I know what you’re thinking. “Photographers are telling me how to do it myself???”
And the answer is YES!
While we firmly believe a professional wedding photographer is essential for those key moments during the day, we also know there are some “happenings” better captured by your guests (and maybe left out of your wedding album).
Like most professional photographers, we stay long enough to get the beginning of the dance. A little DIY wedding reception photography will supplement your professional photographs and get your family and friends in on the action.
Most of your guests will have their smart phones at your wedding and will be using them to take photos. The quality of the photographs are sure to be better than those old “disposable” cameras couples used to leave on tables. Even better, photo-sharing apps will encourage your guests to share their photos with you. (No more chasing after photos on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!)
I have done a round-up of some DIY options that you should check out:
Wedpics and Eversnap are apps that allow your guests to upload photos from their phones or a website if they use a digital camera. Eversnap takes it a step further and offers a live moderated slideshow (to make sure that all the photos shown on the screen are appropriate- a huge PLUS if you have crazy friends and grandma is still at the party!) that can be shown during your reception, even collecting hashtagged Twitter and Instagram photos to add to your album.
- Wedpics https://www.wedpics.com
- Eversnap (formerly Weddingsnap) http://www.geteversnap.com
Many couples like to create wedding websites. These are useful for sharing information that guests may need to know about before the wedding, such as area hotels, maps and registries. Both Appy Couple and Wedding Party combine the wedding website with a matching app for guests to share wedding photos.
- Appy Couple http://www.appycouple.com
- Wedding Party https://www.weddingpartyapp.com
Truly tech-savvy couples may prefer to fully customize their wedding app. Yapp will let you build your own, adding features that are important to you.
- Yapp https://www.yapp.us
Are you already on Instagram and want to keep all your photos together there? Create your own hashtag (check to make sure no one else is using it). Ask guests to use your hashtag when they post (but remember that they need an Instagram account, too). Using the website Evenstagram, you can create a slideshow to project all those hashtagged photos during the reception.
- Instagram http://instagram.com
- Evenstagram http://eventstagr.am
Once the wedding is done, you get to sit back and enjoy all the fun photos from the night. I’m sure there will be a few “blackmail” photos in there, too…