Reader Buzz: Guests Photos
January 11th, 2007 @ 4:42 pm by Reader Buzz
Mrs. Bee here.
SoonToBMrsB blogged about having a basket full of SASE’s with blank cds inside them, instead of disposable cameras at her wedding. This way guests could mail back their digital pictures, and she’d also get ceremony shots which she wouldn’t with the disposable cameras on reception tables.
(via knottie Ayamm1123)
A friend of mine (who just had a baby :D) did this at her wedding, and said she got back some awesome pictures. I wanted to do it at our wedding too, but Mr. Bee thought that it was asking too much of the guests. So we did the disposable cameras on the table thing, but due to the inferior quality of the camera, most of the pictures didn’t come out (be sure to test one out ahead of time).
The guests that did send all their images either via shutterfly, cd or Mr. Bee’s work server (his coworkers), took the most fabulous candid shots. And most of them took over 200 pictures! I made a shutterfly album from those candids alone. 
Are you planning on doing anything special - blank cds, shutterfly, etc. - to get pictures from your guests? Are you planning on doing disposable cameras?
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21 Responses to “Reader Buzz: Guests Photos”
I just clicked through to your Shutterfly book. It’s so much fun to see the Westside Loft decorated for another weddding. For example, here’s how we decorated for our ceremony in the exact same spot:
http://kateandry4an.org/gallery/wedding/kate375
I’ve been wondering about this myself. I’ve been to sooo many events where people have been taking photos, and I’ve thought “gee I’d like to have a copy of that.” I’m thinking that a wedding is a little different, in that guests really know that the couple would like pictures. Maybe an email afterwards asking for pics?
The best thing in my opinion was what my MOH did. She brought her laptop and card reader. Everyone uploaded their photos in the bridal suite or at the hotel the following day. It was not a nuisance at all.
Friends of mine did this for their very informal wedding - they had a laptop set up near the music tent that they were playing music off of and had a couple of unviersal card readers (not all universals are actually universals - beware!). Then they made an announcement (although a sign probably would work) and had the booth manned by a younger tech savy cousin of theirs who downloaded them all and then put the card back into the camera for the guests who then went on their merry way.
They didnt’ actually have a photographer at tehir wedding, so it was all candids from their guests. I think it’s a great idea!
That’s a great idea. I wonder if you somehow included an email address somewhere (like on the favor thank you label or a small sign on each table or something like that)…if people would email the pics to the bride/groom.
Giving something tangible (the cds) seems more likely to get a response.
Or, I think someone said this before, set up a shutterfly and give everyone the password and let them upload the pics so everyone can see them who logs in to upload their pictures.
oooh that’s a great idea. another one for the book.
We are planning to have a couple laptops and universal card readers where guests can upload photos. We will also have some cds with SASE in case there is a line, people don’t have time, or someone’s camera uses media our card reader doesn’t read.
regarding everyone else who used card readers for guests to upload photos? what if there are photos that guests don’t want to upload? like if they’re on a weeklong vacation trip and don’t exactly want to upload those particular pictures alongside the ones they took of the wedding? wouldn’t that be a problem for some guests? is there a way for the guests to upload only selected digital pictures?
sounds like a good idea for the bride/groom but seems like it would be a hassle for the guest. i agree with smork - if i were a guest i’d like to go home and view my pictures first before uploading them.. and plus the fact that I probably have other pictures on my camera that i wouldn’t want to share. I think an email after the wedding would be more appropriate, and i’m sure most guests will oblige.
Regarding guests not wanting to upload all photos, that’s why I’m also offering SASE with CDs. Guests can choose if they would like to just do it then and there or go through them and then send photos
WoW!!!! I have the same idea. i actually have blogged this earlier.
here is the site:
http://belinda-and-carlos.blogspot.com/2007/01/diy-guest-book-idea.html
I know it may sound crude to ask the guest to ask for the photos that they took of the wedding. But if you spruce it up like sending them notice ahead.
I am pretty sure that all your guest would understand.
Oooh, I really like the blank CD & SASE idea. I’ve seen similar things done, but I like this idea more than the others.
One of my friends set up a Flickr.com account just for her wedding pictures. Flickr has an option where people can upload photos by email. She sent out an email to guests letting them know about the account and the address they could send their photos to.
I’ve also heard about people giving out little cards at the reception to guests letting them know how they can upload their photos.
What a frigging great idea!!
Sometimes I am just amazed at the technology that exists out there as well as the cool ways to use them!!
I agree that having them e-mail or upload to Flickr might be easier, but handing them a CD gives them that nudge to get on it.
I love this idea! We will have a lot of people with digital cameras at our wedding, so this will be perfect.
A while ago, I was thinking about this too and found http://www.youshoot.com/ where you can rent digital cameras for your event! It’s $20 per camera for a 3.2 megapixel with 3x digital zoom and $34.95 per camera for a 5.0 megapixel camera with 3x optical zoom and 3.3x digital zoom. Both also take movie clips.
It’s an interesting concept. In the end, I think the option will probably be too expensive for us, so we may give the cameras to just a few people and tell them to have at it..but we’re not sure.
KD, I’ve seen youshoot.com as well and that was my favorite option besides the CD’s. I think they are on the spendy side, but a great option. I think that was one of my first blogs (if you visit it, you have to scroll way back) about disposables, youshoot, etc.
I just know that I am the type of person who would easily download my pics for someone if all the tools were there…hence the SASE. Otherwise I forget. I have been to weddings with diposables but I have yet to hear anyone *rave* about them.
I don’t know about you guys, but at the end of the night it seems that some guests are a little too…incapacitated…to stop and think about downloading pics at a station–although that seems quickest and easiest!
I really like the disposable camera idea. I love film pictures. Plus it’s sentimental - my parent’s did this at their wedding, which turned out to be a good thing because their photographer was going blind and didn’t tell them…talk about wedding day horror stories. My favorite shot of their wedding was taken with a disposable camera - the pastor’s grandson catching the bouquet. No joke.
I really appreciate Ms. Frizzle’s thoughts; I wish that we had her school’s culture of collegiality in our California junior high school.,
Everyone loves the idea of candid, guest-taken photos, but the disposable camera idea doesn’t really do the job for all kinds of reason. Check out canditto.com for an easy to use suitable for even drunk peoples’ use!
These are all great ideas for collecting the photos. We have helped 100’s of brides now and our advice to you is to make sure that you collect the “high resolution” images from everyone. You can collect them in a variety of ways at “all” your events. We have launched a service for this that I think that you will really enjoy.
Once you create your account, it becomes a private social network for your wedding and gives the guests a central location to upload and find all the images that were collected. You can collect them in a variety of ways, but this makes it very fun to distribute.
Everyone creates their own profile so you can sort them by who uploaded them and by all your events, not just the wedding and reception.
I posted some reference materials for you that includes ideas and resources for creating photo tags, labels, and stickers for your reception.
Happy high res photo collecting! Hope this helps.
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I’m still trying to figure out “how” and “where” to do this… but I want to have a DOWNLOAD area where guests could simply put their digital media in the reader and we could get their photos before they left! The CD idea is great too… but I thought this might take care of some guests who aren’t too tech saavy but have digital cameras.