How to Control Event Gallery Access and Expiry

You control an event gallery by deciding three things: who can get in, who can add photos, and how long it stays online. With SnapPix, guests scan your QR code with their phone camera and it opens in their browser, with no app to download and no account to create. Your QR code carries a private event password, so only people you give it to can get in. There’s nothing for guests to type.

This guide walks you through each control in plain steps, explains what “expiry” means (it is not one thing), and shows what to do before your gallery closes so you keep every photo.

TL;DR

• Galleries on SnapPix are private by default. The QR code carries the event password, so only people you share it with can join.
• Guests can add photos for 3 months from the event start date. The gallery itself is hosted for 12 months from the event date.
• Private share links have an expiry date, which is handy for suppliers or relatives who weren’t at the do.
• Download your ZIP after the event and connect Google Drive, so your photos never depend on a hosting window.
• Ask before sharing photos of children, and keep the gallery private rather than posting it publicly.

Table of Contents

• The three controls that matter
• Step 1: Decide who gets in
• Step 2: Control who can add photos
• Step 3: Share privately beyond the guest list
• What “expiry” actually means
• Before the gallery closes: keep your own copy
• Privacy and photos of other people
• A quick access checklist
• Our perspective
• Start your private gallery
• FAQ
• Sources

The three controls that matter

Most hosts think of “access” as one switch. In practice it is three separate questions, and it helps to answer them in order.

1. Who can get in? Anyone holding your QR code or private link.
2. Who can add photos? Guests who have joined, within the upload window.
3. How long does it all stay online? The hosting period, which is longer than the upload window.

Keeping these apart saves confusion later. A gallery can stop accepting new photos and still be fully viewable. That is normal, and it is by design.

Step 1: Decide who gets in

Start with the people. Write a rough list: the couple or host, the guests, perhaps the photographer or venue, and relatives who couldn’t make it.

The simplest approach is the QR code. Guests scan your QR code with their phone camera and it opens in their browser, with no app to download and no account to create. Because your QR code carries a private event password, only people you give it to can get in. There’s nothing for guests to type, so you never have to read out a code across a noisy reception.

That design has a practical benefit. Nobody has to remember a login, and nobody can stumble into your gallery by guessing a web address. Whoever you hand the code to is who gets in.

Where to put the QR code

The code works as well as the places you display it. Common spots for a UK wedding or party:

• On table cards or place cards
• On an entrance sign at the venue
• On the invitation, if you want guests to start early
• On a sign near the bar or dance floor, where phones come out

You can order printed QR place cards, table signs and entrance signs, posted to you. See the SnapPix features page for what’s included.

A tip on privacy: think about where the code will be seen. A card on a table inside the reception is seen by guests. A code on a public noticeboard is seen by everyone who walks past. For a private family event, keep it inside the room.

Step 2: Control who can add photos

Guests who have joined can take photos and videos of up to 60 seconds in the browser, or upload from their camera roll. Everything lands in one private gallery you control.

Two limits shape contributions:

• Free plan: £0, no card needed, 10 uploads per guest.
• Full Event Access: £14.99 one-time per event, unlimited uploads and up to 50 AI illustrations, no subscription.

Both plans include everything else: photo challenges with a live leaderboard, the digital guest book, the optional Event Reel, the slideshow, Smart Albums, private share links and Google Drive backup. The password protection is the same on both. Details are on the pricing page.

How many guests can join? Unlimited guests, on either plan. So you never need to trim your audience to stay in control. The access control comes from the QR code, not from a guest cap.

Weak signal at the venue

Mobile signal in barns, castles and country houses can be patchy. Uploads wait on the phone if signal drops, then send when the guest is back online. This matters for access too: a guest who joined in the car park and photographed the whole evening still gets everything into your gallery.

Guiding what guests share

Control is also about steering, not just locking. Photo challenges with a top-10 leaderboard nudge guests towards the shots you’d love, such as the first dance, the cake or the best table. Challenge albums collect the entries in one place. The digital guest book gives people somewhere to leave a message instead of only a photo.

If you want to look for particular moments afterwards, host-only AI Smart Albums let you describe what you want (such as “first dance” or “cake”) and SnapPix builds an album from matching photos. Only you see them.

Step 3: Share privately beyond the guest list

Sometimes you need to show the gallery to someone who wasn’t there: a grandparent abroad, a florist who’d like to see the tables, a planner. You don’t want to hand them your QR code.

Use a private share link. You can give it an expiry date, so it stops working when you no longer want it open. This is the cleanest way to share with a limited audience for a limited time.

A few sensible habits:

• Send the link directly to the person, not into a big group chat that others can forward.
• Pick an expiry that matches the purpose. A supplier needing a week of access doesn’t need months.
• Keep a note of who you sent each link to.

For more on handling suppliers and photographers, see our guide on keeping vendor access secure, and for the wider picture, our secure event photo sharing guide for UK organisers.

What “expiry” actually means

People search for event gallery expiration and get a muddle of answers, because three different things share the word. Here they are side by side.

Notice what is not in the table: deletion on a surprise date. The upload window closing does not remove your photos. It only stops new ones arriving. The hosting period is the longer clock, and it is the one to plan around.

A worked example

Say your wedding is on a Saturday in June.

• Guests can add photos for 3 months from that day, so uploads close in September.
• The gallery is hosted for 12 months from the event date, so it stays online until the following June.
• A private link you made for your florist, set to expire after a fortnight, stops working long before either.

