Digital invitation

The Digital Invitation is a page of its own for your guests: names, date, countdown, venue, dress code, accommodation, gifts – and the replies along with it. You share it as a link or QR code, and your guests need neither an account nor a sign-in.

Not the same as the printed invitation card

The Digital Invitation is a tool and a web page. The invitation card in the Design Studio is a print template on paper. The two work well together – the printed card carries the QR code that leads to the digital invitation.

What makes the digital invitation special

The tool sits in the Planning & organisation section – right next to the guest list, the seating plan and RSVP, and first in that section. It behaves differently from the other tools, though:

• The guest address is short and shareable: it ends in /invite. That is exactly the address that belongs on the save-the-date card.
• It has no widget and by default does not appear in the guest menu on the event home page. The tile therefore carries the note Direct link only. You can add it deliberately, though – the switch for that sits in the QR code tab (see below).
• It runs as a standalone page – no gallery navigation, no app footer. Only Imprint and Privacy sit at the bottom.
• It works without a sign-in. Anyone who only looks at the invitation never becomes a guest account and shows up in no participant statistic.

The tool is in every plan – publishing the full version is not

The digital invitation ships with every package, and save the date is free everywhere. What you pay for is publishing the full invitation. You can still design and preview all of it at any time – the editor says so in the right place. Existing events keep the right anyway.

Phone

Computer

The result: a standalone page without gallery navigation, reachable at the /invite address. ① The header with the names, ② the music button in the bottom right – your guests only see it while the invitation plays music.

Setting it up and publishing

1. Open the invitation: in the sidebar under Planning, either its own entry – which exists as soon as it is active and recently used – or All Tools and there the Digital Invitation tile.

   Phone

   

   Computer

   

   All tools at a glance – the tiles are grouped by section. The invitation sits under “Planning & organisation”. ① The switch in the top right turns the tool on or off right away – there is no save button. If a tool is not part of your package, an Upgrade chip sits there instead and a click takes you to the package overview. ② The line below says where guests meet the tool: Home page (a card on the event home page), Guest menu (an entry in the menu), Direct link only (reachable via link or QR code only), Only for you (a pure admin tool) and, if you set an end, Until ‹date›. ③ Copy link puts the guest address on your clipboard, QR code opens the tab with the printable code. That row only exists for tools that are switched on and have a guest page of their own. Clicking the tile itself opens the editor.

2. Design your invitation in the Content tab. That works while the tool is still off – a note at the top says you can prepare the content in peace.

3. Switch on Enable tool at the top – or click Publish in the Not published yet box inside the editor. Both do the same thing.

4. Pick up the link or QR code in the QR code tab and send it out.

Unpublished means invisible

While the tool is off, your guests only see “This invitation is currently unavailable.” under the link. The editor flags this with Not published yet.

The editor has only two tabs – Content and QR code. The Display and Visibility tabs are missing on purpose: there is no widget to switch and no time window, because the invitation is only ever reached up to the event day anyway.

Once the invitation is switched on, the large card at the top gives way to a slim strip with a check mark, the word Active, the line “Not on the event home page — send the link or QR code yourself.” and the switch on the right.

Saving happens in the bar at the bottom: Unsaved changes appears on the left, Preview and Save sit on the right.

Phone

Computer

① The master switch – the invitation does not sit on the event home page either. ② The three tabs Content, Display and QR code. ③ The language block with Update All and Fill Missing. ④ Preview opens the phone view on the right – exactly what your guests get.

Scope: save the date or full invitation

Right at the top of the editor you decide under Scope how much the invitation already shows:

• Save the Date – names, date and countdown only. Ideal while the venue is not settled. Free on every package.
• Full invitation – all sections: venue, schedule, dress code, accommodation, gifts, RSVP. The Expand now button switches over.

You can switch at any time, and the link stays the same. Whoever already holds the save-the-date card lands on the finished invitation months later, automatically.

Publishing the full version is part of the paid packages

If your package does not cover it, a note sits under Scope: “Save the date is free — the full invitation is part of the paid packages.”, followed by “You can design and preview all of it right now. Only sending it needs a package — until then guests see the save-the-date version.”

