Bride's Outfit and Jewellery Tracker

The bride lists her jewellery, flowers and clothes for every event, and the photographer prints one sheet per event so nothing small gets missed.

Who this is for

Anjali Deshmukh shoots weddings in Kolhapur. Between November and February she does about twenty-two of them, with her cousin Pravin as second shooter and one video person. The moment this lands is six in the morning on haldi day, in a bedroom crowded with aunts, when the makeup is half done and Anjali has four minutes to photograph the bride's jewellery before it goes on her.

How the job is done today

Anjali asks on WhatsApp, and the bride's sister replies with nine screenshots from Instagram and a voice note that is two minutes long. Anjali writes three lines in her phone notes and forgets to look at them. On the morning itself she asks the bride's mother what all is there, and gets told about the nath only after it has been put on. A week later, going through the folder, someone asks for a photo of the mundavalya from close up and there isn't one. Then there is a phone call nobody enjoys.

The screens, in order

1. Start a job — Anjali types the couple's names and the dates, and gets a link to send the bride on WhatsApp.
2. Bride's welcome — The bride opens the link on her phone and sees her own name and her own dates, so she knows this is hers and not a form for everyone.
3. Her events — She sees haldi, mehendi, sangeet, wedding day and reception, and picks whichever one she has decided about so far.
4. What she is wearing — For that one event she adds her outfit, each piece of jewellery, and the flowers, one line each, with a photo from her gallery if she has one.
5. Read it back — She sees everything she has filled so far in one calm list and can fix or add before she puts the phone down.
6. The sheet — Anjali prints one page for each event, with a tick box against every item, sized to be read in bad light and folded into a pocket.

What it keeps track of

• Wedding — couple's names, town, which dates, the bride's phone number, the link she was sent
• Event — which function, which day, what time it starts, where it is, anything the bride wants said
• Item — which event it belongs to, outfit or jewellery or flowers, what it is called, who it came from, a photo if there is one, whether it must be shot before she wears it

The one decision that matters

One master list for the whole wedding, or one printed sheet per event. A master list is easier to build and easier to lose track of, because on haldi morning Pravin is holding a page with sixty items of which eleven matter. Go with one sheet per event. He carries only the haldi sheet on haldi morning, folded in his back pocket, and every line on it is a thing he has to shoot in the next four minutes. Keep photos on the sheet small and dark enough that a cheap office printer still shows the shape of the nath. The sheet is the product. The website only exists to fill it.

What to leave out of the first version

No accounts and no passwords for the bride. She gets a link, and the link is enough. A bride who is being asked for her Aadhaar-era password at eleven at night will simply not fill the form, and then there is no sheet and no point. Also leave out the whole delivery side, the album selection and the payment. Anjali already has a way to take money. She does not have a way to remember the nath.

How you would know it worked

On sangeet night, Pravin pulls a creased sheet out of his back pocket, ticks the last two lines, and does not walk across the hall to ask anyone anything. And nobody rings Anjali the following week asking for a close-up that does not exist.

Build it

Paste this in and let it run.

I photograph weddings in Kolhapur and I keep missing the small things, the nath, the mundavalya, the flowers in the bride's hair. Make me a website where I start a job for each wedding and get a link to send the bride on WhatsApp. She opens it on her phone, sees her own dates, and under each function, haldi, mehendi, sangeet, wedding day, reception, she writes what she is wearing, each piece of jewellery, and the flowers, and she can add a photo of any piece from her gallery. She should be able to fill it slowly over two weeks and add things later. Then give me a print button that makes one clean black and white page for each function, big text, a tick box next to every line, so my second shooter can fold it into his pocket and tick as he shoots. No login for the bride, just the link.