The digital invitation

The digital invitation is a designed page of its own with everything you need to know about the event – date, venue, dress code, schedule and more. You also take care of your reply right there, without leaving the page.

How to get there

All you need is the link or the QR code your host sent you – by message, email or printed on the card.

• No account, no registration, no sign-in.
• Just open it: anyone who merely looks at the invitation appears in no guest list.
• The invitation does not look like the app: no navigation, no footer – just the invitation. Right at the bottom sit Imprint and Privacy.

The entrance animation

When you open it, you first stand in front of an entrance. Depending on the design that is a gate with two door wings or a sealed envelope.

1. Tap Open invitation. The doors swing open or the envelope opens, and the invitation rises out of it.

2. If you would rather not wait, tap Skip intro at the bottom. You land on the invitation straight away.

3. Scroll down – a Scroll down cue shows you that there is more.

Greeted by name?

If your host sent you a personal link, your name appears at the entrance: “For …”. That is display only – nothing about it is stored.

Reduced motion

If you have “reduce motion” switched on for your device, Photogala skips the animation automatically and takes you straight to the invitation.

Phone

Computer

The entrance: ① Open invitation starts the animation, ② Skip intro takes you straight inside.

Phone

Computer

Then the header: ① the name panel – date, countdown and the other sections follow as you scroll on. ② mutes the music; without music that button is not there at all.

Music

Many designs bring a quiet piece of music with them. What matters:

• The music never starts by itself on load – at the earliest once you have opened the invitation.
• While it plays, a round speaker button sits at the bottom right, wrapped in a pulsing ring. One tap and it is quiet. It carries no visible label; its title reads Turn music off.
• The button stays put while you scroll: it is pinned to the bottom right edge of the screen, whichever section you are in. That is why it appears in the same corner on every screenshot on this page.
• Turning it back on uses the same button in the same spot – the icon then shows a crossed-out speaker and the title reads Turn music on.
• Before you open the invitation the button is not there at all: it appears only once the invitation is open.
• The page remembers your choice for the current session: page back into the invitation and the music does not start over.

What is in the invitation

Which sections you see is up to the host. The screenshots below walk through them in order.

Why the heading is sometimes missing

Every section carries two lines: the large heading (“Schedule”, “The Venue”) and, above or below it, a small letter-spaced line (“THE DAY”, “WHERE WE CELEBRATE”). Some designs deliberately hide the large heading – then only the small line remains. The section is still the one named in this guide.

Countdown

How long there is to go – counted out in days, hours and minutes.

Phone

Computer

① The countdown under the See you in line. On a phone there is room for three cells – Days, Hours, Minutes. On wider screens the seconds join in and tick along.

The venue

Name, address, time and a note about directions or parking. Your host can enter several places – ceremony and reception, say – and label each one.

Phone

Computer

Each place sits on a card of its own: small line (“CEREMONY”), name, time, address. ① Open in Maps starts navigation in your maps app. The button only appears if the host entered an address or a map link.

Schedule

How the day runs, item by item with a time and an optional description.

Phone

Computer

① One item: the time on the left, title and description on the right. The schedule comes from the host's schedule tool – whatever they change there shows up here immediately.

Dress code

What to wear, usually split for ladies and gentlemen, often with colour swatches.

Phone

Computer

One sentence for everybody at the top, then one block per group – side by side with a divider on a computer, stacked on a phone. The dots are colour suggestions – display only, nothing to tap. Hosts can name the groups freely and add more than two.

Accommodation

Hotels and guest houses nearby, each with a price hint and links.

Phone

Computer

Name, address and note on the left, on the right ① the price hint plus Website and Directions. Website opens the hotel's own page, Directions navigation to it – both in a new tab. If one of them is missing, the host simply did not enter it.

Gifts

A few lines from the hosts, sometimes with links.

Phone

Computer

Below the text the entries sit as pills – side by side on a computer, stacked on a phone. Careful: an entry with no link behind it looks exactly the same but does not react to a tap – here only Wish list leads anywhere, Honeymoon fund is just a keyword.

Photo preview

The latest pictures from the gallery – a first glimpse before you even open the gallery.

Phone

Computer

① Every picture can be tapped and opens full size. In this design the heading is hidden, so all that sits above the photos is the small line A FIRST GLIMPSE.

Seating plan

The plan for the evening, right in the invitation – no detour through the gallery.

Phone

Computer

① The search field finds names and places (“bar”, “WC”). ② Fullscreen hides the invitation and shows the plan only. ③ The zoom buttons with the percentage between them; tapping the number resets the view. How to find your seat is covered in [Find your seat](/help/en/guides/find-your-seat/).