So the editor blocks nothing: you finish the full invitation, look at it in the preview and decide afterwards. Until then, your guests see the save-the-date version under the very same link, with a small “Made with Photogala” line at the foot that a package removes. On brand-managed events neither the note nor the line appears. Existing events keep the right.

Design

Under Design you pick the look. There are 27 designs – enchanted gardens, ballrooms, cinemas, city skylines, winter scenes and more. Each brings its own fonts, its own colour palette, its own entrance animation and its own piece of music. The tiles show the real entrance artwork with the three base colours underneath.

Phone

Computer

① The Design & entrance tab. ② The chosen design – every one comes with its own fonts, colours and entrance animation, and the preview on the right shows the effect right away. ③ Preview opens the phone view, ④ Save applies your changes – only then do your guests see them.

Apply to gallery

The Apply to gallery button copies the design’s colours and fonts into your gallery settings. That keeps the event day from feeling like a break: whoever has been looking at the invitation for months lands in a gallery that looks the same. It overwrites your previous gallery colours, which is why it only happens on click.

Fonts

Every design brings a finished pairing. Under Fonts you can override it in three roles:

• Headings
• Script
• Body text

Each role sits on As in the design until you choose something yourself. Only a small, built-in selection is offered, deliberately – so that opening the invitation never fetches a font from a third-party server.

Paper & finish

These settings apply to the whole invitation and are what hold the blocks together:

• Paper – the texture of the stock: Smooth, Grain, Linen, Laid or Felt. All five deliberately stay at the very edge of visible – a paper you can read as a pattern stops reading as paper.
• Pattern – the second axis, and the one meant to be seen: None, Check, Stripes, Dots, Diamonds, Arches or Wash. You also set the Pattern strength and, if you want, your own Pattern colours; without a colour of its own the pattern prints in the colours of your design – and follows along when you change them.
• Ornament – the mark in the middle of the section rules: Lozenge, Filigree, Leaf, Ring or None.
• Finish – how the type looks printed: Letterpress ink, Foil or Blind emboss.

Motion and music

This part of the editor decides what moves over the scene and what plays along with it.

• Motion: either whatever the design brings, or your own selection (birds, butterflies, creatures around the entrance, an aeroplane – each with a count and an appearance), or nothing at all. You can also switch off lights and particles and choose whether the motion runs at the entrance only, on the invitation only, or in both places.
• Music: the design’s own track, a track you pick yourself, or none. A slider sets the volume; even at 100 % it stays background music.

The music never starts when the page loads – only once the guest opens the invitation – and can be switched off at any time from a visible control.

Phone

Computer

The entrance your guests see first: ① Open invitation starts the door animation, ② Skip intro leaves it out. Which door appears is part of the tool's design.

Phone

Computer

① The Motion & music section. ② The three cards From the design, Choose yourself and None. ③ Where the motion runs: above the closed door, on the invitation, or both. ④ Lights and particles come on top of that. The same trio appears again just below for the music – it only starts once a guest opens the invitation.

Header

The header is the first thing guests see after the entrance animation.

Phone

Computer

① The Header tab. ② Names and ③ Small line – if both stay empty, the event title appears instead. ④ The presentation – the marked card Like the gallery reuses the event header. Next to it, below it on a phone, sit Own variant (a header just for the invitation) and None (the design’s title page).

Under Presentation you choose between three variants:

• Like the gallery – uses the event’s header so there is no break on the event day.
• Own variant – one of the gallery headers, chosen just for the invitation. Available are Modern Compact, Modern, Polaroid, Minimalist, Elegant and Gradient.
• Without – the design’s own title page instead: your names in script over the entrance scenery.

Under Image you decide where the cover picture comes from:

• From the gallery – the event’s cover image. Change it there and it changes here too.
• From the design – the artwork of the chosen design.
• Own image – for the invitation only; the gallery’s cover image stays untouched. Landscape is recommended, at least 1600 px wide, with a calm middle.

Image treatment

As soon as there is a picture, an Image treatment block appears below it with three presets: Text first, Balanced and Photo first. One click sets every slider below to match. If the chosen source currently delivers no picture – From the gallery, say, while the event has no cover image – the whole block stays away.

