When does the clock start?

When you create the event, not on the day of the party: a free event is kept for 14 days from creation, and a paid event for 12 months from the moment it is upgraded.

Nothing asks for the date of the party, so the service cannot count from it. The storage window begins at creation for a free event, and it begins again at the upgrade for a paid one: the expiry becomes 12 months from that moment, or stays where it was if the event already ran longer.

For a free event this means creating it in the same week as the party: an event made two months ahead so the code could go on the invitations has expired, and been deleted, before the first guest scans it. For a paid event it means the opposite: create it as early as you like, upgrade it when you have the signs to print, and the full window runs from that day.

Upgrading late loses nothing. A free event upgraded on its last day gets 12 months from that day, and the photos already in it stay. The expiry date is shown on the screen after you create the event and in the dashboard, and a reminder email goes out before the event ends.