After any wedding or big party, the best photos are scattered across a hundred phones, and most of them never reach you. Here are the usual ways of gathering them, what's good about each and what tends to go wrong, and some tips that help whichever one you choose.
The obvious one, since most of your guests are on WhatsApp already. Make a group, add everyone, and ask them to send their photos.
What's good: no new app, and people know how to use it. What goes wrong: WhatsApp shrinks photos unless people send them as documents, which few do. The group fills up with chat, and the photos are buried in it. Some guests leave the group, some never join, and not everyone wants their number shared with a hundred people. Saving the photos at the end means going through them one by one.
Make a shared album and send the link round, or put it on a QR code.
What's good: photos all end up in one place, and Google Photos keeps them at good quality. What goes wrong: adding photos needs a Google account for Google Photos, or an Apple account for iCloud, so some guests won't bother. iCloud shared albums also shrink photos. Anything anyone adds is there for everyone straight away, with no way to check it first.
Pick a hashtag and ask guests to use it when they post.
What's good: it costs nothing and some guests love it. What goes wrong: only the photos people choose to post publicly turn up, and many guests have private accounts or don't post at all. You can't download them at full size, and you're relying on everyone spelling it right.
The old favourite: a camera on every table, collected at the end of the night.
What's good: the film look, the surprise of seeing them weeks later, and guests who'd never use their phone will happily click away. What goes wrong: buying and developing them adds up, a fair share of shots come back blurry, dark or of someone's thumb, and you wait weeks to see any of it. Some cameras go home in a handbag and are never seen again.
Put a QR code on the tables that opens an upload page in the phone's browser. Guests type a name and share, and every photo lands in one album.
What's good: no app or account, photos at full size, and everything in one place to download. If the photos also go up on a screen at the venue, guests share far more, because they can see it working. What goes wrong: it needs some phone signal or Wi-Fi at the venue, the services cost money beyond a small free plan, and someone has to put the codes out.
Snazooka is the QR code option with a screen. Guests scan, type a first name and share, with no app, and their photos go up on the big screen at the venue as a live slideshow, then stay in one album for you to download at full size. You can hide anything, or approve each photo first. You can try it in 30 seconds, set up an event free, or read more about it for weddings and birthdays.
If you'd like a QR code but don't want the screen, it works for that too. There's more on our page about a QR code for wedding photos.