How long should you keep guest photos? Retention by plan

Retention runs by plan: the Free plan keeps an album for 30 days, Essential (€19 per event) for six months (183 days), Celebrate (€39) for one year (365 days), and Grand (€79) for two years (730 days). A 14-day grace period follows the window before data is finally removed. Regardless of plan, the best practice is to download the full-resolution ZIP archive soon after the event so the originals are safe independent of the online album's lifespan.

It is a safety margin after the plan's retention window during which the album has technically expired but data is not yet finally removed. It exists to prevent accidental loss right at the cut-off, but it should be treated as a buffer, not a plan -- you should not count on it. The reliable approach is to download the full-resolution archive well before the retention window closes, so the grace period never matters.

Match the window to how long the client wants the album to stay live online. For a small event where guests save what they want quickly, the Free 30-day window may suffice; for a wedding or milestone the client will revisit, Celebrate's one year or Grand's two years is more appropriate. Remember the retention window only governs the online album -- you should download the originals regardless, so the choice is about convenience and client expectation, not data safety.

The online album is removed after the window (plus the 14-day grace period), but if you have downloaded the full-resolution ZIP, you keep every original permanently. That is why the single most important habit is to download the archive the morning after the event. The retention window governs how long the convenient shared album stays up, not whether the memories survive -- those are safe the moment you have the originals.

GDPR expects personal data not to be kept longer than necessary, so defined retention windows are a compliance feature, not just a plan tier. As a professional, being able to say guest media is kept for a set period and then removed -- and that you can honour erasure requests -- is exactly what privacy-conscious and corporate clients want to hear. The retention ladder lets you choose an appropriate window and apply it consistently.

Yes. Setting the expectation up front -- 'your album stays live for a year, and I'll also give you all the originals to keep' -- is reassuring and professional, and it prevents a surprise later when the window closes. It also positions the originals handover as part of your deliverable. Clear communication about retention is a small detail that signals you handle their memories (and data) deliberately.

The retention window applies to the album as a whole -- photos, video and voice all live in the same album and are governed by the same plan window, and all are included when you download the full-resolution ZIP. So the same advice holds for every media type: the online album follows the plan's retention ladder, and downloading the archive after the event preserves everything permanently regardless of the window.