Remembrance books
How to make a memorial photo book
A memorial photo book is a printed book of one person’s life, made from the photos a family already has. With Photouria you gather those photos in one place, choose the person, and it finds every photo of them and lays out a linen hardcover book you can change before printing. Delivery usually takes 4 to 13 business days from the day you order, and it costs from NZ$149 with shipping included.
Building the book is free and needs no account, so the family can see it finished before anyone decides anything.
The printing is rarely the hard part. The photos are: some on a phone, some on an old laptop, some in a cloud account nobody has opened in years, some held by a brother or a daughter in another city. This is how to get from that to a finished book without it taking over the weeks when there is least room for it.
How do you make a memorial photo book?
1. Gather the photos in one place
Upload from a phone, from a computer, or from a Google Photos library exported with Google Takeout. Ask family to send what they have, however they have it, and add theirs to the same library. Nothing needs sorting or naming first.
2. Choose the person
Photouria automatically organises your photos and groups the people in them, so you choose the person once rather than searching for their photos one at a time. Photos from years ago that nobody remembered having tend to turn up here.
3. Read the book and change what you want
The book arrives laid out in the order the photos were taken. Swap photos, remove pages, and add captions, a name, dates, or a few lines of your own. Families often do this step together.
4. Order it
You pay only at this point, and the book goes to whatever address you enter at checkout.
Will a memorial book arrive in time for a funeral?
Usually not, and it is better to know that now. Books are printed to order and shipped, and delivery usually takes 4 to 13 business days from the day you order. We cannot promise an arrival date.
If the service is within the next three weeks, a printed order of service or a board of photographs from a local print shop is the faster route. Most families make the book afterwards, when there is time to sit with the photos, and give it at a birthday, an anniversary, or the first holiday season without them.
What are the options for making a memorial book?
Three routes. The right one depends mostly on how much of the work you want to do by hand, and how soon you need something in your hands.
| Photouria | A design it yourself photo book tool | A local photo lab or print shop | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finding the photos | You upload what the family has and the photos of one person are gathered for you | You find and upload each photo yourself | You bring the photos you have already chosen |
| Laying out the pages | Laid out for you, then you change whatever you want | You place every photo on every page | Varies. Some offer a design service, some do not |
| Best when | The photos are scattered and nobody has the time to go through decades of them | You already know exactly which photos you want and would like to design it | You want to talk to a person, or need something printed nearby and quickly |
| The book | Linen hardcover, foil stamped spine, printed dust jacket | Depends on the supplier | Depends on the supplier |
| Price | From NZ$149, shipping included | Varies | Varies |
| Time to arrive | Usually 4 to 13 business days | Varies | Often the fastest |
How many photos should go in a memorial book?
Photouria asks for a range rather than a number: 24 to 30, 31 to 40, 41 to 60, 61 to 80, or 81 to 100 photos, or a custom number up to 180. Memorial books usually sit at the upper end, because the subject is a life rather than an occasion.
The count sets the price. NZ$149 covers up to 30 photos, then NZ$10 for every 10 more, capped at NZ$219 from 91 photos up. Prices are in New Zealand dollars wherever the book is going, and shipping is included.
If there are fewer photos than you hoped, that is common. A shorter book of the right photos reads better than a long one padded out.
What about old printed photographs?
Photograph them with a phone, in daylight and square on, and upload them with the rest. They will not be as sharp as a digital original and they are nearly always worth including: the early years of a long life usually exist only on paper.
A photographed print carries the date it was photographed, not the date it was taken, so check where those pages fall in the book and move them if they land in the wrong decade.
What is the printed book like?
Every Photouria book is the same object: a Lulu linen hardcover, woven linen over hardcover boards, your title foil stamped on the spine, and a printed dust jacket over the top. There are six sizes, from 14 × 22 cm up to A4 at 21 × 30 cm, and six linen colours. Inside, photos print on 80lb coated paper with a matte finish, and a book can run from 24 pages up to 800.
Where can a memorial book be sent?
We ship to New Zealand, Australia, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and most of Europe. In Europe that is Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden. The delivery address does not have to be yours.
In New Zealand? There is a page written for you: memorial photo books in New Zealand.
Questions families ask
How much does a memorial photo book cost?
NZ$149 covers up to 30 photos, then NZ$10 for every 10 more, capped at NZ$219 from 91 photos up. Prices are in New Zealand dollars wherever the book is going, and shipping is included. Building the book is free, so you pay only if you order it.
What if I do not have many photos of them?
A book needs at least 24 photos. Photos held by other members of the family can be uploaded into the same library, which is usually where the missing years come from.
Can the book include other people?
Yes. Photos of them with other people are usually most of the book. You can also choose more than one person if the book is about a couple.
Can I write in it?
You can add captions, dates, a title and your own text before you order. Handwriting is not something we print, and many families leave the first blank page for exactly that.
Do I need an account to start?
No. You can build and preview the whole book without an account, and nothing is charged until you order.