Guides
A live slideshow at your party: projector, TV and what to check beforehand
Nothing motivates guests to upload more than their own photo on the screen. A live slideshow is technically simple – if three things are right: the connection, the internet and a look at the pictures before everyone sees them.
Updated: 18 October 20265 min read
What you need
The list is short, and the venue has most of it anyway:
- A projector with a screen or a big TV – depending on the room and its brightness. A TV is easier to read in bright rooms.
- A laptop or tablet with a browser. Festatelier’s slideshow runs in the browser; there is nothing to install.
- An HDMI cable or the TV’s wireless casting (AirPlay, Chromecast, Miracast).
- Internet: the venue’s Wi-Fi or a phone hotspot. The slideshow only loads previews and needs little bandwidth.
- A power supply for the laptop – a five-hour slideshow drains any battery.
Test beforehand – at home and at the venue
Open the slideshow on your TV at home, upload a few test photos and check that they appear. Do the same at the venue while setting up: plug in, go full screen, let it run once. Check whether the TV goes to sleep after a while – some sets switch off after four hours; the setting is usually called “energy saving” or “auto power off”.
The browser keeps the screen awake by itself while the slideshow runs; you only have to plug the laptop in.
Who sees what: the slideshow is public
On the screen, everyone sees everything. That is why the slideshow only shows photos you have not hidden. Two things have proven useful: first, a co-host – the maid of honour, a friend – keeps an eye on the album on their phone during the party and hides what should not go on the screen. Second, photos that guests report disappear from the slideshow immediately until you decide.
Guests have to confirm before their first upload that the people shown agree. That does not solve every case, but it makes clear to everyone that the pictures will be shown.
Videos and sound
Videos start by themselves in the slideshow and are replaced after one minute at the latest, so a long video does not block the photos. By default they are muted – at a party with music that is usually right. Press M to switch on sound for videos; it then applies to this device.
When the slideshow should start
Not only at the dance. Start it at coffee or at the reception after the ceremony – then guests see early that their photos arrive and upload more for the rest of the day. Put the QR code next to the screen: whoever sees their own photo wants to know how that works.
If new photos do not appear, it is almost always the laptop’s internet. The slideshow checks for new pictures every few seconds and catches up automatically once the connection is back.