Wedding Photography and Aperture 3

Here's my current project and folders arrangement for my wedding projects workflow in Aperture. I start off importing each media card as a project. Each project is named based on the card number. So far I like this method because it helps me insure that I've imported all my media cards for a particular wedding. Plus, I can use this number breakdown to locate a set of particular photos based on the card number. Card #1, for example, typically consists of pre-ceremony and some ceremony images, while cards 6 and 7 will probably be full of reception images. Also, if there's ever a problem with image files, I might be able to identify the problem according to the card number. Finally, I still only use 1-2gb cards. I'm way too chicken or cautious to put the majority of my cards on one or two 4 or 8gb cards. It really doesn't take that long to change cards. And I keep them on my person for the entire time of the wedding. I never put them in my camera bag.

The rest of the folder break down largely consist of smart folders (one of my favorite features of Aperture) that are based on the various keywords I assign images after I import them. I like the smart folders because they automatically update as I make rating and keyword changes to images. I just wish there were a way to quickly create a standard set of smart folders for each client project. As it stands now, I simply duplicate smart folders and change the parameters based on what I want the content to be.

That's it. All these folders will be exported as jpeg files and organized the same folders for burning on a DVD(s) for my clients.