The sliders fine-tune it; they apply to the invitation only, the gallery keeps its own values:

• Veil over the photo – 0 to 80 %. It keeps the type readable: the less veil, the more photo.
• Blur – 0 to 20 px.
• Brightness and Contrast – 40 to 160 % each.
• Saturation – 0 to 180 %; at 0 % the picture turns black and white.

A slider you never touched stays unset and keeps following the event – From the gallery: ‹value› is written underneath it, and changing the value there changes it here too. Only a value you set yourself gets a reset next to it that hands it back.

Names, date and countdown

On top of that come the two text fields Names (e.g. “Sarah & Adam”) and Small line (e.g. “We’re getting married”), plus two switches: Date in the header and Countdown over the photo. Directly below sits the separate Countdown section, which counts down to the event date.

The countdown needs an event date

The top of the editor shows which event date is currently set – with a link to change it or set it for the first time. Without a date the countdown has nothing to count to.

The sections

You maintain these sections inside the invitation itself. Each has its own switch – switched off, the content stays saved but guests cannot see it.

Phone

Computer

① The The venue & the schedule tab. ② The switch for The venue – off here. ③ The switch for Schedule is on. ④ Edit the timeline jumps into the timeline tool; the items themselves live there.

The venue – this holds every place of the day, not just one: Add a place creates the first, Add another place each further one – ceremony, drinks, party. Every place has an Occasion (e.g. Ceremony), a Time (e.g. “from 5 pm”), Name, Address, Map link, its own Venue picture (landscape, at least 1200 px wide – it also unlocks the Full bleed and Arch shapes for this section), its own Note for this place (parking, directions, accessibility) and a shown switch. Below all of them sits one more Note that applies to every place – it is printed under the last one. Where the map link comes from is set in the Appearance block under Map link: Google Maps and OpenStreetMap build it automatically from name and address, Own link uses the Map link field instead. Guests then see an Open in Maps button.

Dress code – a Heading, a Description and up to four columns (ladies and gentlemen, for instance), each with its own column heading, its own text and its own Colours as swatches next to the text.

Accommodation – an Intro (a room-block keyword, for example) and up to ten places to stay with Name, Website, Address, Map link, Note and Price hint. Leave the map link empty and directions are derived from the address.

Gifts – a Text with formatting (you can bold the IBAN, for instance) and up to ten links with Label and Link.

Your own sections – up to ten freely named blocks for anything the fixed sections do not cover: a shuttle bus, childcare, a word for guests travelling from further away. Each has a Heading, a Text and a Show switch; Move up and Move down sort them. On the invitation they appear after the gifts.

Sections from other tools

These sections have no content of their own – they show what lives in another tool, and here they are only switches:

The From other tools card only decides whether a section from elsewhere is printed — its content lives in that tool. Playlist pulls the song requests into the invitation and only shows up while DJ Wishes is active too.

• Photo preview – the latest photos from your gallery. Only from selected albums narrows the selection; without one the section shows the whole gallery.
• Schedule – the timeline from the timeline tool; Edit the timeline takes you straight there.
• Playlist – the top songs plus button from the DJ requests; Edit the song requests opens the tool.
• Seating plan – the plan right on the invitation, see seating; Edit the seating plan opens the tool.
• RSVP – the reply button from the RSVP tool, shown on the invitation as “Are you coming?”; Edit the RSVP tool opens it.

No source tool, no section

If the tool in question is not active, the editor says so right on the row: “That tool isn’t active yet – this section stays hidden.” You can still set the switch; the section appears automatically as soon as you enable the tool.

Section order

Under Order you sort the order the sections appear in on the page. There are three ways:

Phone

Computer

① The Who sees what tab. ② Under Order every section appears in the sequence guests will see. ③ One row: clicking the name jumps to its fields, and an “off” marks switched-off sections. ④ The arrows on the right of every row move it up or down – dragging by the handle on the left works just as well, and the header always stays on top.

• Drag the handle on the left – the fastest route on a computer.
• The Move up and Move down arrows – the better route on a phone.
• Keyboard: focus the handle, pick the row up with the space bar, move it with the arrow keys.

The header always stays on top and cannot be moved. Sections that are switched off remain in the list (with a crossed-out eye) so you can set their position before you switch them on. Restore the default order resets everything – after a confirmation (“Reset the order?”) in which your own sections move back behind Gifts. Clicking the name of a row, by the way, jumps straight to that section’s fields.

