I have a great passion for photos. For me they breathe life back into the memories I have of days gone past and allow me to relive the emotions and remember the people with whom I shared those moments with. You could say there is magic in them. I believe that this is one reason why photos should always play an important role in your wedding day. Now I think it goes without saying that you should always have an official photographer – one who knows what they are doing and has a style that suits yours – but what I really want to talk about today is capturing those candid moments that happen when the official photographer is busy elsewhere.
In the late 90s the disposable cardboard wedding camera set out on its rise to popularity as the preferred way for guests to capture these very moments. But with the advances we’ve seen in technology in recent years is this still our best choice?
The Disposable Cardboard Camera
For us here in New Zealand the trend of placing disposable cameras on the guest tables began it’s rise to popularity around the mid 2000s. Around that time I had two weddings that chose to use them. We found a 10 pack of cameras at an affordable price that had a design that worked with their theme. Away their guests went, clicking photos to their hearts content. Then it came time to develop them. Being that they were film cameras we had no choice but to develop the whole film which generally cost somewhere between $20 – $30, only to find that most of the photos were blurry, and those that weren’t had the top of someone’s head cut off. I think that one of those brides, after developing a couple of films, gave up on the rest and threw them out. Overall a rather costly and disappointing experience.
From that point on I looked for alternative options to offer my clients. I found that a few companies overseas were offering a similar solution to the disposable cameras, but rather with digital cameras that you could hire. Unfortunately no one in NZ had picked up on that idea in time for the next wedding so we had to come up with something else.
CDs for Guest’s Photos
By this time digital cameras had become increasingly popular. This Bride and Groom were confident that many of their guests had digital cameras and that they would bring them along. So this time we gave out CDs, labelled with the Bride and Grooms details, for the guests to take home, download their photos onto and then post to the Bride and Groom. This idea had better success because the guests could check their photos as they took them, meaning they were of a higher quality and the Bride and Groom could be more selective about the ones they chose to develop. Sadly there were still a few downsides. The first being that it is very hard to predict how many guests will take a CD, so we ended up with CDs and envelopes leftover. Secondly, not everyone remembered to send their photos to the Bride and Groom, meaning they had to chase people for the photos. Overall for the cost of around $30 – $50 it wasn’t a bad idea.
Photo Sharing Apps
Now with smart phones and mobile access to the internet there are a number of apps that can be downloaded onto your phone through which you can take photos and share them to a personalised online album. My favourite of these apps is WedPics.
WedPics wedding app is a free, fun, and an easy way for your guests to share their photos & videos of your special day. It is available for both iPhone and Android, and if your cell phone isn’t smart enough then you still have the option of uploading photos from you digital camera. The pros of this modern solution to the disposable cardboard camera are that it costs nothing to set up and because it is instant you are less likely to have to chase people to send you their photos.
Conclusion
Ultimately all these options are still viable for any event, you just have to consider your event, your guests, your budget and the look and feel that you are aiming for. For me the strength of the app option and ability to immediately upload photos from your phone or later from your digital camera is very attractive especially at no cost.
There are plenty of other options out there like Facebook, Instagram or shared file services like Dropbox. It would be great to hear from you on what you have seen or done, and whether they worked well or not.
