The questions hosts ask before their first collection
Sixteen of them, in the order people actually think of them: who can see the link, what happens to a file that fails, whose account owns the photographs, and the four things this product does not do.
A collection is simple to run and slightly unusual in its shape, which is why the same handful of questions come up before every first event. This page answers them in one place, with the parts the product does not do written down as plainly as the parts it does.
The link, and who can use it
Can anybody who finds the link upload to my collection?
Anyone with the address, which is why the address is yours alone to hand out. It is long, lowercase and not guessable, the guest pages are kept out of search indexes deliberately, and there is no public list of collections anywhere on the site. There is no passcode in front of the upload page — the address is the door — so the practical rule is to put it on cards and in invitations rather than in a public post.
Can guests see each other's photographs?
Only if you allow it. One switch decides whether the shared gallery is open to the people who arrive, and closing it turns the same link into an upload page that shows nothing. Hosts running a surprise, or collecting photographs of other people's children, close it.
What happens if I send the link to the wrong person?
Nothing irreversible. They can reach the collection you sent them to and nothing else, and you can raise a new address for a future event. If a link genuinely got somewhere it should not, tell us the collection name and we can put it on hold while you think.
Does the QR code expire?
No. It carries the address and never changes, so a card that was printed before the event still resolves a year later — it just opens a page that tells the truth about the state of the collection.
Uploads, from the host's side
Can I add my own photographs to the collection?
Yes, from the same page the guests use or from the dashboard, and your own files count against the same allowance as everybody else's. Hosts who took photographs during the evening nearly always put them in — it is the only place the whole day ends up together.
Can I stop video, or photographs, partway through?
Both are switches. Turning off video stops new clips and leaves the ones already in the collection untouched, which is the fast answer to a room that has discovered the option.
Do uploads fail quietly if the venue's signal drops?
No. The queue on the guest's phone holds the files, retries with a pause between attempts, and shows anything that gave up as a failure you can retry rather than dropping it. On your side a file either arrives or does not, and the count on the dashboard tells you which.
What are the sizes and formats?
Photographs in JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF, AVIF and iPhone HEIC or HEIF, up to 15 MB each. Video in MP4, M4V, MOV and WebM, up to 100 MB per clip. Nothing is compressed on the way in, and the camera's own date travels with the file.
Can I close uploads without closing the gallery?
Yes. Uploads and browsing are separate: a host can stop new files arriving while the page keeps showing what came in, which is what most people want after the event itself is over.
Ownership, downloads and the dates
Who owns the photographs?
The account that created the collection, which is the person who takes the download. A collection has one owner login, so whose account it is created in is worth deciding before the invitations go out — particularly for a wedding, and particularly when one person is doing the administering and another is paying.
Can a second person help run it?
Not through a separate login today. There is no manager or co-host account to invite, so a second person either uses the owner's account or does their part on the physical side — printing stands, placing cards, reading the pile on a phone you have handed them.
Do I get everything in one download?
Yes, on the packages that carry downloads: one archive with the photographs, the clips and the written guestbook text, and nothing you deleted or refused inside it. Individual files can be taken one at a time from the media list.
How long do I have before the files go?
The retention period printed on the dashboard from the day the collection opened — a week, six months, twelve or twenty-four — with a mail naming the last three dates about a week ahead of them. Extra time can be bought while the collection is still open.
Is the download a subscription?
No. One price per event, paid once — by card on the payment page or by transfer against an invoice reference — with nothing stored and nothing that renews. An extension is another one-off purchase on the same collection.
Money, before you commit
What does a collection cost, exactly?
Preview is free: twenty photographs from ten people, open for seven days, no downloads. It exists so one table at a real event can be tried before anything is paid. Paid collections are $19 for two hundred photographs and six months, $39 for seven hundred and fifty and twelve months, $69 for two thousand and two years. Each is a single price for one event rather than a subscription, and nothing renews.
What happens if we run past the allowance on the night?
The guest's upload page says the collection is full and the dashboard shows the same count, so it never fails silently. Extra uploads are bought in blocks — a hundred photographs for $5, two hundred and fifty for $10, fifty clips for $9, a hundred for $15 — and keeping the gallery open longer costs $9 for six months or $15 for twelve. Both apply to the collection you already have; nobody starts a second one.
What this product does not do
Four things hosts ask for that are not there. They are listed because a page that only describes what works is a page you cannot make a decision on.
- No editing
- There is no crop, no filter and no brightness slider. What a guest sent is what the collection holds, at full size. Sorting the good frames is done afterwards in whatever you already use.
- No albums inside a collection
- One event is one flat collection of photographs, clips and messages. There is no way to make a sub-gallery for the ceremony and another for the evening, so the organising happens in the folder you download rather than on the site.
- No printed stands posted to you
- The sheet is generated in your dashboard and printed wherever you have a printer. There is no ordering service, no card stock and no delivery, which is a small nuisance and also the reason the code can be issued the minute a collection exists.
- No mobile money
- Card on the payment provider's page, or a bank transfer against an invoice reference — both in US dollars. M-Pesa and other local rails are not connected, so a host paying through one has to use the invoice route and say so.
Before you start, in one list
- Whose account creates the collection, and who will take the download
- The guest address, which cannot change once anything has been printed
- Whether photographs reach the room straight away or after somebody reads them
- Whether the shared gallery is open to guests at all
- The package, chosen for the contributors you expect rather than the chairs you counted
Everything except the address can be changed later, including the package while the collection is still open.
Ask the awkward one first
If a question is not on this page or in the help centre, write to us before you pay. A host who has been given a straight answer about a gap runs a better event than one who found it on the night.
Packages
One price for the collection, chosen before the invitations go out
Every package carries the guest link, the printable stands and the private gallery. Guests never pay and never register.
Something this page does not answer? Write to support@candidphotos.myjoyfullday.com.