A wedding photo mosaic made from your guests' photos
Guests take hundreds of pictures you never see. One link gathers them, and each becomes a tile in a portrait of the two of you.
The picture of the couple
Choose an upright photo of the two of you with your heads close together, filling most of the frame. An engagement photo usually does the job. Wide scenic shots, where the couple is a small shape in a landscape, turn into a landscape with two dots in it.
You do not have to wait for a wedding-day portrait. Start with what you have and change the picture afterwards from your owner page; the tiles rearrange themselves to match the new one.
Asking your guests
Put the link wherever guests already look: the wedding website, the message that goes out with travel details, a small card on each table. A printed card needs a short link or a code people can scan, which you can make from the page link with any code generator.
Ask for two kinds of photo: the ones they take on the day, and an older one of themselves with either of you. Suggested wording: "Add your photos from today to our wedding picture. Open the link, choose a photo, type your name. No app and no account."
Timing around the wedding
Make the page one to two weeks before. A free page accepts photos for 30 days, and most guests send theirs in the fortnight after the wedding, once they are home and looking through their phones. Starting too early spends those days before anyone has a photo to add.
If you want longer, unlocking the page gives 90 days of uploads counted from the day you pay.
At the reception
Open the page on a laptop connected to a screen or projector. It checks for new photos about every half minute, so guests can watch their own picture arrive. An unlocked page also has a slideshow that shows each photo with the sender's name and message, returning to the portrait as it goes.
Anything on a big screen in front of grandparents deserves a look first. Choose "I approve each one first" and give the owner link to one trusted friend for the evening.
The usual mistake
Waiting for the photographer's pictures before starting. Those are yours already. The point of the mosaic is the pictures other people took, and guests are most willing to share them during the first few days.
Questions
Can guests add photos during the reception?
Yes, from their own phones. Two limits are worth knowing: one phone can add 6 photos an hour, and one network, such as the venue's wifi, can add 150 an hour in total. At a large reception, suggest guests add their favourites that evening and the rest from home.
We have a long guest list. Is 500 photos enough?
A page holds up to 500 photos. With a large guest list, ask each guest for their best two or three rather than everything on their phone.
Can we swap in a wedding-day portrait later?
Yes. Use "Change the picture" on your owner page at any time while the page exists. The photos stay, and the tiles are rearranged to form the new picture.
Is this a replacement for a shared album?
Not quite. Photos are stored at a reduced size, large enough for the mosaic and for viewing on a screen, and they are deleted when the page reaches its end date. Ask guests to send you the originals of any photos you want to keep.
Free to make and share. No account for you or for the people who add photos.