Wedding gallery delivery: the checklist, the three emails and the follow-up

Promise versus delivery

Before you open the gallery, reread the contract and your own emails. Write down what you promised, then check each against what you are sending.

The checklist, in the order you work

1. Cull and edit

• Duplicates, blinks and misfires are gone. If two frames are nearly the same, one goes.
• Every named person appears at least once, in focus.
• Family formals: one keeper per group, and the count matches the list.
• Skin tones match across both cameras, and across both shooters.
• Spot-check twenty images at 100 percent for focus.

2. Merge two shooters

• Check the camera clocks. If the second shooter’s clock was off, shift the files by the offset before you sort.
• Sort the combined set by capture time, then fix the places where the two cameras disagree.
• Rename with one prefix and a zero-padded number, such as smith-0001, so files sort in day order.

3. Export

• Full-size JPEGs in sRGB for the download set. Keep a web-size set separate if you offer one.
• Your copyright in the metadata. Remove GPS if the camera recorded it and you do not want it public.
• Export a test batch of 10 and open it on your phone before you export the rest.

4. Build the gallery

• Sections in day order: getting ready, ceremony, family, portraits, reception. Details go in the section where they happened.
• Choose a cover that survives a vertical crop on a phone. Set the focal point on the faces.
• Title it with the names, spelled as the couple spells them, and the right date.
• Hide outtakes you kept for yourself. If it is in the gallery, they will assume it is a keeper.

5. Set access

• Downloads on for the couple. Guest downloads on or off, as they told you.
• Password or PIN set, and written down for the email.
• Expiry date set, and equal to the one in the contract.
• Search engines blocked, if your platform lets you choose.

6. Test

• Open the link in a private window, logged out, on your phone first.
• Check the cover, the section tabs, and a scroll through three sections.
• Download one photo and the full ZIP, and open both. A ZIP that fails is the most common support email.

The three emails

Sneak peek

Subject: A first look at your day

Hi [names],

Here are [number] photos from your wedding while I finish the rest. [link]

The full gallery will be with you by [date]. I will email you the day it is ready.

[Your name]

Send the peek on the date you promised, even if it is a week later than you wanted. A missed date matters more than a smaller set.

Full gallery

Subject: Your wedding gallery is ready

Hi [names],

Your gallery is here: [link]. [Password: ___ if used.]

There are [number] photos. Tap the heart on the ones you love, so I know which to use in your album. Use the download button to save the full set. The gallery stays online until [date], so please download your copy before then.

Thank you for trusting me with your day. It was a pleasure.

[Your name]

Put the link in the first line, and the one action you want from them in the second. Everything else is optional.

Expiry reminder

Subject: Your gallery closes on [date]

Hi [names],

A quick note that your gallery closes on [date]. If you have not downloaded the full set yet, please do it before then: [link].

If you would like more time, tell me and I will see what I can do.

[Your name]

The follow-up calendar

Before the send button

1. Read the email aloud, link included.
2. Check the recipient: whoever the couple named for the gallery, with the other partner copied.
3. Set the expiry reminder in your calendar now, while the date is in front of you.
4. If the planner or florist asked for a share link, send it as a separate email.
5. If the second shooter was promised portfolio selects, send them.

For the work that comes before the gallery, see a wedding photographer workflow from inquiry to delivery, and for how to brief a second shooter so the merge is easy, see second shooter tips.

When the couple asks for changes

Requests after delivery are normal. Decide your answers before you need them, and write them in the contract and the delivery email so each request is a conversation about a rule, not a favor.

• A missing moment. Check the full set before you reply. If the moment was captured, add it. If it was not, say so kindly and do not invent one.
• Colour or crop requests. State whether you re-edit, and how many requests are included.
• Removing a photo. Many photographers will, if asked politely. Decide your policy first.
• Extra copies and prints. Point to your price list, with the link, and a lead time.
• Lost files after expiry. If you keep backups, say for how long. Do not promise an archive you will not keep.

Store what you delivered

Keep the exact export you sent, not only the edited catalog. Note the date, the number of images and the gallery link in your tracker, so that a request a year later takes two minutes to answer. Keep at least two copies of the originals in different places until your contract says you can stop.

Questions, answered