Versions: one link per circle of guests

Some guests are invited to everything, others only to the evening. That is what the Versions card right below the running order is for: one event, one design, but each version has its own link and shows only the sections you assign to it. Until you create one, it reads “There is one version right now — every guest sees the same thing.”

• Add a version creates one. You only give it a Version name (e.g. “Evening only”); the token in the link is issued by Photogala and never changes with it – so a link you already sent stays valid even if you rename the version later.
• Every version shows its link with the ?v=… addition and a Copy link next to it. At the top sits the link Without an addition — shows everything.
• Assigning does not happen here but at the section itself: the version chips sit right next to Show there. A section with no assignment appears in every version – including the plain link.
• Below each version you see its Assigned sections. If that list is empty, the version shows everything you have not reserved for another one.
• The header is never version-specific; it appears in every version.
• In the preview you pick which one you are looking at under Version – Plain link shows the complete invitation.
• Delete version asks first: the link with that addition then leads to the complete invitation, and sections assigned only to that version are shown to all guests afterwards. The dialogue lists them for you beforehand.

Not to be confused with Scope at the very top: that decides whether the invitation appears as a save the date or in full – and it applies to every version alike.

Building blocks: shape and heading style

Every section has a collapsible Appearance block; inside it you pick its own Shape and its own Heading style – that is what turns the same content into your page. The line next to Appearance always shows the current choice, e.g. “Card · Classic”. Only what fits the content is offered per section.

Shapes include Card, Engraved, Rows, Timeline, Full bleed, Plain, Numerals, Mosaic, Grid, Strip, Scratch card, Arch, Deckled paper, Folded card, Wax seal, Ticket, Corners, Arches and Film strip.

A few with a special effect:

• Scratch card (on the countdown) – guests scratch the date free with a finger.
• Folded card (on the dress code) – two halves with a crease between them, ideal for two columns.
• Ticket (on the schedule) – the time in the stub, like an admission ticket.
• Wax seal – a wax medallion with your initials, derived from the Names field.
• Timeline – dots along a line, for schedules with times.

Heading styles are Classic, Monogram, Arch, Ribbon, Minimal, Editorial, Stamp – and, in some sections, None.

Some shapes need content

Full bleed and Arch on the venue require an uploaded Venue picture. Film strip and Grid on the photo preview need several photos in the gallery. Without the prerequisite, the shape is not offered at all.

Sample text and preview

Insert sample text at the top right fills every text field that is still empty with fully written examples – in the language currently selected. Text you have already written stays untouched. It is the fastest route to a page that already looks finished and that you only have to rewrite.

Preview in the bottom bar shows the invitation in a phone frame: as a column beside the form on a computer, full screen on a phone. The preview also shows changes you have not saved yet. Schedule, playlist and photos still come from their own tools. Replay plays the entrance animation again.

Sharing: link, QR code and a personal greeting

In the QR code tab, everything you need to send it out sits under Direct link for guests: Copy link, Export PDF or Design in the Design Studio for a matching card.

Phone

Computer

① The QR code tab – shown on the timeline tool; it looks exactly the same on the invitation. ② Copy link puts the direct link on your clipboard, ③ Design in the Design Studio turns it into a card to hand out, ④ Export PDF delivers the scan-me poster as a PDF – QR as PNG and QR as SVG sit next to it.

Password-protected event?

Switch on Embed password in link. The link then carries the password with it – so the same address also opens the gallery on the event day without anyone hitting a password prompt.

The Display tab

Everything that makes the invitation visible inside the event sits in the Display tab – not in the QR tab. Three switches, all three off by default – plus a sub-option that only shows up once the third one is on:

Phone

Computer

The third opt-in: Event link shows the invitation makes the ordinary event link land on the invitation instead of the gallery. All three switches on this tab are off by default.

• Entry in the guest menu – puts the invitation into the Event info & tools rail on the event home page. “Off by default: you hand this tool out by link or QR code. On the day itself an entry … can still help — by then nobody has the link at hand.” Order and your own entries are set in the guest menu; the link to it sits right below the switches.
• Widget on the home page – a card on the event home page that leads to the invitation.
• Event link shows the invitation – the switch the next section is about.
• Only until the event day – its sub-option; it appears indented as soon as the switch above is on, and is on by default.

