Notes · Gifting

Gift the wedding camera, not another toaster

You already bought the mixer. Someone else has the towels. The couple does not need another thing that lives in a cupboard.

They do need the pictures their guests actually took.

This is a gift of the wedding camera. Not a toaster. Not a card you add to a public basket. You apply, they host. The experience is the present. There is no shop URL to forward. The application is the gift.

This is for mothers. Maids of honour. Best men. The friend who is handling the fun bit. You take the setup off the couple's list and give them a night of guest photos that stay sealed until their reveal.

Polajoy is a guest camera on the phones people already have. Each guest gets a 30-shot roll. They open the app, type a join code, sign in, add a name. About ten seconds to keep a frame or bin it. No retakes. A short handwritten note, initials on the frame. Then it is sealed.

iPhone and Android. Twelve film looks, one look for the whole wedding.

When the couple's chosen reveal arrives, the night opens. After that they can download everything free (a small wordmark, or £2.99 to remove it). If they want paper, they order it. Retroprints. A 12×12" layflat photo book. A wall frame with 16 or 25 apertures. Thank-you cards. Prints never carry the wordmark. Setup is free. Nothing is sent unless they ask.

You do not need to explain all of that in a card. Point them at the complete guide. Or at the other articles if they want the short version. The nearest cousin of this idea is a disposable camera wedding, without the bag of cameras.

How the gift works, in practice: you apply on the host page with their wedding, not yours. Say who you are. We read applications by hand. We are only taking a handful of weddings. If we say yes, they get Polajoy hosted, and the couple can take the payment as cash or as store credit and free products.

That last part matters if you are trying to give them something they will actually keep. Credit and prints stay in the house. Cash helps with the rest of the week. Either is fine.

If a planner or venue is already in the mix, they can run the join codes and table cards. There is a note for wedding planners.

If you wanted photos rather than the camera itself, there is a note on a gift of photos, not another thing.

Do not buy another object and hope it feels personal. Give them the camera for the room, and let the room do the rest.

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