How big should a wedding QR code be?
About one-tenth of the distance it will be scanned from. That is the 10:1 rule the QR-code generators state in their own guides (checked in October 2026): a table card read by a seated guest from roughly 40 cm needs a code at least 4 cm across, and a welcome sign read from a step away, about 1 m, needs 10 cm. Never print one under 2 × 2 cm, treat 2.5 cm as the floor for anything on paper, and leave a blank margin 4 modules wide around it. The Eventphoto.io sign designer prints three sizes, a table card (~15 × 8.5 cm), A5 (14.8 × 21 cm) and A4 (21 × 29.7 cm), with the code resizable on the card.
What it costs
- Free: 20 photos per guest, kept 14 days from when you create the event
- Paid: $19.99 (£15.99 in the UK) per event for unlimited photos and videos per guest, kept up to 12 months
- One-time payment. No subscription and no fee per guest.
What is the 10:1 rule?
Divide the scanning distance by 10 and you have the smallest code that scans reliably. Scanova puts it as one meter of distance for 10 centimeters of code. QRStuff writes it as a formula, minimum size equals scanning distance divided by 10, and adds that in poor light, at an angle or with low-contrast colors the ratio should drop to 8:1 or less, which means a bigger code for the same distance. Deloitte’s QR help center states the same 10:1 ratio. The rule is about the phone camera: the code has to fill enough of the viewfinder for the camera to resolve the small squares, and the further away it is, the bigger it has to be to do that.
Two things change the answer for a wedding. The first is the floor. Below 2 × 2 cm Scanova calls scan failure a high risk, especially on low-resolution prints or curved surfaces, and says that for most cases you should stick with 2.5 × 2.5 cm, one inch, in print. The second is how much the code carries. An Eventphoto.io code holds one short link, the site, the word event and a six-character code, so it stays a coarse grid of few, large squares, which scans smaller and from further away than a code stuffed with a long address or a contact card.
| Where the code sits | A guest reads it from | Smallest code by the rule |
|---|---|---|
| Program or menu, held in the hand | about 30 cm | 3 cm across |
| Table card, read by a seated guest | about 40 cm | 4 cm across |
| Welcome sign on an easel, read standing in front of it | about 1 m | 10 cm across |
| Sign behind the bar, read across the counter | about 1.5 m | 15 cm across |
The reading distances are our assumptions about where a guest holds the phone; the sizes follow from them by the vendors’ rule, rounded up to the half-centimeter. Treat each as a minimum, not a target.
Rules checked October 2026, each on the page linked here: the guides of three QR-code generators and the pages of DENSO WAVE, who invented the code. Product names are trademarks of their owners; we are not affiliated with any of them.
How big on a table card?
A seated guest reads a table card from about 40 cm, somewhere between the plate and the phone. The rule gives 4 cm; print about 5 cm, the 8:1 allowance, because the card will stand at an angle, behind a glass, in candlelight, and some of the phones will be old. Smaller than 2.5 cm and the code starts failing on the worst phone at the table, and that is the phone that decides whether that guest’s photos arrive at all.
On the designer’s table card (~15 × 8.5 cm) that leaves room for a line of text beside the code: your names and “Scan to add your photos”. The code is generated from your real event link and you drag it to the size you want. The card that goes unscanned is the one with a code the size of a postage stamp and a paragraph of instructions; the one that works has a big square and six words.
How big on a welcome sign?
A welcome sign is read standing, from about 1 m, so the rule says 10 cm. An A4 sheet (21 × 29.7 cm) on an easel at the entrance takes a code that size with the welcome line above it and one instruction below. A5 (14.8 × 21 cm) suits a spot where people stand close, the gift table or the guest-book table, with a smaller code.
If the sign has to be read from further away, behind the bar or at the far end of a long table, the distance grows and so does the code: 15 cm for 1.5 m, which is a poster rather than a sheet. Every event, free or paid, comes with a QR image you can download and hand to a print shop at any size; the designer’s three formats cover everything up to A4.
How big in the invitation or the program?
