Free wedding QR code generator

Point it at a page, not at a file

The most common mistake is generating a code for a PDF or an image sitting in a cloud drive: those links expire, demand a sign-in, or hand a guest a large download over hotel wifi. Give the code the live invitation or wedding website address — the permanent one, not the editor, preview or checkout address, which usually carries a token that stops working. If the address is not final yet, wait. Regenerating takes a second; reprinting a hundred cards does not.

Print it big enough to be scanned lazily

Around 2 cm square is the practical floor on a details card, 3 cm is comfortable, and a sign at the door wants 10 cm or more, because a guest scans a sign standing back with a drink in one hand. The card above is drawn at those sizes so you can see the difference before you choose. Leave a quiet margin of clear space on all four sides — a code needs that border to be found at all — and keep it dark on light. Reversed out of a dark photograph, or printed in a metallic ink that catches the light, it can look wonderful in the mock-up and refuse to scan on the night.

Three places, one line of text beside each

Couples use three places, and each one wants a line beside the square telling guests what it does.

The printed card or the save-the-date

Next to something like scan for directions and to reply.

The welcome sign or the order of service

For the schedule and the seating.

The table

Where the code usually opens the photo album or the guest book rather than the RSVP form, because by then the replies are already in.

Test it before you order, not after

Scan the final artwork at its real printed size, from an ordinary phone camera, at arm’s length, in dim light, and again on a second phone on a different network. Check that the page it opens is the one you meant and that it reads well on a small screen, because almost everyone who scans it is holding a phone. Printers sometimes rescale artwork: a code that works in the design file but not on the proof is a scaling problem, not a QR problem, and it is far cheaper to find at proof stage.

The honest limit

A QR code is a link in a costume. It stores an address and nothing else, so it inherits every weakness of the page behind it. If that page moves, the printed code becomes dead paper — which is the real argument for pointing it at one stable invitation link and editing the page at that address whenever the details change.