Captured Memories

This week I want to showcase something with a difference.   When I first saw this product, my first reaction was WOW!   To me there is a real gap in the market for something so special and bespoke as these Memory Books by Illustries. 


I had a chat with Emma about Ilustries,and I was truly inspired by her story and I am delighted to be able to share that with you today.

Just to explain where we came from, when I looked for something for my own wedding, I couldn't find what I wanted - a less formal album where we could also add text and keepsakes. Sam is a fab designer and I am a  seasoned copywriter and we'd worked on other projects together, so we had a go at creating that elusive 'memory book', and some time later, here we are - with a really exciting new company and a great friendship! We live a couple of hours  away from each other so Skype and dropbox are our best friends, and when we meet up, tequila joins the party almost every time, leading to some really creative ideas...

We describe our Illustries as memory books, but really, they are a repository for all the fabulous details of the big day - we see them as a great alternative to a traditional album, which so often gets left to gather dust on the shelf. We find that Illustries get passed around families and friends, and every Illustries customer has said that just opening their Illustry puts them right back in their special day. We include everything - vows, speeches, readings, menus - so all those bits and pieces are centre stage rather than lying forgotten in a box somewhere.

The Illustries themselves take a fair amount of time to create - I write every detail of the couple's story, from when they met to 'happy ever after' including plenty of interviews and Sam makes sure that the design reflects their day in every way possible. We don't have wordcount limits, we don't use any template software, and all the ideas have been developed from scratch - with elements like our 'Life Map' (a flow chart of their relationship), 

Recipes for Love (Jamie, Nigella and even Gordon style), and our 'Wedding by Numbers' and 'A-Z' features (that capture all the quirky little details). 

We have a style to suit most couples - Classic, which is elegant and modern.

Avant Garde, which is quirky and fun

and our CELEB magazine, which lets the couple start in their very own celebrity magazine.

We are absolutely delighted with the feedback so far and we already have expansion plans. We're really focusing on networking as we would love to work with like-minded photographers so that our books can be built into their photography package, we have Illustries for all of life's memorable moments in the pipeline, and we're looking forward to launching our new website and hitting our first wedding fair season in September!

So, that's our story - in a rather large nutshell! 

I am sure you will be as taken with these as I was, I think it is an absolutely fantastic innovation and something that can be treasured forever.

To contact Emma and Sam click on the links below.