QR codes for your wedding

A QR code on your invitation saves guests from typing a long web address. One scan opens your wedding website or RSVP form. With an editable code, you can switch where it goes after the invitations are printed, so the same code can open your photo album after the day.

What a code on an invitation can open

A code opens a web page, so point it at a page you already have:

• Your wedding website, with the schedule and travel details.
• Your RSVP form, on the service you already use.
• Your registry.
• Directions, as a map link to the venue.

Use one code per piece if you like, one on the save-the-date and one on the invitation. Each code's page shows when it was scanned, so you can see if the reminder card did its job.

One code, switched after the day

This is where an editable code earns its place. Before the wedding, it opens your RSVP form. After the RSVPs are in, switch it to the schedule. After the day, switch it to your photo album, and the printed invitation on someone's fridge leads to the photos.

To switch, sign in, open the code, paste the new link and save. Every printed copy opens the new page from the next scan.

For guest photos, make a shared album on a photo service you already use, and point the code at its link. Make sure the album lets guests add photos without signing in, if you want that. ovbq doesn't host photos. The code only opens your album.

Size and placement on the card

On a 5 by 7 in invitation, the code is held in the hand, so the code itself needs to be at least 1.2 in (3 cm) wide, plus its plain border. Give it some white space. Don't put it over a photo or a pattern, and keep the border clear. Print it dark on a light card. A pale gold or blush code on cream may look lovely and still be too faint to scan.

Scan the printer's proof, not just your file. Paper, ink and finish change how a code prints. A matte card is the safer choice. For signs on the day, such as a welcome board, pick where guests will stand in the size checker.

Free is often enough

A free account includes 2 editable codes, which often covers a wedding: one for the invitation, one for the signs on the day. Fixed codes, like a Wi-Fi code for the venue, are always free and don't count toward that.

Your guests' privacy: when someone scans, we count the scan and note the time and the kind of phone. We never record their name, and we don't store IP addresses.

Related: QR codes for events · How big to print a QR code · Change a QR code's link · Pricing

For a set of photos you choose and upload yourself, use an image gallery QR code. It is a page to view pictures, rather than a way to collect guests’ uploads.