Set up your first event album
in 10 minutes

The short version

1Name it for the camera roll. Guests should still recognise it a week later.
2Decide the rights before the first photo. Your upload agreement is a two-minute job now and a headache later.
3Test on phones that are not yours. Three borrowed phones catch what your own one never will.

Ten minutes, five decisions

1Step 1 of 5

Minutes 0 to 2: name your event photo album like a guest would

Your event photo album needs a name a guest will recognise when it turns up in their browser history next Thursday. The event name plus the date beats anything clever: “Spring Launch, 14 May” tells people exactly what they are looking at.

Then write a two-line description. Line one says what this is (the shared album for everyone who came). Line two says what is in it for them (their photos from the event, ready to find). That is the whole pitch, and it is now written once, in the place every guest will see it.

If you have a logo and a brand colour handy, add them now. If you do not, skip it and come back later. A plain album that exists beats a beautiful one that is still a draft.

2Step 2 of 5

Minutes 2 to 4: write down what the photos are for

Before a single guest uploads, decide what you want to do with their photos. Only the event recap? Your social channels? An ad next spring? Each answer needs a different permission, and it is far easier to ask for the right one now than to go back to 200 people later.

The album shows your content agreement before a guest’s first upload. Start from a template, which ranges from event-only use to a full licence, or paste in your own wording if legal has opinions (legal always has opinions).

Pick the narrowest wording that covers what you will really do. Guests are more relaxed about “we may share this on our socials” than about a paragraph that sounds like it is claiming their firstborn.

Your workspace home, with the new album ready to share.

3Step 3 of 5

Minutes 4 to 6: give people one thing to shoot

An empty album with “share your photos” is a blank page, and blank pages make people freeze. One specific prompt gives them a job: the best outfit you see, the first bite, the crew you came with.

Pin one prompt at the top. Just one. You can swap it halfway through if it falls flat, but five prompts on day one reads like homework.

Choose something that is easy to find at your event and a bit fun to hunt for. “A photo of the view” is fine. “The best view of the city from the terrace” is better, because it sends people somewhere.

A photo prompt card in the album asking guests to show their can

4Step 4 of 5

Minutes 6 to 8: make it look like it is already happening

Nobody wants to be first. Add a few photos of your own before anyone else sees the album: the setup, the venue, a team selfie, something with a bit of personality.

If you have a photographer booked, plan for their shots of guests to go in the album during the event. Photos of people are what guests open it to find.

Three to five is plenty before doors open. Your photographer and your team keep it filling from there.

Guests relaxing on rooftop cushions — Your own photos first, so nobody has to be first.

Guests arriving on a city rooftop — Your own photos first, so nobody has to be first.

5Step 5 of 5

Minutes 8 to 10: test it on three phones that are not yours

Grab three people with different phones (ideally one iPhone, one Android and one that is a few years old) and ask them to scan the QR. Watch, do not help. Wherever they hesitate, a guest will too.

Have each of them add one photo and one short video from their camera roll. Guests add both with no app and no account, so if anyone gets stuck, it is usually a phone setting worth knowing about before doors open.

Check the uploads appear in your album. If they do, you are finished. Close the laptop. You have an event to get dressed for.

The Dotti Summer Launch album open in the browser, with one button to add photos or videos — What a guest sees after scanning: your album, open in their browser.

Your take

Three quick ones. Tap an answer to see how everyone else replied. We read every answer, it shapes what we build next.

1 of 3

How long does setting up for event photos usually take you?

2 of 3

Do you decide what guest photos can be used for before the event?

3 of 3

What worries you most about your first event album?

Anything else on your mind?

What you wish this guide covered, what drives you mad about event photos, anything. Read by the people building MyWrap.

Steal this

Three bits of copy for setup day. Paste them in and swap in your details.

For the album description

“This is the shared album for everyone at [event name]. Come find your photos from the day, and add your own photos and videos too. No app, no account, about 20 seconds.”

For the pinned prompt

“First mission: show us the crew you came with. Bonus points for anyone mid-laugh.”

For your three phone testers

“Favour! Can you scan this, add any photo and any short video, and tell me if anything felt confusing? Takes a minute. I owe you a drink.”

Fair questions

How do I make an event photo album guests will actually use?

Give it a clear name, one specific photo prompt and a few seed photos, then put the QR where people stand still. Guests open it in their browser and add from their camera roll, with no app and no account.

Can guests add videos as well as photos?

Yes. Guests add photos and short clips straight from their camera roll, and both land in the same album.

Who owns the photos guests upload?

That depends on the content agreement you choose. Guests see it before their first upload, and you can pick a template from event-only use up to a full licence, or use your own wording.

How early should I set up the album?

At least a day before, so you have time to test it on other people’s phones and print the QR. The setup itself takes about ten minutes.

How long should I keep the album open after the event?

A week is a good rule of thumb. Plenty of guests only go through their camera roll a few days later.

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