Frequently Asked Questions

ShotLace is a wedding photography planning tool that helps you manage formal photo shot lists, send questionnaires to couples, build day-of timelines, and share live checklists with your crew. It automates the tedious parts of wedding planning so you can focus on shooting.

Wedding photographers and studios of any size. Whether you're a solo shooter or run a team with second shooters and assistants, ShotLace adapts to your workflow.

ShotLace is a web app — no download needed. It works in any modern browser on desktop, tablet, and phone. For a native app-like experience, add it to your home screen: on iPhone, tap Share > Add to Home Screen.

Chrome, Firefox, Safari 14+, Edge, and Samsung Internet. We recommend the latest version of any modern browser. Internet Explorer is not supported.

30 days with full access to every feature. No credit card required. After the trial, your account moves to the free plan (2 active events) — your data is never deleted.

1. Upload your studio logo in Settings > Branding.
2. Click + New Event and enter the couple's names and wedding date.
3. Send the questionnaire to your couple from the Sharing tab.
4. Once they fill it in, your shot list generates automatically.

See our full tutorial for a detailed walkthrough.

Yes. Upload your logo (PNG, JPEG, or WebP, max 5 MB), set your studio name, tagline, and colors in Settings > Branding. Your logo appears on questionnaire pages, crew views, crew sheet PDFs, and emails.

There's no automated import tool yet. The fastest way to get started is to create a new event, load a timeline preset, and let the questionnaire populate your party members and shot list automatically.

ShotLace uses a "stationary partner" algorithm. One partner stays in frame while the other's family members peel away in a logical sequence — couple portrait, wedding party, both families, then each side individually. The result is an efficient shot order that minimizes people shuffling. You can customize which categories are included in Settings > Formals.

Yes. The Timeline tab offers a visual drag-and-drop editor and a text-based list mode. Start with a built-in preset (10-hour, classic, morning, or elopement) and customize from there. Timelines auto-adjust to ceremony times from your locations. Use Shift Times to move the entire schedule.

Add a city to your first location and set the wedding date. ShotLace calculates sunrise, golden hour, sunset, and blue hour times automatically. Weather forecasts appear when the wedding is within 16 days. Temperature displays in F or C (your choice).

Yes. ShotLace automatically saves snapshots before major changes (party edits, formals regeneration, questionnaire submissions). Go to the History tab to preview and restore any previous version. Restoring always saves your current state first, so you can undo the undo.

Yes. Download a PDF Crew Sheet (professional layout with your logo, all venues, weather, party names, and shot list) or a DOCX version (with checkboxes, compatible with Google Docs). Both are available from the Timeline toolbar.

Couples add special requests during their questionnaire (e.g., "All college friends together"). Each request has a description, people involved, notes, and a priority level (Must Have or Nice to Have). Requests appear in the crew view with priority badges so your team knows what matters most.

Yes. Go to Settings > Custom Questions and add text, long text, or yes/no questions. They appear in the couple's questionnaire alongside the standard fields. Answers are saved to the event for your review.

Yes. In Settings > Email, you can edit the subject and body of questionnaire invitations, reminders, crew share emails, and more. Use merge tags like {{couple_names}} and {{wedding_date}} for personalization. You can also set a custom email signature with your logo.

No. Couples access their questionnaire via a unique link — no login or account needed. They can bookmark the link and return to edit their answers anytime before the wedding.

Yes. There's a "Share with Partner" feature on step 1 that sends the same link to the other partner. Both can access and edit, but only one can submit at a time — the last submission is the final version.

Yes. Couple data is only accessible to their photographer. It's never sold, shared with advertisers, or used for marketing. See our Privacy Policy for full details.

Yes. Reopening the questionnaire link shows an "Editing Mode" with previous answers pre-filled. They can make changes and resubmit. The link locks automatically on the wedding day.

No. Crew members access the checklist via a link + PIN. No login, no account, no app to install.

Three gestures on each shot card:

• Swipe right — Mark as Done (green)
• Swipe left — Skip (gray)
• Long press — Revisit later (gold)

Swipe the same direction again to undo. A progress bar at the top tracks completion.

Yes. Tap "Save for Offline" before the wedding to cache the event. If signal drops during the day, all actions are saved locally and sync automatically when reconnected.

Yes. Any number of people can use the same link and PIN. Changes from one crew member are visible to others when they refresh. You can also create separate links with different PINs for different team members.

Yes. The Crew Notes section at the bottom of the checklist lets crew members post messages (e.g., "Moving to reception venue now"). All tagged crew see the notes in real time.

• Free Trial — 30 days, full access, no credit card
• Free Plan — 2 active events, 12/year
• Per Event — $3.49 one-time per event
• Monthly — $14.99/mo, unlimited events
• Annual — $9.99/mo ($119.88/year), unlimited events
• Lifetime Founder Tier — one-time payment, unlimited events forever

All paid plans include every feature. Founder pricing is locked in permanently for early adopters.

Early adopters lock in current prices permanently — even if prices increase later. Your rate stays the same for as long as your subscription remains continuously active.

Every feature is available on the free plan. The only limit is the number of events: 2 active at a time, 12 per calendar year. Archive completed events to free up slots.

Yes. You can upgrade or change plans anytime from Settings > Billing. Stripe handles proration automatically. To switch from monthly to annual, cancel your current plan and start the new one.

Nothing is deleted. Your access continues until the end of the billing period, then your account moves to the free plan. All events, shot lists, and data remain intact. You can re-upgrade anytime.

On a secure VPS in the United States. All connections use HTTPS/TLS encryption. Daily encrypted backups are retained for 30 days.

Never. We don't sell, rent, or share your data with advertisers. The only third parties that handle data are Stripe (payments) and Resend (email delivery), both of which are industry-standard, security-certified services.

Yes. Email support@shotlace.com with the subject "Account Deletion Request." All your data is permanently removed within 30 days. See our Privacy Policy for details.

Yes. You have the right to access, correct, export, or delete your data at any time. Email support@shotlace.com with "Privacy Request" for any data-related requests. We respond within 30 days (45 for California residents).

No. Fonts are self-hosted (no Google CDN calls). We don't use advertising trackers, analytics scripts, or social media pixels. The only external services are Stripe for payments and Resend for email.