More than likely, you have 120 or 220 film which is called medium format
(MF). The only difference between 120 and 220 is the length of the roll,
they are both the same width (approximately 60 mm). You negatives are
probably cut into strips, so the original length is irrelevant.

MF can actually have several size negatives called 645, 6x6, 6x7, 6x9, etc
All of them use the same roll film. Many wedding photographers use 6x6
(Hasselblad cameras), and some use 645 or 6x7. 6x9 is rare for weddings.

I think you would have a hard time finding someone to scan them at what you
consider to be a reasonable price. It may pay to purchase a decent MF
scanner for about $400-$500 and then learn how to scan them yourself. Epson
makes a fairly good scanner that also scan prints and documents.The Epson
Perfection 4870 PHOTO is one such scanner. The Epson Perfection 4870 PRO is
a bit more, but comes with some very good scanning software.

When you are done, you could sell the scanner on ebay for about half what
you paid, so it would end up being a very economical solution if you (or
someone you know) has the time.

If you really high-res pictures (I doubt it) you would need to send them to
a professional scanning lab that would use a drum scanner to get images of
about 50 MB each. These would cost $25 or more each. But I am fairly sure
you really don't need that level of detail.

Also, assuming the negatives are color, store them in a cool dry place,
never in an attack, etc. It would be best to seal them in airtight bags on a
very dry day (so as not to trap humidity inside the bag).

Bob,

Take the negs to a local professional lab (look in your yellow pages)
and have them scanned. Be prepared to spend a few bucks per scan, yes I
know it'll cost you quite a bit of money, but it is YOUR wedding!
Call a few labs and get some pricing and don't go with the cheapest,
again it's yuour wedding.
Don't be tempted to buy a scanner and do it yourself, it's your wedding
and your wife will kill you. :)
The scanners the pro labs use are worth at least $50K and do a fabulous
job, anything you do with a flatbed will be substandard and a cheap 120
film scanner will be at least $3K and really won't do a great job.
Screw this up, and your wife will kill you.

I'm not familiar with "RSM" otherwise I'd try to make some
recommendations.

Just curious, but the phrase "preserve their usefulness" left me
wondering a bit.

Are you concerned with preservation?  Is so, your safety deposit box
and proper packaging would be best.  Usefulness for sharing digitally
(email, etc?), then simple scans of the photos might suffice (I assume
they're sharp and well processed if someone bothered with medium
format in the first place).  Decent hi-res scans of medium format
negatives are very bulky as there is a lot of information there!  They
can take 6-10 minutes each to scan correctly and it sounds like you
might have days of work there!  Again, it all matters what your
intended purpose is in digitizing these.....

Bob

There are several hundred photos, maybe as many as a thousand,

This must have cost a bundle uness it was a gift. At $10.00 a print it was a
several thousand dollar photo job

But what ever. Good scans will cost $5.00 and up. I do jobs like your  by the
hour. Several per hour for 120/220. Actually have three scanners to work with
so things go along quickly.

Bob  AZ

You could really use any flatbed scanner that has 240DPI (optical)
resolution, don't forget that a 120 negative is 4 times the size of a
35mm negative, so prints can be made that are 4 times the size at the
same resolution.  Now CD's and DVD's are no more archival storage, then
the original negatives.  In fact storage methods are roughly the same.

Then again, simply store the nrgatives properly, and you can print from
the original negative as well.  There are 3 enemies for photographic
negatives, heat, light and moisture.  So you want to store them in a way
that they are kept cold, dark and dry.  Your targetting storing them for
around 100 years, much beyond your own grandchildren, nobody will really
care.  So, go ahead and scan them if you like, just make sure you store
the CD's or DVD's and the Negatives in a different physical location.
If there is a fire or tornado or something wipes out your house, and
they are stored together, then everything is gone.

Storing the negatives:

Put them in a chemically neutral envelope, put that in a box, put the
box in a plastic bag with some desicent inside, put that inside another
plastic bag, sealing both with strong tape.  Drop the whole thing into
the bottom of the deep freeze, and they should be quite happy there,  If
at some future point, you need them for something, take out the whole
thing, let it thaw for a good 3 days, then open the package.  Seal it up
the same, either refrech the desicent or replace it.

Paul

You can try getting a Kodak Pro Photo CD, or several. There are more than a few
options for scanning your films. Just to give you an idea of options, and a
good quality professional lab, take a look at:

<http://www.chromedigital.com/filmscans.html> Be sure to scroll down to see
many prices for different types of scans, or just contact them for more
specific quoting.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
A G Studio
<http://www.allgstudio.com

Do you really need to scan all of them? Why not select the best hundred and
have them scanned?