Scrapping a Large Event, or How to Deal with an 8 inch stack ofpictures -- Part I

Admittedly, I take a lot of pictures, and I love it.  But some events lend themselves to taking more pictures than others.  Take, for instance, a two week vacation.  Whether that's to Disney World or to Budapest, you are gonna take a lot of pictures, and for you fellow scrapbookers, probably more than average.  You get back home and download all those memory cards and think to yourself "How am I going to get all of this done?"  And in the meantime, all of your friends and family are clamoring to see your vacation photos, but don't really want to look at 487 shots of Cinderella's castle at night.  So what's a girl (or guy) to do?  After 3 once-in-a-lifetime trips to Europe, I'm still tweaking my process a little, but I think I've found something that works for me.  In this 3 part series of posts, I want to share my process with you.

Step 1: Take a breathe
Don't let 3500 pictures overwhelm you.  This is not something you have to get done next week.  Or even next month.  I quickly figured out that rushing to scrap everything leads to burnout and I just didn't enjoy it.

Step 2. Find a Way to Share

Like I said, everybody wants to see your photos.  Right now.  But not really ALL of your photos. Select a handful of your best, most interesting photos, do basic edits if you do that sort of thing (I do), and put those puppies somewhere people can see them.  Facebook is a popular choice, or you can blog, but I like to use a Shutterfly Share site.  I'm gonna print those puppies anyway, so I can add to the site straight from my Shutterfly account.  I can send the link and password to friends and family far and wide, and have some privacy control this way.

Step 3.  Edit, Edit, Edit
You do not have to scrap, print, edit, or even keep every single photo you took.  That picture of the parking deck level so you wouldn't forget where to get off the elevator?  Delete it.  Those 487 Cinderella Castle photos.  Pick a handful.  Keep and back up the digital files, but cull down what you plan to edit and print.  You will still have plenty of photos to scrap.

How do you handle scrapping large events?  Did any of these tips work for you?  I'd love to hear what you have to share.  And come back next Monday for more tips on how I deal with large projects.