Wedding live slideshow app for the reception

A live slideshow app for the reception puts guest photos on a screen in the room as they are uploaded, rather than after the wedding. Wedding Arrivals does it from a web page opened on the venue’s own screen, showing — with moderation set to hold — only the photos you have approved, on every plan from $49 and on the free trial.

Every service here puts guest photos on a screen in the room. What differs is what the room has to provide, and what reaches the screen. 11 of the 15 other services checked publish a browser link as the route — open a URL on the device already wired to the screen — and 4 do not: 3 say a screen or projector will show it without publishing how it gets there, and 1 runs its slideshow from an app of its own. On the second question the field thins out further. 7 of the 15 publish no way to approve a photo before it reaches the screen: 2 publish approval for the album without saying whether it covers the screen, 1 claims it on a feature page its own help centre does not support, 1 publishes automatic filtering instead of host approval, and 3 publish nothing about it at all.

Some of it is bought rather than switched on. Eventocam lists its moderation module as included on its top plan and not included on the two below it, Kululu publishes its manual approval on the Pro plan, and Gathmo's live wall is on the €69 plan rather than on its two cheaper ones. Wedding Arrivals carries the screen and the approvals on every plan and on the free trial, and which plan carries the slideshow is set out service by service.

• It is a web page, so the venue’s own screen can run it. Open the Wedding Arrivals slideshow link in a browser on a laptop plugged into the projector, on a smart TV, or on a tablet propped on the bar, and put it full screen. Nothing is installed at the venue.
• Nobody signs in on the screen. The Wedding Arrivals slideshow link opens without a login, so the laptop can belong to the venue or the DJ and you keep your account to yourself.
• With moderation set to hold, only what you approve appears. Wedding Arrivals holds each upload until it is approved, and the reception screen shows approved photos only — so the picture nobody wants on a ten-foot screen never gets there. Turn it on in the Wedding Arrivals dashboard before the day rather than during the reception.
• Photos appear as guests upload them. A guest scans the Wedding Arrivals QR code, uploads from the phone browser, and the picture joins the screen in the room without anyone refreshing anything.
• A dropped venue connection is not the end of the show. The Wedding Arrivals slideshow reconnects by itself and carries on, so a wobbly venue network does not leave a frozen screen behind the top table.
• Your phone is the remote. Play, pause and step the Wedding Arrivals slideshow from the dashboard on your phone — useful when the speeches start and the screen should hold still.
• Guest video plays on the screen too, alongside the photos, on every Wedding Arrivals plan — what each service accepts as guest video is a separate question with its own answers.
• It is on every Wedding Arrivals plan and on the trial. The live slideshow is on the $49 Big Day plan, on $89 and $119, and on the free trial — which plan carries the slideshow is set out service by service.

We read the live-slideshow pages and help centres of 15 other services that carry a reception slideshow, and recorded two things from each provider’s own wording: what the provider says you do to get the slideshow onto a screen at the venue, and where each provider says approval applies — the reception screen, or the album. Where a provider names the route — a browser link, a pairing code, a cast, an app — the entry gives the provider’s own description. Where a provider says a slideshow shows on a TV without saying how it gets there, the table says "not stated".

Prices and plan ladders are checked separately, on which wedding photo app includes the live slideshow in the cheapest plan and in the comparison of 50 wedding photo sharing apps.