You want the Mini.
A small square. A white chin. A note in the corner. That is the Instax wedding people mean. Fujifilm Instax Mini. Sometimes Square or Wide. A camera that makes an object in the room.
The real night is different. Film packs run out before the first dance. One camera jams. Guests wait for a print instead of dancing. You have a handful of Minis and no set you can send to everyone who was there. The rest of the day still dies in hundreds of mixed guest phone photos in a chat, if anyone sends them at all.
The part worth keeping is the Mini-square honesty. One take. A short note. Prints later, when you want them. Not a peel on the dancefloor that everyone sees while the night is still going.
Polajoy is that constraint, on the phone already in a pocket.
You set the wedding up. Free. One event code. A card on the table, or a line in the invite. Guests open the app, type the code, and join with an account. After the wedding, everyone who attended can be sent the photos. iPhone and Android.
Each person shoots on a 30-shot roll. Ordinary guests hard-stop at 0. No second roll. If you nominate a photographer, the friend with the good eye, they can start another free 30-shot roll. Ordinary guests do not.
After each shot, ten seconds to Accept or Void. Timeout or a screenshot voids it. A void does not spend a frame. A short handwritten note is optional, up to 34 characters. Initials always go on the frame. Then it seals, and nobody sees it until the reveal you chose. Not even you.
One reveal. End of the night, the next morning, a week later, or a time you pick. Then the shop is there if you want paper. Nothing auto-ships. Free downloads carry a small wordmark. £2.99 takes it off. Prints never have it.
You do not buy Instax film packs. You do not babysit a Mini that dies at 9pm. You do not watch a same-day peel while dinner is still going. The film is already on the phone, and it waits.
This is not the instant camera itself. That note is an instant camera wedding, without the instant cameras. If the question was Polaroid versus a guest camera, the physical keep versus the peel, there is a note on wedding Polaroid vs a guest camera. It is not a bag of disposables. That note is a disposable camera wedding, without the disposable cameras. It is not the peel-apart book on a table either. If that object is what you were planning, there is a note on a Polaroid guest book, without the Polaroids.
You do not leave a camera on every cloth. If that object is the plan, there is a note on a wedding table camera guests will actually use. You do not hire a crate for the weekend. That job has a note on wedding camera hire, without a bag of cameras.
If the vows are unplugged, this sits after them cleanly. Phones stay away for the aisle, then come out as cameras later. There is a separate note on unplugged weddings.
Setup is free. Pay only if you want prints afterwards. Retroprints, a 12×12" layflat photo book, a wall frame with 16 or 25 apertures, thank-you cards. The complete guide walks through looks, table cards, and the reveal. These notes are written by Richard Lovatt, with Kitty. The rest live with the other articles.
An Instax on the table is not the photographer of the day. Keep them. Names we have written up live on the directory, including London, Bristol, and Manchester.
We host a handful of weddings. Cash, or store credit and free products. Apply on the host page. We read every one.