How big is the ZIP file of a wedding?

With 500 phone photos and 30 videos, 5 to 10 GB is typical. Big albums are delivered in parts of 1 GB each; the album remembers which parts you have already downloaded.

Is the capture data kept in the files?

Yes. You get the original files as the guests uploaded them, including capture time and camera data. Only the previews other guests see are stripped of it.

May I use the guests’ photos for a photo book?

For the hosts’ private photo book, yes – that is what guests uploaded them for. For any publication beyond that, ask the people in the pictures.

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Guest photos after the party: review, sort and back up in five steps

The album is full, the hangover gone – now comes the part many put off. With these five steps you need an hour, and in the end the best pictures sit safely on the hard drive and in the photo book.

Updated: 18 October 20265 min read

Step 1: back everything up first

Before you sort, download the complete album as a ZIP and store it in two places – hard drive and cloud, or a second drive. Every photo is named by the time it was taken, so you can find the moment again. Big albums come in several parts; a computer is the most comfortable for that.

Why first? Because the album does not stay forever: 12 months after the party on the Standard plan, 30 days on the free one. The album reminds you 30 days before the end, but the backup on the day after is the one nobody forgets.

Step 2: collect the latecomers

Most guests do not upload during the party but in the days after. Send a short thank-you with the link the day after the party – “if you still have photos, this is where they go” – and once more after a week. Keep the album open for two to three weeks for that, then close uploads; you set the date in the settings.

Step 3: mark favourites instead of deleting

The mistake almost everyone makes: they want to “tidy up” the album and delete what is blurry. That takes forever and achieves nothing. Do it the other way round: go through once and mark only the pictures you really want to keep – the heart for favourites. 600 photos become 60 to 100, and those are exactly the ones you need for the photo book and thank-you cards.

Hide blurry shots if guests can see the gallery; they do not need to be deleted. Duplicate series of the same moment: mark the best picture, ignore the others.

Step 4: sort by person

In the album you see who each photo is from. That is handy for thank-you cards – “thanks for the pictures from the reception” – and for the case that someone wants their own photos back in full resolution: you can download one guest’s pictures as a ZIP of their own.

Step 5: photo book, thank-you cards, sharing the album

With the favourites as a ZIP you have everything a photo book service needs; the files come in original quality, so large formats work too. For thank-you cards, one guest photo per table works well – guests love finding their own picture.

If you want all guests to see and download all photos, open the gallery. It stays accessible as long as the album does. If you would rather share a selection, hide what does not belong first.

Finally: close the album

Once everything is backed up: close uploads, so no photos turn up months later that nobody reviews any more. You can also renew the link; old table cards then lead nowhere. The album itself stays until the end of its retention – or you delete it as soon as you no longer need it; the files are then gone from the server within a few hours.