During the time between the conclusion of the wedding ceremony and the end of the cocktail hour, hours and hours can seemingly vanish in a moment.
During this period of around 90 minutes, wedding guests mingle, visit with family members, sit down at tables, grab a drink, and take pictures that the new couple may never actually see.
This is also when many wonderful moments happen while the new couple is busy taking pictures with family members or taking a much-needed break.
A shared-photo space allows these photos to be stored in a centralized location, rather than ending up in each guest’s camera roll.
The trick is to encourage guests to upload photos to a shared location when they will be most likely to remember to do it, and the ideal spot is where they will be naturally pausing to look at something.
Start with a photo drop-off point
Leave a QR Code on ceremony programs or a small sign near the exit of the ceremony space.
After the ceremony ends, many guests will already be pulling out their phones, and some may be eager to take pictures during the recessional, the tossing of the flower petals, or the first few hugs with loved ones.
This is a great opportunity to capture the photos from the perspective of the audience.
A wedding photographer will capture images of the couple walking away, but there are also other interesting photos that guests might take, like a photo of a child smiling at the flower petals or a grandparent standing in the aisle, or friends standing several rows back.
Keep the instructions clear and brief.
Let guests know that they don’t need to only upload pictures they’ve planned to organize; they can add the ones they’ve just taken.
Keep the reminder visible during cocktail hour
Guests will see cocktail napkins more frequently than ceremony programs, which can serve as a gentle reminder to upload photos of the day.
Guests will encounter these napkins while grabbing a drink, settling down at their tables, or scrolling through their phones while waiting to talk to someone.
This is a good time to ask them to upload any photos they took after the ceremony.
These are the kinds of photos that the couple often misses out on seeing, like photos of grandparents greeting relatives they haven’t seen in years, cousins showing off their wedding-day outfits, or a friend grabbing a picture of themselves at a table with the bride’s college roommates.
Not all guests will want to scan the QR Code right away, and that’s okay.
We’re simply providing several chances for them to share photos, rather than announcing a specific method and requiring all guests to take action.
Put the prompt near the bar
Guests are more likely to interact with a sign near the bar because they’ll be exposed to it over and over again during the cocktail hour.
When a guest is waiting in line for a drink, they have a chance to scan the code, choose photos, and send them to the shared album.
A bar sign is also likely to capture photos of informal groups, like a photo of a group of friends hanging out at the bar, relatives posing with their drinks, or someone taking a quick photo of themselves and others who wouldn’t typically stop by a designated photo area.
The bar sign should also include some information about what kinds of photos guests can contribute, like:
- Send us photos you capture during the ceremony and cocktail hour
- Capture candid photos
- Give the couple a chance to see all of the day’s memories
Skip the QR Code entirely if your wedding is very small and you’ve already come to a mutual agreement with guests on how they should submit photos.
Otherwise, most guests will appreciate having the reminder rather than assuming that someone else will collect all of the photos – the practical side of Advantages of using a Quick Response (QR) Code for your Wedding Pictures starts there.
Why a shared gallery matters
Having a shared photo space isn’t just about collecting more photos, it is about capturing the photos the couple will miss while they are busy.
The couple might remember the emotion of walking out of the ceremony, but they won’t remember who caught a picture of their parents hugging in the background.
They may remember greeting guests at the cocktail hour, but they may not remember everyone laughing at a table, or the group of friends who spontaneously decided to stand together for a photo.
Having guest photos in a shared gallery (there’s a decent explainer at theverge.com/2015) allows those photos to be seen while the memories are still fresh.
Rather than trying to track down individual guests to get their photos later, the couple can browse an entire album, including the photos that guests took that were slightly less polished, but were still fun and special.
Make the instructions easy to remember
Ceremony programs, cocktail napkins, and a bar sign are perfect opportunities to encourage guests to upload photos without having one giant sign that asks guests to scan a code.
Test the process before printing anything, and keep the instructions simple enough that they can be understood in one glance.
Lynn Martelli is an editor at Readability. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University and has worked as an editor for over 10 years. Lynn has edited a wide variety of books, including fiction, non-fiction, memoirs, and more. In her free time, Lynn enjoys reading, writing, and spending time with her family and friends.
