When to share wedding photos with your guests
When your guests get to see each other's photos is a choice, and it changes the day more than you might expect. Here are the three options, what each is good and bad at, and which suits which kind of wedding.
Three ways a roll can develop
On papershot every guest shoots onto one shared roll, and you decide when it develops: the point at which everyone in the moment can see what everyone else took. There are three settings, and each one makes a different day.
- 01
As it happens
Every photo shows up for everyone as it is taken. Good for a roll people watch fill up, guests looking back at the ceremony over dinner, and small weddings where everyone knows everyone. Less good for surprises, and for any photo you would rather see first, because guests see it when you do.
- 02
When the roll closes
Until the end you set, guests see only blurred tiles for each other's shots; then the whole roll develops at once. Good for the feeling of a disposable camera, and a shared look at the end of the night. Less good for a late finish, when half the room has gone home and the rest are tired.
- 03
After a delay you set
The roll closes, then waits as long as you choose before it develops. Good for the morning after, a quiet look through it before anyone else, and a reveal everyone is awake for. Less good for guests who hoped to see the photos on the way home.
What guests see before it develops
Before the roll develops, guests are not looking at an empty screen. For every shot on the roll they see a blurred tile, with who added it and when, and their own shots are always clear to them. The roll fills up in front of everyone all day, and nobody sees anyone else's photos until you say.
That is what makes a held-back roll feel like a disposable camera. You know the photos exist, you can see who has been busy, and you wait. The waiting is part of it, and it keeps people shooting rather than scrolling.
It also lets guests shoot freely, without comparing their photo with the one taken a seat away. There is more on that idea in how a disposable camera app works.
What you see as the host
You see everything as it arrives, whichever setting you choose. That helps in two ways. You can watch the day fill in from every table while it happens, and you can tidy up before anyone else looks: as the host you can delete anything, and stop a guest posting if you need to.
If you would like a look before your guests, choose a delay, or develop when the roll closes and check as the night goes on. Anyone in the moment can also report a photo, and we look within 24 hours. For who sees what, and when, see private photo sharing.
Which reveal suits your wedding
- A small wedding, or one where everyone knows everyone: as it happens. The roll becomes part of the evening, and phones get passed round the table.
- A big wedding with a long evening: the morning after, with a delay. Guests shoot without watching the roll, and you open it rested.
- A wedding that ends with a send-off: when the roll closes, with the end set for the moment you leave. The send-off is the last thing on the roll, and it develops as you go.
- A weekend wedding, or one abroad: after the last day, with a delay, so everyone is home and the shots taken without signal have had time to arrive.
- A wedding where you would like to check first, because of children or a crowd you do not all know: a delay, so you can look through it before anyone else.
The morning-after reveal, a moment of its own
A delay gives the day after a wedding something to look forward to. Set it so the roll develops at breakfast or brunch, and open it together: the ceremony from the back row, the speeches from every table, and the dancing at one in the morning that nobody remembers taking.
- Work out the time. A roll that closes at 01:00 with a delay of eight hours develops at 09:00, when the first guests come down for breakfast.
- Say it out loud: in the last speech, at the send-off, or on the table card.
- If there is a brunch, make it the place to open the roll, phones out, together.
- Guests who leave early get it on the way home, at the same moment as everyone else.
Then download the whole moment as one .zip at full resolution before the roll goes: 30 days after it closes on a paid moment, 48 hours on a free one. For the rest of the day, from the invite card to the shot list, see how to get photos from your wedding guests and the wedding page.
