How to collect wedding photos from guests: 7 methods compared

1. Google Photos shared album

A Google Photos shared album is free, and guests who already use Google Photos will know how it works. You create the album and share a link, and the app can also show the album as a QR code. According to Google’s help page, anyone with the link can view the album and add photos while Collaborate is on. Google’s Android instructions for adding photos start with signing in to a Google Account. So expect guests to need a Google Account to add photos, and test with one guest first.

• Pros: free, familiar to Google Photos users, and photos and videos end up in one place. An album holds up to 20,000 photos and videos.
• Cons: quality depends on each guest’s backup setting. Only Original quality keeps photos unchanged; Storage saver compresses them. And if a guest leaves the album, their photos and comments are removed, so save your own copy.
• A good choice when most of your guests already use Google Photos and you’re fine with everyone who has the link seeing the photos.

2. iCloud Shared Album

Apple now has two kinds of Shared Albums. Albums created with version 27 or later (for example iOS 27) store photos and videos at their original resolution, and guests can join and add photos on the web, even without an Apple Account or an Apple device. Not every feature is available in every country or region. In an ordinary newer album, the photos and videos participants add count against the owner’s iCloud storage. A temporary album doesn’t use the owner’s storage and holds up to 5,000 photos and videos. An album can have up to 100 people, including the owner. Older albums, created with version 26 or earlier, don’t use your iCloud storage, but photos are reduced to 2048 pixels on the long edge and videos are delivered at up to 720p and 15 minutes, and an album holds at most 5,000 photos and videos in total. An older album can be upgraded, so that new photos and videos are shared at original resolution.

• Pros: built into the iPhone, so Apple users already know it.
• Cons: you need to check which kind of album you’ve created, whether you have enough iCloud storage for an ordinary album, and what guests with Android phones can do. A temporary album is deleted after 30 days, so it isn’t an archive.
• A good choice when nearly all your guests have iPhones and you’ve tested that it works for the few who don’t.

3. WhatsApp

If you already have a group chat with your guests, it’s tempting to ask for the photos there. WhatsApp says that media files are usually compressed when shared, so the quality can be lower than the original. You can pick Standard or HD quality for each photo or video, or make HD the default in settings. The help page doesn’t say whether HD sends the original file. To be sure, a photo can be sent as a document: according to WhatsApp, files up to 2 GB can be sent without compression.

• Pros: guests know the app, and it’s free.
• Cons: photos get buried between messages, everyone in the group receives them, and someone has to save them somewhere afterward. Sending as a document or picking HD is an extra step guests have to remember.
• A good choice when it’s a small group that’s already in the same chat. The group is also a good place to share the link to your album, even if the photos are collected somewhere else.

4. Dropbox file request

A Dropbox file request is a link where guests can upload files to your Dropbox without having an account of their own. Guests may be asked for their name and email, so you can see who sent what. The folder the files land in is private unless you share it, so it’s a way to collect files, not a shared album.

• Pros: guests don’t need a Dropbox account, and they upload the files from their own phone.
• Cons: the files use your Dropbox storage, and if you run out of space, guests get an error when they try to upload. On the Basic, Plus and Family plans, each file can be at most 2 GB. Guests don’t see each other’s photos, so there’s no shared gallery to browse.
• A good choice when you want the photos sent straight to you and there’s enough room in your account.

5. AirDrop

AirDrop sends photos and videos directly between iPhones, iPads and Macs that are near each other, with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth turned on. If you aren’t in each other’s contacts, the person receiving has to set AirDrop to Everyone for 10 Minutes. According to Google, the Pixel 8a or later and certain other Android phones can now also send to an iPhone with Quick Share.

• Pros: quick and free when you’re standing next to each other.
• Cons: you have to be close by, and you accept each share yourself. It doesn’t suit a reception with lots of guests, or photos that come in over the following days.
• A good choice when you want photos from your wedding party or close family while you’re together, for example at brunch the next day.

6. Disposable cameras

Disposable cameras on the tables give you photos that look different from phone pictures, and they can be a fun part of the reception. Each camera has a set number of shots on its roll of film, and the film has to be developed before you see anything.

• Pros: no app, no account and no signal needed. Film photos have a look of their own.
• Cons: the cameras and the developing cost money, someone has to collect the cameras, and there’s no video. How the photos turn out depends on the light and the camera.
• A good choice when the film experience is part of the party. It works well alongside a digital option for your guests’ phone photos.

7. QR gallery such as Guest.Gallery

A QR gallery is a gallery made for events. Guests scan a code on the table or open a link and upload photos and videos from their phone. With Guest.Gallery, guests don’t install an app or log in. On an iPhone, the code may open an App Clip. You get one gallery with a QR code you can print, and you can download everything as a ZIP file at the end. In a shared gallery, anyone with the link can see the photos.

• Pros: guests don’t install an app or log in, and the photos are all in one place. Each event has 25 GB of storage.
• Cons: it costs money, and the gallery has an end date. With Basic it stays open for up to 3 months from the wedding date you choose, and with Premium for up to 12 months. Guests also need cell service or Wi-Fi to upload.
• A good choice when you have lots of guests with different phones and want one place for everything. How to set up the QR code and what to put on the cards is in our wedding QR code guide. To compare services, see our wedding photo sharing comparison.

Texts you can send your guests

Copy and adapt them. Replace [link] with your own link. Only write “no app or login needed” if that’s true for the method you’ve chosen.