How to collect wedding photos from your guests, and actually get them

Most advice on this is written by the companies that sell the answer, and lists eight ways without saying which one to pick. The way to pick is simple once you ask what you will do with the photos. Then the work is in two places: making sending a photo as easy as taking one, and reminding guests at the right moment.

Step 1: Decide what the photos are for

Guest photos are not a second photographer. They are the moments your photographer was not at: the table that laughed all night, your grandmother on the dance floor, the view from the back row. What you will do with them decides how you collect them.

• To look back on, share and print small. You want as many as possible, from as many people as possible. Choose the way with the fewest steps for a guest, even if the files are smaller.
• To print large or frame. You want a few photos at full size. Collect everything the easy way, then ask the guest behind the one you love for their original.
• To show live at the party. Some services put new uploads on a screen as they arrive. That is a feature for the evening, not a way to keep the photos, so check what you get afterwards.

For almost every couple the first answer is the right one, with the second as a follow-up.

Step 2: Choose the way

Here is how the usual ways compare on the two things that decide whether guests use them: what a guest has to do, and what you get back.

A few details from each service's own help pages are worth knowing before you choose.

Apple's iCloud Shared Albums are limited to 100 subscribers including the owner, which is fewer than the 117 guests of the average US wedding in The Knot's 2026 study, and every guest has to be invited. Albums made on version 26 or earlier hold up to 5,000 photos and videos, and reduce photos to 2,048 pixels on the long edge. They suit a small wedding where everyone has an iPhone.

A Google Photos album can be shared by link, and Google's help page says anyone with the link can view the photos and add to the album. That also means every guest sees what every other guest sent, which you may or may not want. A Google Account comes with 15 GB of free storage, shared across Gmail, Drive and Photos.

A Dropbox file request lets anyone send you files whether they have a Dropbox account or not, and the folder they land in stays private. On the Basic, Plus and Family plans each file can be up to 2 GB, so originals and videos arrive at full size. It asks more of a guest than a camera link, so it suits the second round: asking a few people for their originals.

A hashtag costs nothing, but it only collects what guests choose to post publicly, and you then have to save each photo yourself.

If you want a rule: use one guest link for everyone, and a file request for the few originals you want to print large.

Step 3: Check the size is enough

Most guest links make each photo smaller on the guest's phone before it is sent, so that it sends quickly on a busy venue connection. Whether that matters depends on the print.

A phone photo reduced to 2,048 pixels on its long edge is about 2,048 by 1,536 pixels. Nations Photo Lab's resolution guide asks for 1,500 by 2,100 pixels for a 5x7 print at 300 pixels per inch, and 2,400 by 3,000 for an 8x10. So:

• 4x6 and 5x7: a reduced photo is enough. At 5x7 it comes to about 293 pixels per inch, just under the 300 in the guide.
• 8x10: 1,536 by 2,048 is under the 300 PPI figure but above the lab's 180 PPI column (1,440 by 1,800), and the lab says images at 125 PPI or higher print well on its printers.
• Larger than 8x10, or a canvas: ask the guest for the original.

Step 4: Put the link where guests already look

A link nobody sees collects nothing. Put the QR code in three or four places guests will be standing or sitting anyway, rather than on one sign by the door.

For a wedding of 117 guests at tables of eight, that is 15 tables, so print 15 small table cards with the code, plus one larger sign at the bar, where people wait with their phones out. Add the link to the order of service if you have one, and to your wedding website if you have one. Our guide to how many tables you need works out your own table count.

Before you print, test the code: one of you scans it on mobile data, not the venue Wi-Fi, takes a photo and sends it, and the other checks it arrived. Do this once more at the venue.

Step 5: Remind guests twice

A card on the table is seen once. The two reminders that work are the ones said aloud or sent to a phone:

1. On the night, ask the DJ or whoever holds the microphone to mention it once, after the speeches, when everyone is seated and listening. One sentence: the code is on your table, and every photo you send comes straight to us.
2. The morning after, send the link to everyone who came, in the group message or by text. That is when people look back through what they took, and the link is right there when they do. Use your guest list so nobody is missed.

Free toolWedding guest list templatePaste your names and download a guest list for Excel or Google Sheets, already filled in.Make my guest list

Step 6: Close it, save it, say thank you

Leave the link open for about a week, long enough for the guests who only look through their phones at the weekend. An open link is one more thing to think about, so then:

• Close it, so it stops taking new photos. A closed link that shows a short message is better than one that silently stops working.
• Save everything to one place, both of you, in the order the day happened.
• Delete what you would rather not keep. A blurry floor, a photo you did not want taken. Deleting it on your side does not take it off the guest's phone.
• Thank the guests whose photos you love, by name. It fits into your thank-you notes; our guide to wedding thank-you notes has the timing.

Decide now which of you does this. It takes an hour, the week after the wedding, and is easy to lose in everything else that week.

The guest camera in Yes, I Do

In Yes, I Do, the guest camera makes one link and a QR code for your wedding. A guest opens it in their phone's browser, with no app and no account, takes a photo or chooses several from their library, and can add their name so you know who took them. Each photo is made smaller on their phone before it is sent, to 2,048 pixels on the long edge, which is enough for prints up to 8x10. It takes photos, not videos, and holds up to 3,000 per wedding.

The photos arrive as guests send them, and both of you see them. When you are done, one switch closes the camera, and guests who open the link see that it is closed; turn it on again and the same link works. You can save them all at once, numbered oldest first, and delete any one for both of you, while the guest keeps their own copy. If the link reaches people it should not, replace it and the old one stops working. The guest camera needs an account and full access.

Questions

Sources

• Apple Support: Shared Albums storage limits, for 100 subscribers including the owner, 5,000 items in albums made on version 26 or earlier and photos reduced to 2,048 pixels on the long edge.
• Google Photos Help: share photos and videos, for anyone with an album link being able to view and add photos.
• Google One Help: how storage works, for 15 GB of free storage shared across Gmail, Drive and Photos.
• Dropbox Help: create a file request, for uploads without a Dropbox account, a private destination folder and files up to 2 GB on the Basic, Plus and Family plans.
• Nations Photo Lab: best resolutions for printing pictures, for the pixels needed for 4x6, 5x7 and 8x10 prints at 125, 180 and 300 PPI.
• The Knot Worldwide: 2026 Real Weddings Study, for an average of 117 guests.