A program or a menu is held in the hand, about 30 cm away, so the rule allows 3 cm; keep to 2.5 cm so it also scans once the program is lying on the table. One line of text next to it is enough: what the code is for, and that no app is needed.
The invitation is a question of timing more than size. A free event keeps its gallery for 14 days from the day it is created, so a code printed on invitations that go out months ahead has expired before anyone scans it. Print the code on the program, the table cards and the welcome sign instead, or upgrade the event: the paid plan, $19.99 (£15.99 in the UK) once, keeps it for 12 months from the upgrade, long enough for the same code to sit on the invitation, the wedding website and the thank-you cards.
What about the margin, contrast and paper?
The blank border is part of the code. DENSO WAVE requires a margin 4 modules wide on all sides, a module being one of the small squares, “a clear area where nothing is printed”, and Scanova cites the same 4 modules from the ISO 18004 standard. In practice: keep text, photos and decorative borders away from the code, and on a colored card let the white block around the code stand on its own rather than cropping into it.
Contrast means dark squares on a light ground. Scanova’s advice for bright sun and dim rooms alike is a larger code in plain black and white; a pastel code on a cream card is the one that looks lovely and does not scan. The designer draws the code black on white whatever card color you choose, and warns you when the text color you picked is too faint against the background. Matte paper over gloss: a candle reflected in a glossy card puts a white blob in the middle of the code.
DENSO WAVE’s own print advice is the simplest rule on this page: print the code as large as the space allows, because a bigger module is more stable and easier for the camera to read. Nothing on a wedding table is improved by a smaller QR code.
How do I test it before printing forty?
Print one. Put it where the real one will stand, in the light the room will have, and scan it from where a guest will be, with more than one phone: an iPhone camera, an Android camera, and the oldest phone you can borrow. If the oldest one needs a second try, go up a size. Then print the rest. It takes ten minutes and it is the only test that includes the paper, the ink and the room, which no software can see.
In the Eventphoto.io sign designer you download a print-ready PNG, so printing a single copy at home or at a print shop costs nothing. The event behind the code is the same whether you print one card or fifty, and the first scan of your test print is also a good moment to upload a photo and see what your guests will see.
QR code size questions, answered
Is 4 cm big enough for a wedding table card?
By the 10:1 rule, yes: a seated guest reads the card from about 40 cm, and 40 divided by 10 is 4. Print a little more, around 5 cm, because the card will stand at an angle, in candlelight, and some of the phones will be old; QRStuff suggests the same allowance, an 8:1 ratio in poor light. Never below 2.5 cm on anything printed.
Can a QR code be too big?
Not for scanning: DENSO WAVE, the inventor of the code, recommends printing it as large as the space allows, because a bigger square is easier for the camera to read. The only limit is practical: from very close, a phone has to fit the whole code and its blank margin in the frame, so a poster-sized code wants a step back. Keep the 4-module margin clear at every size.
Does a colored QR code scan?
Dark squares on a light ground scan; the reverse, or two mid-tones, often do not, and Scanova’s advice for bright sun and dim rooms alike is a larger code in plain black and white. The Eventphoto.io designer draws the code black on white whatever card color you choose, so the color goes into the card and the text, not into the code.
What sizes does the Eventphoto.io sign designer print?
Three, each with the real print dimensions built in: a table card (~15 × 8.5 cm), A5 (14.8 × 21 cm) and A4 (21 × 29.7 cm). The code is generated from your real event link and you drag it to the size you want on the card; the design is remembered in the browser, and you download a print-ready PNG. The designer is part of the paid plan ($19.99 (£15.99 in the UK) once per event); a free event still comes with a QR image you can download and print at any size.
Do I need a bigger code if the link is long?
In general, yes: a code that carries more characters has more, smaller squares, and needs to be larger to scan from the same distance. An Eventphoto.io code carries one short link, the site, the word event and a six-character code, so it stays a coarse grid and scans at the small end of every size on this page.
Where should the codes go once they are printed?
A card on every table, one welcome sign where guests arrive, and one more at the bar or the photo spot, all put out before guests sit down. The placement guide covers how many to print for your table count, the ceremony, evening guests and the morning after.