Three different clocks, each doing its own job. Check the current terms on the FAQ and pricing pages whenever you plan, since the exact wording of any service can be updated.

Why a limit is a good thing

A gallery that lives forever online is a gallery that someone has to keep safe forever. A fixed window keeps things tidy and limits how long your photos sit on a server. For one-off celebrations, that is usually what hosts want. Our article on temporary photo sharing goes deeper on why short-lived galleries suit most events.

Before the gallery closes: keep your own copy

Hosting is for sharing and enjoying photos. It is not your archive. Make your own copy well before the 12 months are up, and preferably soon after the event.

1. Download your ZIP after the event. High-resolution downloads come with a one-click ZIP, on both plans.
2. Connect Google Drive. Google Drive backup is included, so your photos sit in your own storage too.
3. Save the favourites twice. Keep one copy on a hard drive or computer and one in the cloud.
4. Check the files open. Open a handful of photos and a video or two before you consider the job done.
5. Put a reminder in your own calendar. Don’t rely on anyone else to remind you. Set a date a couple of months before the hosting period ends.

Wait until the upload window has closed if you want to be sure every late contribution is in. Guests often upload holiday-style batches weeks after a wedding, so a second download in the final month of the window picks up the stragglers.

Privacy and photos of other people

A gallery of your own celebration is personal, and the UK’s data protection regulator says the law doesn’t cover personal data used for purely personal or household activity. It also doesn’t stop people taking photos or videos for personal use. That is reassuring for a family party.

The same ICO page explains the difference between sharing privately and publicly. Posting to a private account seen only by friends or family is likely to count as personal use, while a public post may fall under data protection law. In plain terms, keeping your gallery private is the safest default, and it is how SnapPix galleries start.

Some practical manners to go with that:

• Ask before sharing photos of children. Parents may have good reasons for not wanting their child’s picture passed around. A quick word, or a note with the invitation, avoids awkwardness.
• Don’t post the gallery link on public social media. Share the link only with people who need it.
• Give guests a heads-up. A line on your table sign saying photos go into a private gallery sets expectations.
• Take down anything someone objects to. Being kind matters more than the rules here.

This is general guidance, not legal advice. If you run a larger or workplace event and aren’t sure what UK GDPR asks of you, speak to your organisation’s data protection lead or read the ICO’s guidance for small organisations.

If you also record an online part

Some hosts livestream the ceremony for relatives abroad or record a toast. The ICO’s advice for organisations is that you need a clear purpose for recording, and should tell attendees why and how long it is kept. Whenever you share things online, it also pays to understand the trust and security checks that reputable online services put in place.

A quick access checklist

Run through this a week before your event:

1. Create your event and check the QR code opens the gallery on your own phone.
2. Print or order your cards and signs, and decide where each goes.
3. Choose Free or Full Event Access. If you expect keen photographers or want the AI illustrations, the £14.99 one-time option covers it.
4. Set up a couple of photo challenges and a welcome message in the guest book.
5. Tell your photographer or planner how you’d like to share the gallery with them.
6. Write down the date uploads close and the date hosting ends.

Our guide to hosting an event gallery without an app covers the hosting side in more depth.

Our perspective

We built SnapPix after our own wedding, and the lesson we took from it was simple: guests will happily share photos, but only if it takes seconds, and hosts will only relax if the gallery is private.

That’s why the QR code does two jobs. It gets guests in with one scan, and it carries the private event password, so you never have to manage logins or print codes for people to type. Nobody downloads an app. Nobody makes an account.

We also think expiry should be easy to understand. Guests get 3 months from the event start to add photos. The gallery is hosted for 12 months from the event date. Private share links have their own expiry date. Three clocks, each with one job.

And we’d always ask you to keep your own copy. Download your ZIP after the event and connect Google Drive. Then your photos are yours, wherever they live.

Liam

Start your private gallery

Every SnapPix event starts on the Free plan: £0, no card needed, 10 uploads per guest. If you want guests to share without a cap, Full Event Access is £14.99 one-time per event, with unlimited uploads and up to 50 AI illustrations, and no subscription. Both plans include everything else, from photo challenges to private share links and Google Drive backup.

You can set up your event in under a minute. See the plans and pricing or head to the SnapPix home page to begin.

FAQ

Can anyone with the link see my gallery?

Galleries are private by default, and your QR code carries a private event password, so only people you give it to can get in. Treat the QR code and any private share link like a house key: give it to the people you trust, and don’t post it publicly.

How long can guests add photos?

Guests can add photos for 3 months from the event start date. After that, no new uploads arrive, but the gallery is still hosted for 12 months from the event date, so you and your guests can keep viewing it.

Does a share link expire?

Yes. Private share links have an expiry date, so you can give a supplier or relative access for just as long as they need it. Once that date passes, the link stops working, while your main gallery carries on as normal.

What should I do before the gallery is removed?

Download your ZIP after the event and connect Google Drive. Both come with the Free plan and Full Event Access. Then you hold your own copies and don’t depend on the hosting period at all.

Sources

• Taking photos in schools, ICO
• Data sharing advice, ICO
• Trust and security features, Life4Rent

Recommended

• 4 Controls to Secure Vendor Gallery Access for Photographers
• Event Hosts Keep Control and Curation With No App Galleries
• Temporary photo sharing for event hosts made simple
• Password protected gallery setup: a photographer’s guide