Wedding photo scavenger hunt: 50 ideas for your guests

How a photo scavenger hunt works at a wedding

Guests get a short list of things to photograph and work through it during the day: the aisle from the back row, the cake before it is cut, the grandparents on the dance floor. The list gives people a reason to lift their phones at the right moments, and it fills the gaps your photographer cannot reach, because nobody can be at every table at once.

Nobody has to win. The list is a nudge, and the reward is the roll: the same moment from 20 seats, and the small things you missed because you were busy getting married.

The paper version is a card on each table. It works, but every photo stays in the camera roll of the guest who took it, and somebody has to collect them all afterwards, which is the step that tends to get forgotten. Our guide to getting photos from your wedding guests compares the ways of doing it.

With papershot, the list lives in the camera. You write your prompts into Guest Lens, the host's shot list, before the day, and they show up in every guest's camera. Each prompt is one short line, and when a guest shoots straight from it, it ticks itself off: there is no tick to press and no card to fill in. Every photo goes onto one private roll, so there is nothing to collect afterwards either.

Ideas for the ceremony, the meal, and the speeches

Eight for the ceremony, from the seats:

• The aisle from where you are sitting
• The guest who cried first
• The rings, up close, once they are on
• The order of service on someone's lap
• The view from the back row
• The first kiss, from your seat
• Confetti in the air
• The walk back down the aisle

Eight for the meal and the speeches:

• Your table, before the food arrives
• Everyone at your table, in one frame
• The menu, before anyone spills on it
• Glasses up for the first toast
• The speeches, from the back of the room
• The loudest laugh during the speeches
• A parent listening to the speeches
• The cake, before the knife goes in

Ideas for the dancing and the details

Eight for the dancing:

• The first dance, from behind the crowd
• Grandparents on the dance floor
• The best dance move of the night
• Someone teaching someone else a dance
• The band or the DJ, from the dance floor
• Shoes off, under a table
• The dance floor from the highest spot you can find
• Everyone singing along to the same song

Seven for the details:

• The flowers on your table
• Something blue
• The best shoes in the room
• A cufflink, a hairpin, or a button, up close
• The guest book, open at a page you like
• Candles, once they are lit
• The venue from outside, as the light goes

Ideas for the people, the two of you, and the video

Seven for the people:

• Whoever travelled the furthest
• The oldest and the youngest guest, together
• Two people meeting for the first time
• The best dressed guest, in your opinion
• Someone you have not seen in years, and you
• The children, doing their own thing
• Whoever is working hardest tonight

Seven for the two of you. We have used Sam and Alex; put your own names in:

• Sam and Alex, when they think nobody is looking
• A selfie with Sam or Alex
• Sam's face during the speeches
• Alex's face during the first dance
• Sam and Alex, laughing at the same thing
• Sam and Alex, from the far end of the room
• The send-off, from the front of the crowd

And five for the video, each one 10 seconds of something. Every guest films one video, so choose one of these for your list:

• 10 seconds of the cheer as they walk in
• 10 seconds of your table saying hello to Sam and Alex
• 10 seconds of the song that fills the floor
• 10 seconds of the dance floor at its fullest
• 10 seconds of the send-off

How to run the hunt on the day

1. 01

   Choose 8 to 15 prompts

   Enough to steer the day, few enough that guests can finish. Keep the list shorter than the shots each guest has, so there is room for the photos nobody asked for: with 16 or 24 shots each, 8 to 15 prompts fit well. More in how many shots each guest should get.

2. 02

   Spread them across the day

   Two or three for the ceremony, a few for the meal, and the rest for the evening. Prompts for late at night go to whoever is still dancing.

3. 03

   Keep each prompt short and concrete

   A guest reads a prompt in a second, between other things. “The rings, up close” gets shot; “Something that means a lot to you” gets skipped. Name a thing or a person, not a feeling, and keep it to one line.

4. 04

   Change the names to yours

   Names make a prompt easy to act on. “Auntie Jo on the dance floor” is easy to find; “a relative dancing” could be anyone. Put in the couple, the grandparents, and the friend who always dances first.

5. 05

   Add one video prompt

   Every guest films one video, so a shot list takes one video prompt: pick one of the “10 seconds of” ideas. If you want every video short, set the video length to match: it runs from 5 to 30 seconds, in 5-second steps.

6. 06

   Tell guests once

   Put a line on the table card, such as “Your shot list is in the camera”, and ask whoever gives the welcome to mention it. A reminder before dinner brings in the guests who missed it.

For the rest of the day, from the invite card to the downloads, see the wedding page. Planning a birthday or a party instead? The party photo scavenger hunt has a list of its own.