushing them to the back of your mind. You then click on a folder and want to do something with the photos but the sheer number of photos overwhelms you and you put it off further.

That’s pretty much been me over the last 2 years or so. See whilst I was recovering from my premature Heart Attack I tried to ‘act normal’ by continuing with all the stuff I did before. You know. Living life. Working. Running a home and to be honest organising photos and memories seemed at the bottom of my priority list.

Fast forward to May 2016 and my then nearly three year old demanded an EPIC party. You see her previous two parties had been low key (her first was a day trip to Gulliver’s World, Warrington, the second was a simple cake affair at home). However she’s getting old and KNOWS what she wants. And what did she want? A Rapunzel party. Yes my youngest is in love with the film Tangled (which is a good job really as Eugene is my ideal man).

Well it took weeks to put things together. From making the cake stands from thrift store plates and wine glasses to creating a hand printed brick fabric backdrop for the photo booth….it took a lot of blood sweat and tears (ALL MINE).

Once the party was over (and believe me everyone loved every single second!) I was left with a sense of disappointment. My little one was no longer a toddler. And her epic party was over. Yes she loved every second but I wanted her to have a keepsake.

Lucky for me I knew what I wanted-a Photobook. You see the quality ones are simply stunning. And the thick paper ones will outlive me (well I hope they do….). And my little ones will always have those memories to cherish.

I’ve previously used Smiley Hippo Photobooks and Albelli Photo Books both of which have downloadable free program so you can work at your own pace. However I came across the offer of a free Photbook via Saal Designs. A European company that have thousands of happy customers. As all they wanted in return was an honest review I jumped at the chance of getting back into preserving my families memories.

So I downloaded Saal Design Software to my laptop and within minutes I was ready to literally go.

As soon as you open the software you are greeted with a simple menu that allows you to select the project you wish to design. The main ones that stuck out for me were the Photobooks, Wall Decor and Posters. You also have the options of simple Photo printing and even business material design. So in essence you could kill a ‘few birds’ you’ve been putting off using this software.

I selected Photobook and was greeted with a further menu which allowed me to select which Photobook I wanted. You can select from a range including: Photobook XT (extra thick), Softcover and Photo booklet (which is spiral bound and looks perfect to use as a portfolio for a start up business). I selected the option of Photobook which took me to a further menu (again simple enough to navigate).

Now this screen/menu in my opinion is the most important as you are going to select the style of Photobook you wish to order. You can select from: A5 portrait, A4 landscape, A3 landscape (which I’ve noted down for when I do get round to satisfying my Wonderlusting) and so many more. There’s an option to suit all your photography needs.

So I selected the A4 Landscape (28CM by 19CM) design. I made the following selections:

Cover: glossy

Cover padding: unpadded

Spreads: glossy

Barcode: standard (you can opt for the option to remove the barcode for an additional £5.00).

I opted for 30 pages.

This came up to £39.45. Saal offered me a voucher of £40.00 towards the book. So I opted to get the most out of the voucher and pay for the postage myself (under a fiver and the photobook arrived within 5 working days!).

The design process:

I’m a huge fans of templates simply because I want something quick and effective (it must look good). So I was relived to see there was an option to select a pre-designed template. If you are more of a design freak and need freedom you can opt to go template free and do as you wish.

When it came to the actual ‘designs’ of the templates I was let down. There was as much variety as I would have liked. As my daughter was turned three the baby pink designs didn’t appeal and nothing else really suited. So I selected the ‘all rounder’ option and went for the block design.

The actual ‘putting together’ of the Photobook was simple and easy enough for anyone to go through. As I was using Software I was able to select the photos direct from my laptops memory which cut out the step of having to upload images to a website (if you decided to use a website to directly design your Photobook you are more than likely going to have to upload your images to their server which *yawn* is another step to the process).

NOTE: as soon as I started the project I saved it and continued to save it every couple of pages.

You can change how many images you have on the page via a simple click. That’s how easy this software is to use.

All you do is select your image and drag and drop. You can crop and change the images with not much effort. As I had all the photos I needed saved in one folder it took me less than 90 minutes to get my Photobook designed and ordered.

And before you submit your order the clever software let’s you know if you have missed any photos or have left any text boxes empty. You even get warnings if any photos are seen as not good enough in quality. You are greeted with a screen that shows you delivery times (estimates) for your order depending on where you live. Postage for the Photobook was £4.95. As I received the order in less than 5 working days I think the turnaround time and postage costs is great value for money.

So I ordered the Photobook not sure what to expect in terms of actual quality. I shouldn’t have given it a second thought as the Photobook arrived very well packaged and in record time.

As soon as I opened it up I was in awe. There was my three year old all glossy gracing the cover of the book. And the quality of the pages? Well all I can say it I was not expecting this level of quality and thickness. When I say these books will outlive me I really mean it! The glossiness is simply stunning. The Photobook impresses everyone who has looked at it. Of course you get the odd comment of ‘your photography is great that’s why it looks good’ however if the quality of the book was low my photography would make no difference. The quality in my opinion is fit for those celebrations you want the best for. I’m talking Weddings, Christenings. Aqueeqahs, Graduations, THAT family holiday you won’t repeat…those golden moments you wish to treasure for life.

Take a look at the photos and see what you think.

My advice to anyone hoarding photos is to download the software and start your projects. As you can save them work on them periodically rather than in long sessions. That way you can work on a few separate projects and know you are making progress. As the Photobooks are saved you could always order additional ones for Grandparents or other family members too (we all know the stress of purchasing presents). Get those projects going. Make 2017 a year you display those memories. I can recommend Saal for the simplicity of their software and the sheer memorizing quality of the Photobook. I’d be impressed if someone purchased me a book from these guys.

*As mentioned I was offered a £40.00 voucher to cover the cost of a book (which it did!) I simply paid the postage cost. The opinions given are my own. If you wish to have a product reviewed you can contact me via the contact form on Style Me Sister.

PS: for the curious reader it’s the Birthday reliving her magical day in the photos. Look out for a free ‘how to guide’ on planning the best DIY Rapunzel party for your little Princess.