Pottery or willow, traditionally, and neither is why you are here.
Year nine has one genuinely useful function, and it is about year ten. A decade properly assembled takes months to gather, and almost everyone starts it four weeks before the date, discovers the 2017 photographs are on a dead phone, and settles for something thinner than they wanted.
Starting at year nine is the difference.
What a ten-year book actually needs
Forty pages holds about 160 photographs, which sounds enormous and is roughly sixteen a year. That is not a lot per year — but it has to be sixteen good ones, spread evenly, from a decade that is stored across at least four places.
| The work | How long it actually takes |
|---|---|
| Finding the old accounts and drives | The longest part, and unpredictable |
| Getting photographs off a dead handset | Days to never |
| Asking family for the ones you are not in | A week per person, realistically |
| Choosing 160 from thousands | An evening, once you have them |
| Design, proof and print | 5 to 14 days from order |
Only the last row is ours. Everything above it is why year nine matters.
What to do at year nine
Start the gathering. One evening, three accounts, one folder. Where a decade of photographs actually is →
Give something small for year nine itself. An 8-page magazine at ₹499 of the last twelve months. Small on purpose, because the big one is a year away.
Ask for what you are missing. The photographs you are not in are held by other people and nobody sends them unprompted.
What year ten will cost
| Format | Pages | Photographs | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Magazine | 40 | ~160 | ₹1,099 |
| Album, square | 20 | ~80 | ₹1,299 |
| Album, square | 40 | ~160 | ₹1,599 |
| Album, A4 | 40 | ~160 | ₹1,699 |
Flat ₹70 delivery anywhere in India. An album opens flat, so a wide image can run across a full spread — which a magazine cannot do. Designing for the full spread →
What to gather, specifically
Vague intentions produce nothing. A list produces a book.
- One photograph from each year that you would put on a wall. Ten photographs. This is the spine of the book and it takes twenty minutes.
- The houses. Every place you have lived, photographed even badly.
- The people who came and went. Friends, colleagues, a dog. The ten-year book that only contains the two of you reads as thinner than the decade was.
- The ones you are not in. Held by other people, and the ones that will surprise the recipient most.
- Anything before the marriage. Optional, and it is often the best opening spread.
Where a decade of photographs actually is →
One spread per year
The structure that works best for a decade, and the reason to plan it early: ten spreads, one per year, forces an even distribution and stops the book being 60% of the first two years and 40% of the other eight.
It also tells you exactly what you are missing. If 2019 has four usable photographs, you know in advance rather than at the layout stage. Gift ideas for a wife after ten years →
The version nobody expects
Ask each of you, separately, for your own ten. Two people who have been married a decade choose startlingly different photographs, and a book built from both lists is a better object than one person’s edit of the same archive.
It also takes the pressure off the gathering, because half of it is no longer your job.
Frequently asked
What is the traditional ninth anniversary gift? Pottery or willow. Neither suggests much, which is why this page is about year ten instead.
How far ahead should I start a ten-year anniversary book? Months. The gathering is slow and unpredictable; the printing is 5 to 14 days.
How many photos does a ten-year book need? About 160 for a 40-page book, which is roughly sixteen a year — spread evenly, not clustered in the early years.
Should a decade be a magazine or an album? Either. A 40-page magazine is ₹1,099 and holds the same count as a 40-page album at ₹1,599; the album buys full spreads and a hardcover.
What should I give on the ninth anniversary itself? Something small covering the last year. The large one is a year away and should stay there.
Part of our guide to anniversary photo books by year. See also: where a decade of photographs actually is and seventh anniversary gift ideas.
For year nine, and year ten: Anniversary Magazine from ₹499 · Hardcover albums from ₹1,299 · Anniversary gifts