How to use a QR code to collect your wedding photos
Your photographer gets the posed shots. Your guests get everything else: the speeches from the back of the room, the dance floor at midnight, the moments you were too busy to see. A QR code is the simplest way to get all of it into one place, in full quality, without asking anyone to install an app.
How it works
You create a shared album and get a QR code for it. Guests point their phone camera at the code, a web page opens, and they pick photos and videos from their camera roll. Everything lands in one private album you can download afterwards.
- No app and no account for guests: a phone camera and a browser are enough.
- Photos arrive at full resolution, unlike photos forwarded through messaging apps, which are compressed.
- Videos work too, which matters for speeches and first dances.
Where to put the QR code
One sign at the entrance is not enough: guests walk past it before they have taken a single photo. Put the code where people are when they have their phone out.
- On every table, as a small table card or tent card.
- At the bar and by the dance floor.
- On the back of the order of service or the menu.
- In the thank-you message after the wedding, for photos people forgot to share on the day.
Get guests to actually use it
The biggest difference to how many photos you get is one announcement. Ask your DJ, band or emcee to mention the QR code once during dinner, and again before the dancing starts.
Put a short link under every QR code too, for the guest whose camera will not scan it.
Show the photos live
If the venue has a TV or projector, put the album on it. New photos appear as guests upload them, and seeing their own photo on the big screen is what makes everyone else reach for their phone.
If you want to check photos before they appear, turn on moderation: you approve each upload from your phone first.
Mistakes to avoid
- Testing the code for the first time on the day. Scan it on two or three different phones the week before.
- Printing the QR code too small. About 3 cm (just over an inch) square is a sensible minimum for a table card.
- Relying on venue Wi-Fi alone. Check the mobile signal in the room; a failed upload can be retried, but most guests will not bother.
- Choosing a tool with a guest limit lower than your guest list, or an album that is deleted after a few weeks.
Doing this with Eventgram
Create a free event to try it (up to 15 guests), then pick a one-time pass for the wedding itself: Wedding is $49 for 25 GB, about 6,000 photos, with no charge per guest. Eventgram prints six table cards per sheet, runs the live wall on any screen with a browser, and shows guests the upload page in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian or Portuguese.