Why a disposable camera for a wedding
Your photographer will get the ceremony, the portraits and the first dance. What they cannot get is two hundred points of view at once: the table that would not stop laughing, the flower girl asleep under a chair, the uncle’s speech from the back of the room. Guests have those, and a normal phone camera means they also have a screen to check, a photo to retake, and a feed to scroll.
Kept gives each guest 36 frames, no preview, and no way to see what anyone shot until the roll develops. People take the photo and put the phone down. Then, the next morning, everyone who was there opens the same roll at the same time.
It is built into Vowesta, a free wedding website platform from the same team, so a couple planning there sets the film up from their wedding details in one tap. Anyone else sets it up at kept.film in about a minute.
Settings that work
| Feature | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| Close the roll | When the bar closesNothing can be shot after this. Default is 12 hours after you create it. |
| Develop the roll | The next morningSet develop later than close so the reveal lands over breakfast rather than in the taxi home |
| Guest capacity | Your headcount, rounded upYou can raise it mid-event from your phone. It never goes down. |
| Cover photo | An engagement photoIt fills the join screen behind your names |
| Unlimited shots | Usually not36 is the point. Consider it for a small wedding where you want every frame |
Where to put the code
- One per seat, printed on the place card or menu. This gets the highest join rate because everyone sits down and reads it.
- A framed card at the bar and by the guest book.
- The back of the ceremony programme, so the roll starts before the reception.
- The wedding website and the morning-of group chat, for people who read ahead.
From running it
- Have the officiant, MC or a parent mention the code once, early. A single sentence doubles the join rate.
- Print the QR at least 3cm across on matte card. Glossy card under uplighting can be hard to scan.
- Guests can also type the six-character code at kept.film. Codes skip letters people misread, so there is no 0 or O, 1 or I.
- The roll is yours and every guest’s. Tell people they will be able to save everything the next day, and they will stop trying to photograph the same thing twice.
- Photos in the roll stay available. Nothing is deleted on a schedule, but after 120 days they move to deep archive and take 12 to 48 hours to retrieve, so export within the first few months.
What it costs
One payment for the event, by how many guests can join. Free for up to 5 guests. Capacity only goes up, so start with the number you expect and add on the night if more arrive.
| Feature | Kept, one-time |
|---|---|
| Up to 5 guests | Free |
| Up to 10 guests | $1.29 |
| Up to 25 guests | $3.49 |
| Up to 50 guests | $9.99 |
| Up to 100 guests | $19.99 |
| Up to 150 guests | $34.99 |
| Up to 200 guests | $54.99 |
| Unlimited guests | $69.99 |
Questions
Will Kept replace our wedding photographer?
How do older guests join without an app?
When should the roll develop for a wedding?
What if more guests join than we paid for?
Do guests need to download an app to use Kept?
Can the host see the photos before everyone else?
How much does Kept cost?
Give everyone a camera. Take away the screen.
Free for your first 5 guests. Your first roll takes about a minute to set up, and nobody has to install anything.