Don't Have Your Guests' Numbers? Use a QR Code Instead
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Quick Answer
How do I add wedding guests when I don't have their phone number?
Generate an invite link and QR code from Weddingkart and put it on your patrika, digital invite, or a table card. Guests who tap or scan it add themselves - name collected, guest added, and auto-tagged into the right WhatsApp groups - inside a WhatsApp chat, or a short web form if they don't have WhatsApp. You still control it: require your approval per link, cap total joins, and revoke a link instantly if it's ever shared where it shouldn't be.
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You've got two hundred names on your groom's-side sheet and real phone numbers for maybe a hundred and forty of them. The rest are people your parents know - a second cousin, the neighbour's family from twenty years ago, someone who's definitely coming but whose number lives only in someone else's phone. You could spend an evening chasing WhatsApp numbers through three different relatives. Or you could put a QR code on the patrika and let those sixty people add themselves.
What actually happens when someone scans it
A lot of "QR code for your wedding" advice stops at pointing the code to a wedding website - the guest scans it, looks at a page, closes it, and you're exactly where you started. This works differently: the code doesn't just show something, it does something.
If they have WhatsApp
The link opens WhatsApp with a message already typed - addressed to your wedding's invite channel. They hit send. It replies asking their name, and by the end of that one short chat they're on your guest list and in the right WhatsApp group. No app to install, no form on a separate screen.
If they don't
The same code opens a short web page: name, WhatsApp number, and an optional "which side are you on" question. One submit and they're added the identical way. It exists for the older relative on a landline plan or anyone filling it in from a laptop rather than a phone.
Full mechanics, screenshots of what a link looks like in the dashboard, and how the groups auto-tagging works are on the Guest Invite Links & QR Codes feature page. The rest of this post is about when to actually reach for this instead of just typing numbers in yourself.
The printed patrika problem
An Indian wedding's guest list is rarely one clean spreadsheet. It's a WhatsApp forward from an aunt, a verbal list from a grandfather, a stack of physical patrikas already addressed and ready to hand-deliver to people whose numbers nobody bothered to save because they see each other at every family function anyway. Those guests are absolutely coming. They're just not in anyone's phone in a form you can copy-paste.
A QR code printed directly on the patrika - or pasted into the digital version you forward on WhatsApp - closes that gap without you having to track down a single number. The guest already has the card in hand; scanning it takes less effort than calling a cousin to ask for a phone number that'll get typed wrong anyway.
It works the same way for a fully digital invite - the code or link sits right next to the ceremony details, and anyone forwarding the invite is also, without meaning to, forwarding a working way to join the guest list.
One link doesn't have to mean one audience
A single QR code that adds every scanner into every group would be a mess by the second ceremony. So a link isn't a single fixed thing - you can name several, and each one decides who gets tagged where.
The patrika going out to the bride's extended family can carry a link that auto-adds joiners to the bride's-side and Mehendi groups. A QR code taped to a table at the reception can carry a completely separate link that only adds people to the reception group. Both are the same mechanism doing two different jobs, and both show you a live count of how many people actually joined through each one.
A link anyone can use is still a link you control
The obvious worry with a self-add link is losing control of who ends up on the list. Three things keep that in check.
Approval, per link
Turn it on for a link you've shared widely - the printed patrika, say - and every new join sits in a queue with the guest's name until you approve it. Leave it off for a link only close family will ever see.
A cap, not an open door
Every wedding has a default limit of 1,000 self-added guests and rate-limiting on how fast one number can trigger joins, so a link that ends up somewhere it shouldn't can't quietly flood the list overnight.
Off, or gone for good
Disable a link and a printed QR code just stops working - re-enable it later and the same code works again, nothing to reprint. If it's genuinely compromised, revoke it instead and get a fresh link and code for the same audience immediately.
When this is the wrong tool
Reach for the link
- Guests whose numbers genuinely aren't in anyone's phone
- A printed patrika or table card - a physical object with nowhere to type a number in
- A last-minute plus-one or a walk-in you want on the list without a manual add
Just upload the Excel
- You already have the numbers - import is faster and gives you full control over tags upfront
- You want every guest tagged precisely before a single message goes out, not after they self-report
- You'd rather not have any self-service surface at all, even with approval on
Most weddings end up using both - Excel for the list you already have, an invite link for the part of the list you don't. See how the two fit together on the Guest Management feature page.
Frequently asked questions
How do I create a QR code for my wedding invitation?+
From your Weddingkart guest list, create an invite link - a matching QR code is generated automatically, no separate design tool needed. You get it in two formats: PNG for a digital invite, WhatsApp story, or Instagram post, and SVG for printing on the patrika or a table card, which stays sharp at any size instead of pixelating.
How do I add wedding guests when I don't have everyone's phone number?+
Put the QR code or link where those guests will actually see it - the printed patrika, a digital invite, a table card at the venue. They tap or scan it themselves, type their name, and they're added to your guest list without you ever entering their number. You still see every guest who joins this way and can remove anyone, and you can require your approval before they're added if you'd rather review first.
What actually happens when a guest scans the code?+
If they have WhatsApp, the code opens it with a message already typed, addressed to your wedding's invite channel - they just hit send. It asks their name, adds them to the guest list, and drops them into the right WhatsApp group, all inside that one chat. No WhatsApp on their phone? The same code opens a short web form instead: name, number, which side they're on, submit - same result.
Is a shared "shadi ka card" QR code the same thing?+
No - a generic QR code on a shadi ka card usually just opens a wedding website or a digital invite for viewing. What's described here goes one step further: scanning it actually adds the guest to your working guest list and the correct WhatsApp group, not just a page they look at and close.
Can I use a different link for different people?+
Yes. Create a separate named link for each audience - one for the printed patrika going to the bride's extended family, another QR code for a reception-only table card - and each one can auto-add joiners into different WhatsApp groups. A link doesn't have to treat every guest the same way.
What stops random people from adding themselves through a shared link?+
A per-wedding cap on how many people can join this way (1,000 by default), rate-limiting on how fast one phone number can trigger joins, and an optional approval step per link - turn it on for a widely-shared code and every join waits for your yes before it counts. You can also disable a link instantly (a printed QR code just stops working until you re-enable it) or revoke it permanently and get a fresh one for the same audience.
Does this replace uploading my guest list from Excel?+
No, and it isn't meant to. Upload the names and numbers you already have the normal way - it's faster and gives you full control over tagging and grouping upfront. Use an invite link only for the gap Excel can't fill: people whose numbers you genuinely don't have yet.
Stop chasing numbers you don't have
Upload the guest list you do have, then create an invite link for the rest. Both paths land in the same guest list, ready to message.
By Mayank JaiswalLast updated
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