by DIY Bride on 05.03.2015 - 07:14 PM

Once upon a time, like in the olde days when I got married, couples often provided guests with disposable cameras to take shots of the wedding and reception. The idea was guests would snap away and capture precious, candid moments that a pro photographer may have missed. After the big day, you'd take those cameras to a local film development counter and ... get back hundreds of blurry shots of random stuff in exchange for all of our money. [True story: we did this and got back dozens pictures of a soda can taken by a very tipsy guest (hey, Matt!) who thought he was being funny.]

Sometimes guests might even bring their own film camera and promise to send copies of the excellent shots they bragged about having taken and, well, that rarely ever happened. The early 2000s were the Dark Ages of image sharing.

In this glorious age of digital awesomeness where every nearly guest over the age of 12 has a smart phone with a cool camera and is an expert amateur photographer, you don't have to worry about paying to develop crummy pictures you don't want. You do, however, need a way to collect the shots you want that doesn't require you scouring your family and friends' social network accounts or go begging them to send you copies. That's where our newest partner, Togetherist, comes in.

Togetherist makes it ridiculously easy for you to bring all of the digital pictures from your wedding guests into a single place. All you have to do is sign up for the service and pick a phone number where guests can send the shots. Your guests will be notified via text message where to send the images and the sent images will go directly into your account. There's no downloading of apps or need to learn a new program; guests just send photos directly to your account number from their phones. Everyone knows how to do that, right? SO. EASY.

Plans start at $20 for a gallery of 100 images and, since you don't have to print any image fro your photo collection you don't want, this ends up being an inexpensive alternative to disposable cameras. (And more environmentally friendly, too!)

Keep in touch with Togetherist at https://www.facebook.com/togetherist where they share tips and ideas on fun ways to use Togetherist during your big day, as well as future discounts.