What do you write on the card next to the QR code?

The code always works. Whether your guests use it depends on the eight words you put above it. Here are the lines you can copy, sorted by where the card sits and how formal your evening is.

8 min readupdated September 8, 2026checked August 30, 2026

the short answer

One instruction in plain words, and then one line about what happens to the photos. So: point your camera here, then you can put today's photos in. No jargon, never two instructions stacked on top of each other, and the name of the occasion on it so people know where they are going. Anybody with room for one more line spends it on the guests who would rather not be photographed.

Guests holding a glass during the welcome drinks — the card at the coat check, twenty past six

What is a card that works made of?

Five parts, and three of them fit in the same sentence. Everything that is not on this list, you leave off.

One verb. Point your camera. Not scan, not open, not download. Two instructions under each other is one too many.
No jargon. The words QR, upload, album and link tell your guest nothing about what to do. Photos and camera do.
The occasion on it. A name and a date turn an anonymous square into something of yours, and that takes the suspicion out.
What happens to the photos. Where they end up and who sees them. One short line is enough.
A way out. One line for whoever would rather not be in them.

What do you put on the card on the table?

This is the important one, because this card sits at arm's length at the moment people already have their phone in their hand. These five you can copy word for word.

Point your camera here and put today's photos in our album. The neutral one. Works at a wedding, a birthday and an anniversary.
Sanne & Lars, 12 September. Point your camera here to share your photos. Name and date on top, for whoever keeps the card.
Today we would love to see through your eyes. Point your camera at the code and your photos come to us. The warm version, for a wedding.
Anything you take today can go in here. Camera on it, pick your photos, done. For guests who are used to short and concrete.
Our photographer goes home at eleven. After that it is you. Point your camera here. The only one people read out loud at the table.

And on the sign at the door or at the coat check?

There people read in passing, with a coat over one arm. Keep it short, and do not act as though they have to do something this second. Where a sign like that works and where it does not differs per evening.

Welcome. Point your camera at this code later and you get to see the whole night back. Says what you get rather than what you must do.
Today we make the photo album together. Camera on it, photos in it. For the welcome sign at a wedding.
Your coat is safe here. So are your photos: point your camera at this. At the coat check, where people stand still anyway.
Waiting for your drink? Point your camera here and drop your photos in. On the bar, where the waiting does the work.

How does it sound when the party is looser?

At a house party, a birthday or a festival wedding the tone can be shorter. What stays is the verb.

Photos? Camera on this, chuck them in. Barely a sentence, and nobody has to stop and think.
Whatever you take tonight, we want to see it. Point your camera at this square. Works well on a beer mat on the bar.
Camera on it. No app, no account, just your photos. For guests who are afraid they will have to sign up for something.
Tomorrow none of us will remember. You have it on your phone. Camera here. For a room that appreciates dry humour.

And at a company party, a club or a school?

Here something has to be added that a wedding does not need: where the photos end up. With colleagues and members the worry is not the technology but the destination. One line about who sees them takes that away, and it is also what the GDPR side of a company party asks of you.

Camera on the code for tonight's photo album. Internal use only, not for social media. The standard line for a staff party.
Christmas drinks 2026. Point your camera here. The photos stay inside the company. Short, and it answers the question everybody is thinking.
Photos from the tournament land here. Point your camera at the code to see them all back. For a club or a tournament day.
All of today's photos in one place, for members and parents only. Camera on it. For a school event or a performance.
Camera on this for the photos of the day. Want one of yourself taken out? Email Karin. With the way out built straight in.

how we do this

Cards with your own words on them, eight to an A4

You put your own colours, logo and sentence on the cards and print them yourself or have them done. The code points at your page, and there you decide what guests see.

Make your own page See how it works

Which line do you add for people who would rather not be in a photo?

At every party there is somebody who is not comfortable with it, and they are not going to bring it up themselves. One line on the card makes it a normal choice instead of a scene.

Would rather not be in a photo? Just say so and we take it out. The shortest, and the most used.
Is there a photo of you in there you would rather lose? One word to Lisa and it is gone. With a name in it, it works better than without.
You do not have to join in. You are always welcome to look. For a club or a school, where not everybody wants to be equally visible.

What do you deliberately leave off?

The card is read by somebody sitting at a table with eleven other people and a glass in their hand. Anything they have to read twice, they read no times.

The words QR code. Your guest does not need to know what it is called, only what to do with it.
A second instruction. Choose between the code and the web address as the main route. The address can sit small underneath as a backup.
Three sentences of privacy explanation. One short line about who sees the photos is enough, the rest you say out loud.
A hashtag. It sends your photos to social media instead of to you, and then you lose exactly the ones you wanted.
Exclamation marks. They do not make the sentence clearer, only busier.

Questions about the text on the card

How long can the text be?

One sentence plus one short line. At business card size that is about twenty words, names included. Anything above that does not get read at a full table.

Should a web address go under it as well?

Yes, small. That is your backup route for the guest whose camera will not play along, and for everybody who takes the card home. Put it under the code in small type, not beside it as a second option.

What do you do about guests who do not speak the language?

Two lines under each other, the language of the room on top and English underneath: point your camera here to add your photos. More than two languages makes the card unreadable, and at that point a separate card on those tables is better.

Should you name somebody people can go to?

Do. A master of ceremonies or a colleague named on the card is the difference between a guest who gives up and a guest who asks.

Does the date have to be on it?

Yes. Not for the night itself, but for the week after: somebody who finds the card in a coat pocket knows straight away what it belonged to. That genuinely brings in more uploads, because most photos arrive after the evening.

Does a funny line work better than a plain one?

Only if the joke is in the first four words and the instruction after it still holds up. A card that wants to be funny first and explain second gets put back down halfway.