How to collect photos at a destination wedding
Collecting guest photos is harder at a wedding abroad than at home: the signal comes and goes, guests switch off their data, and the celebration runs over several days. Here is a setup that answers each of those, and a short shot list for the weekend.
Why a wedding abroad is different
The usual ways of collecting guest photos assume everyone is online and goes home at the same time. A destination wedding breaks both.
- Patchy signal. Villas, beaches, and mountain venues are often lovely because they are remote, and remote places are bad at signal.
- Roaming. Plenty of guests keep mobile data off abroad, so anything that needs a connection waits until they find Wi-Fi.
- Many languages. Friends and family from different countries do not all read the same instructions.
- Several days. Welcome drinks, the ceremony, a day at the beach, and a farewell brunch, with photos from all of them.
- Staggered departures. Some guests fly home the morning after and others stay a week, so there is no single moment to say “send us your photos”.
The setup that answers it
- 01
One moment for the whole weekend
Make one moment that starts at the welcome drinks and ends after the last brunch. A moment runs between a start and an end you set, so every day of the wedding lands on the same roll.
- 02
Pick the size for the guest list
A free moment takes 4 guests, so a wedding needs a paid size, from 8 guests to unlimited: one payment, no subscription. If the list grows, add guests until the moment ends.
- 03
Send the link with the itinerary
Put the invite link and the 8-character code in the travel email or on your wedding website. Guests join at home, before they fly, and the camera opens when the moment starts.
- 04
Let the shots wait for signal
Shots taken without signal wait on the phone and upload when the connection is back, on the hotel Wi-Fi or at home. More in photo sharing without signal.
- 05
Seven languages for a mixed crowd
The app speaks English, Arabic, Simplified Chinese, French, Polish, Spanish, and Swahili, so one set of instructions does not have to suit everyone.
- 06
Give enough shots for several days
Shots per guest cover the whole moment, so a three-day wedding needs more than one evening does: 24 or 36 each rather than 10 or 16.
- 07
Develop it after the last day
Set the roll to develop after a delay once it closes. It opens when everyone is home, and the shots that waited for signal have had time to arrive.
Join while there is signal
Joining is the one step that needs a connection. Guests need the papershot app on iPhone or Android, but not an account, so ask them to install it and join at home on Wi-Fi rather than at the venue on roaming data. Once they are in, shooting works offline, and every shot waits on the phone until the connection is back.
Catch the guests who leave it late in a few places:
- The travel email, with one line: “Join our roll before you fly.”
- The welcome table at the hotel, where the Wi-Fi is.
- The welcome drinks, with a card by the bar.
- The group chat for the trip, with the link and the code once more.
A shot list for a wedding abroad
Paste a few of these into Guest Lens, the shot list in every guest's camera. Each prompt ticks itself off when a guest shoots straight from it. Keep the ones that suit your place, and add its name where it helps. The last one is for the video, since every guest films one.
- The view from your room on the first morning
- The welcome drinks, before the sun goes down
- Whoever travelled the furthest
- Something you could only find here
- The ceremony, from the back row
- The two of them against the view
- Your table at sunset
- The local food, before anyone starts
- The first one into the sea
- The morning after, by the pool
- 10 seconds of wherever you are
Leave memos on, and ask one question every guest can answer in their own voice: “How far did you travel to be here?” A voice from every country on the guest list is worth having.
After the last day
When the delay runs out, the roll develops for everyone at once, wherever they are by then. A paid moment keeps the roll for 30 days after it closes: download the whole moment as one .zip at full resolution, or one photo at a time. Photos and videos save to your library, and memos save as files.
Before it goes, make something from it. Studio lays photos off the roll over a backdrop with stickers and your own words, so a few of them can become a postcard from the weekend, exported at full resolution.
Everything about weddings abroad is on the destination wedding page, and the day itself on the wedding page.
