Guide
The QR code sign that actually gets scanned.
By Max Bryselbout · Updated August 2026
The sign is the link between your album and your guests. If it does not appeal, or cannot be understood in one second, the photos stay in the phones. Sizes, wording, printing: here is what works.
In a hurry? Our free maker composes the sign for you (A5 or A4 PDF, ready to print, no account).
What a good sign carries
- The QR code, big. At least 3 to 4 cm across on a table card, about an inch and a half, and 8 to 10 cm on a welcome sign. It has to scan from standing height, without anyone leaning over the table.
- One instruction, in one sentence. A reader has to grasp both the gesture and the reward: “Scan, drop your photos, and leave with all of ours.”
- The short link as a fallback, printed under the QR code, for the guest whose phone will not co-operate.
- Your names and the date: the sign is part of the wedding stationery, so it may as well carry your names.
And one idea per sign: no running order and no table plan on the same card. One message, one gesture.
It gets harder if your album also opens a guest book, since the same QR code leads there. Two approaches hold up: keep the single instruction (“drop your photos”) and let guests find the tab once they are inside, which is the default; or print a second sign, placed somewhere else (on the bar, by the table plan), that talks only about the words. Ask for both on the same card, though, and nobody will do either.
The formats that work
- An A6 or A5 card in a stand on every table: the standard. Guests are sitting down, they have time, and the phone is already on the table.
- An A4 or A3 sign on an easel at the entrance, at the drinks reception and near the bar, to start the collecting early and restart it late.
- A sticker or an insert in the order of service, on the menu, at the photo booth: anywhere eyes come to rest.
- The digital reminder: the same QR code (or the link) on the wedding website and in the guest group chat, before and after the day.
Ten wordings to copy
Plain or playful, to match your stationery:
- “Scan, drop your photos, and leave with all of ours.”
- “Share your photos! Scan, drop, thank you.”
- “One scan, ten seconds, memories for good.”
- “The photographer cannot be everywhere. You can.”
- “No app, no account: just scan.”
- “Help us keep it all: scan and share.”
- “Your photos + ours = the whole wedding.”
- “Caught a moment? We want it.”
- “Tonight's best photos deserve better than your camera roll.”
- “This album is written by everyone. Over to you.”
Printing it, and matching your stationery
- At home: heavy paper (200 gsm at the very least) so the card stands up in its holder, and a decent print so the QR code comes out crisp.
- At a print shop: for the big welcome formats, a rigid backing (foam board) stops the sign curling in the sun on a terrace.
- Templates to customise: the marketplaces are full of designs to edit in Canva (Etsy above all). Check that the template leaves room to drop your QR code in.
In every case, scan the printed sign, not the file on screen. Pale ink, glossy paper under a spotlight, or a QR code laid over a background photo are each enough to make a scan fail, and that is not something to find out on the night.
As for style, the sign does not need to shout. Reuse the typeface and the colours of your stationery, leave white space around the QR code (which is also what makes phones read it), and keep the contrast strong: a dark code on a light background.
The QR code itself comes from your album. With Medley it is generated the moment you create your wedding album, ready to download and drop into any template you like. How it all behaves is covered in the guide to the photo QR code.