A QR code for wedding photos: designing, placing and announcing the table card

What belongs on the card

A good table card answers three questions in two seconds: What is this? What should I do? What do I get out of it? So it needs: the name of the celebration or your names, the QR code big enough to scan, and one line like “Scan the code and share your photos with us”. Nobody at a table reads more than that.

• QR code at least 3 cm wide, with a white margin and high contrast – no photo as background.
• A call to action in one sentence, in the tone of your invitation.
• Optionally a PIN if the album is protected: then only those who held the card get in.
• No link spelled out in letters that someone would have to type – the code replaces it. If you must, a short address.

With Festatelier the table card is already typeset: monogram, the motif of your occasion, QR code, call to action and, if you like, the PIN, in A5 and A6 for printing. You can of course use your own design – the QR code is available as PNG and SVG.

Where the code should sit

Rule of thumb: wherever guests already have their phone in their hand or are waiting. That is more places than the dinner table.

• On every table, ideally as a stand, not flat – lying flat the card disappears under plates.
• At the photo spot or photo booth: whoever just took a picture uploads right away.
• At the bar and the cake buffet: waiting time is scanning time.
• Next to the guest book: whoever writes thinks of memories.
• Near the projector if you show a live slideshow – the slideshow raises the question “how does my photo get in there?”, and the answer should be right next to it.

Beforehand: the link in the invitation

The table card code is for the day. For everything before – the stag and hen nights, the journey – send the link with the invitation or into the guest group. Guests who already know the link use it as a matter of course on the wedding day.

Important: only share the link meant for guests – never the access to your account. And if the link ends up with the wrong people, you can renew it with Festatelier; the old codes then stop working.

On the day: announce it once

The most effective measure is the cheapest: an announcement. The maid of honour, the master of ceremonies or the DJ say one sentence at dinner – “there is a QR code on the table cards, scan it and the couple gets all of today’s photos”. In our experience this doubles uploads compared to cards without an announcement.

A second reminder fits well when the slideshow starts or the cake is cut – by then everybody has taken pictures.

Afterwards: remind once more

Most photos do not arrive during the party but in the days after, when guests scroll through their pictures in peace. A short thank-you with the link the day after, and again after a week, brings those pictures in. Keep the album open for a few weeks for that; with Festatelier you set the date yourself.

Typical mistakes

What we see in albums again and again – and what you can avoid:

• The code is too small or printed on coloured paper with little contrast: the camera does not recognise it.
• The card does not say what happens when you scan: many guests cautiously scan nothing unknown.
• There is only one card per table: it wanders to the neighbour and is gone.
• The code was printed before the link was renewed: it leads nowhere. Only renew the link when you reprint – or before printing.
• Nobody announces it: without an announcement the card stays decoration.