The RSVP tool does not have these switches.

A personal greeting

Append the ?n= parameter with a name to the invitation link and the entrance animation greets exactly that person – “For the Berger family”, for instance. The name is only displayed and stored nowhere; it must not be too long or it gets shortened.

Personalised guest links

A separate link per guest – with the reply assigned unambiguously – is not created here but in the RSVP tool. There the personalised links are exported as CSV or Excel, ready to use for a mail merge.

Views

As soon as somebody has opened the invitation, the number of views appears at the top of the editor. It is counted on the server and repeat visits by the same person are folded together – nothing about the visitors is stored. The invitation page itself deliberately ships no trackers, which is why it needs no cookie banner either.

One link that follows the event

You do not have to hand out two addresses – if that is what you want. Turn on Event link shows the invitation in the Display tab and the bare event address shows the invitation instead of the gallery. That switch is off by default: the invitation then stays the thing you hand out at /invite, and the event link leads into the gallery as usual.

With it on, the sub-option Only until the event day (default: on) decides the rest:

• On – up to the day before, the address shows the invitation; from midnight on the event day it shows the gallery. The clock of the device doing the clicking decides.
• Off – the event link keeps showing the invitation, even after the party.
• No event date means there is no day to hand over on, and the editor says so on the spot: “This event has no date set yet — until it does, the link keeps showing the invitation.”

Worth knowing:

• The switch only takes effect while the invitation is active. With the tool off, nothing happens.
• It treats everybody the same – you and your event admins included. The notice on your dashboard says exactly that. To get to the gallery yourself, use ?view=home or the direct gallery link.
• As the host you see two buttons on the invitation itself, top right: Edit takes you back to the editor, Normal site past the switch to the event home page. Guests never see that bar – it only appears when the server recognises you as a manager of the event.
• Only the bare event address is redirected. Anything with a path after it (gallery, a tool, a single photo) is left alone.
• Appending ?view=home to the event address forces the home page. That also gets a guest past the switch when you want to show them the way.
• Everything attached to the link (personal greeting, embedded password) is carried across the redirect.

Example

Save the date first, the full invitation months later — with the same link.

In March, the venue is not settled yet:

1. Sidebar Planning ▸ All Tools → the Digital Invitation tile, Content tab. Under Scope you leave Save the Date in place: names, date and countdown only.
2. Pick a design, enter names and date, hit Save at the bottom right — Unsaved changes on the left disappears.
3. Switch Enable tool on at the top. Without it, guests only read “This invitation is currently unavailable.” under the link.
4. QR code tab → Copy link and send it. For the parents-in-law you append ?n=The Bergers, and the entrance animation greets exactly them.
5. Optional, in the Display tab: turn on Event link shows the invitation. The short event address then leads to the invitation too – and you only have one address to remember.

In July, everything is settled: click Expand now in the editor — the scope jumps to Full invitation and venue, schedule and dress code appear. The link stays the same, so anyone who kept the March message automatically lands on the finished version.

On the event day you change nothing: if you turned the switch on and left Only until the event day in place, the very same address shows the gallery instead of the invitation from midnight – for your guests and for you. If you want to see the home page before that, append ?view=home.

Troubleshooting

Guests see “This invitation is currently unavailable.” The tool is not active yet. Switch on Enable tool at the top or click Publish in the editor.

A section is missing from the invitation Four possible causes: the scope is set to Save the Date (then only names, date and countdown appear), the section’s switch is off, it is a section from another tool that is not active yet – or your package does not cover the full invitation, so guests keep seeing the save-the-date version.

The countdown shows nothing No event date is set. The note at the top of the editor takes you straight to the setting.

A shape cannot be selected It does not fit the content – Full bleed without a venue picture, say, or Film strip with too few photos. Upload the missing content and the shape becomes available.

The preview looks different from the real page The preview shows your unsaved state. Save, and the two match again.

Guests land in the gallery instead of the invitation The event day has started – from then on, the same link deliberately leads to the gallery.

Related pages

• For Guests: The digital invitation – what your guests see.
• For Hosts: RSVP · Seating · Timeline · Design Studio · Tools – Overview