Further sections

• Our Playlist – the most requested songs, with a button for your own request (see below).
• Will you be there? – your acceptance or your regrets (see below).
• On top of that come the hosts’ own sections, about a shuttle bus, childcare or the wedding party, for instance.

If the invitation is still a Save the Date, you deliberately only see names, date and countdown. The rest follows later – under the same link.

Doing everything inside the invitation

You do not have to leave the invitation for any of this.

Accept or decline

Scroll to Will you be there? and tap Reply now. The reply form opens as a window over the invitation, in the same design.

Phone

Computer

① Reply now – the only button in the section. It sits right at the end of the invitation, just above Imprint and Privacy.

Phone

Computer

The window lays itself over the invitation – on a phone it slides in from the bottom, on a computer it sits in the middle. Above the fields you see Step 1 of 3 with a progress bar. ① First name and ② Last name – this step is skipped when you arrive through your personal link, because your name is known already. ③ Next moves on to the yes/no question. ④ The cross closes the window; Close at the very bottom does the same. Either way you land back at the same spot in the invitation.

Everything about the later steps – menu choice, companions, dietary notes, seating wishes – is in the RSVP guide.

No account and no guest session

The invitation signs you in at no point – not even in the background. It deliberately creates no guest session, neither for viewing nor for replying nor for requesting a song. Your reply is recognised through your personal link instead, or through the name you type in. For your song requests the page only stores a key in your browser, so that you can recognise and delete your own requests later. Switch devices and that starts over.

Request a song

Under Our Playlist, tap Request a song and enter your wish in the window.

Phone

Computer

① The Request a song button at the end of the section – it opens the form as a window on top of the invitation. Above it the requests so far are listed with numbers; here places 6 to 12. Here too the large heading is hidden, leaving the line MAKE A WISH.

Phone

Computer

The window opens on top of the invitation, in the same design. Only the song title is required; your name decides whether the request reaches the DJ under your name or anonymously. Send request saves it, Close returns you to the same spot in the invitation.

View photos large

Tap a picture in the Photo preview. It opens full size over the invitation.

Phone

Computer

① The cross at the top right closes the view – so does a swipe downwards or the back button. ② The counter at the bottom shows which of how many pictures you are looking at. There are no arrows on a phone: swipe left or right to page through. Tapping the picture hides cross and counter, tapping again brings them back.

From tablet width up, ① Previous photo and ② Next photo join in; on a computer the arrow keys work too. The arrows only appear where there actually is another picture – the first one has no left arrow, the last one no right arrow.

Example

You get the link via WhatsApp, tap it and first see the entrance animation. Then you scroll to Will you be there?, tap Reply now, type your name, accept and close the window – you’re back at the same spot in the invitation. Further down you add a song under Our Playlist via Request a song. You registered and signed in for neither. On the day of the event the very same link opens the photo gallery instead.

Small playful touches

Some designs build in a few physical moments:

• Scratch card – a foil covers the countdown with a Scratch to reveal hint. Swipe across it with a finger (or the mouse) until the date appears. Once revealed, it stays revealed. Most invitations do without it; if the countdown sits there openly as in the screenshot above, no scratch card is set up.
• Creatures and lights – birds, butterflies, fireflies or shooting stars drift across the scene. Purely decorative, nothing to tap.
• Tilt and move – tilt your phone or move the mouse and the scenery leans along with it.

The link after the event

The invitation link is also the gallery link. From the event day on, the very same address no longer leads to the invitation but into the event’s photo gallery. So there is only one link to remember.

Troubleshooting

The invitation is empty or says “This invitation is currently unavailable.” The host has not published it yet, or has switched it off again. Wait a little or ask your host.

I get no sound First check whether the round button at the bottom right reads Turn music on – it then shows a crossed-out speaker. If it stays silent, your browser has blocked playback: switch the button off and on again and the music starts. Remember the silent switch on your phone too. If the design brings no music at all, the button is missing entirely.

I see no seating plan / no schedule / no playlist Those sections come from other tools of the host. If the tool in question is not switched on, the section stays hidden completely.

I see no venue, no dress code, no accommodation Those sections belong to the invitation itself and can be switched on one by one. Whatever the host did not fill in is not shown as an empty box – it drops out entirely.

The paging arrows are missing on a photo On a phone there are none – swipe left or right instead. From tablet width up they appear, but always only in the direction where another picture exists.

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

The link asks for a password The event is protected and the link does not carry the password. Ask your host for the link with the password embedded, or for the password itself.

Related pages

• For Guests: Accept or decline (RSVP) · Find your seat · Tools in the event · Questions about the invitation link
• For Hosts: Set up the digital invitation – how the invitation is built.