Every gallery has a client dashboard: a separate page you send to the client where they can manage their own gallery. It saves you being the middleman for photo removals and hosting renewals.
The dashboard is reached by a single long link containing a unique key. There is no username, no password, and no login screen. The client opens the link and they're in.
This is deliberate — clients open it on a phone, months later, without having to remember anything.
⚠️ The link is the key. Anyone who has it can open the dashboard,
change the PIN, and submit removal requests. Treat it the way you'd treat a
password.
The failure mode to avoid is pasting the dashboard link into a group chat or a wedding-party thread. Once it's in a group message it will get forwarded, and every one of those people can then change the PIN.
⚠️ Never print the dashboard link on signage or a QR code at the booth.
That's the guest gallery link. They are not interchangeable.
Clients flag photos they want removed rather than deleting them outright.
Requests come to you to action. That means an unhappy guest can't quietly strip photos out of a gallery the client paid for, and you keep a record of what was asked for.
When you get a removal request, handle it quickly. These are almost always someone who's embarrassed about a photo, and every hour it stays up is worse for them. Same-day is a reasonable standard to hold yourself to.
Clients can change the gallery PIN from the dashboard.
If a client changes it mid-event, guests who already have the old PIN will be locked out. Ask clients not to change it while the event is running.
Galleries expire one year after the event and can be renewed for $15 per year, per gallery. Clients can renew from the dashboard themselves without going through you.
Send the dashboard link with your final delivery, and mention the one-year window in the same message. A client who knows about expiry a year ahead will either renew or download everything. A client who finds out afterward will be upset with you regardless of who was