The small feature that changed how people see their events

The problem nobody asked us to solve (but everyone needed)

I didn't plan to build custom event frames. It wasn't on the roadmap. But after that message, I started noticing something in our support emails and in casual feedback from hosts. People weren't just collecting photos; they were trying to tell a story with them. A church administrator wanted every photo stamped with the date of the service. A birthday host wanted a frame with her daughter's age on it. A corporate event manager wanted branded overlays so the photos looked like they belonged to his company's brand book, not just a random gallery.

The underlying ask was always the same: help me make these photos feel like they're *mine*. Like they belong to this specific moment I created.

We'd already solved the hard technical problem, the one nobody sees. We made it frictionless for guests to upload full-resolution images without downloading an app, without creating an account, without thinking twice. That's the machinery. But the frames question was different. It was about emotion.

Why we didn't just slap on a filter library

The easy path would have been to offer a set of pre-designed frame templates. Wedding frame 1. Wedding frame 2. Birthday frame. Corporate frame. Done. Ship it. But that felt wrong the moment we sketched it out.

If you're a wedding planner managing events for dozens of couples, you can't use the same frame for everyone. If you're a school running a sports day, you need the school logo, the date, maybe the event name. Off-the-shelf templates feel generic precisely because they are.

So we made the frames customisable. Any host can upload their own image, their own logo, their own colours, and overlay it on every photo in their gallery. No design software needed. No uploading files to some third-party service. It lives in Poolr, and every photo that comes in automatically gets the treatment.

The moment we shipped it, I understood why it mattered. A wedding photographer sent us a screenshot of a frame she'd made with the couple's initials and wedding date. She wasn't using Poolr as a replacement for her own work; she was offering it to her clients as an added layer. A shared album with a professional finish. That was the unlock. Custom frames made Poolr feel less like a crowd-sourcing tool and more like part of the event itself.

The ripple effect of a small decision

Once custom frames were live, we started seeing hosts use them in ways we hadn't anticipated. One birthday organiser made a frame with the birthday boy's childhood photo as the background. Every guest photo came in framed by his face at age five. Another church used it to add a Bible verse. A sports club made branded frames for different teams in their league.

The feature lives in our Occasion+ tier, which also includes the live photo wall, the audio guestbook, and automated photobook generation. But the frames became the thing people talked about. Not because it was technically complex (it isn't), but because it gave people ownership. It let them stamp their event into every image that came through.

What surprised me most was the crossover with our Forever tier. Some hosts wanted to keep their galleries alive forever, with all the advanced features like face recognition and highlight reels. But they also wanted their custom frames baked into every photo for that full two-year retention period. The frame wasn't just a moment; it was part of the memory.

The conversation we're still having

Custom frames also changed how we think about the feature set. It taught us something about what hosts actually want. They don't want us to make decisions for them. They want tools that let them make decisions. That's why Poolr stays simple on the surface (scan a QR code, upload a photo) but gives you real control beneath it.

I still get messages from hosts asking what's possible with frames. Can I change it mid-event? Yes. Can I use a PNG with transparency? Yes. Can I make different frames for different parts of my event? Technically, you'd have to create separate galleries, but some people do. Can I download all the photos with the frames baked in? You can grab a ZIP with everything in it, though we also let you get the originals untouched if you prefer.

That last bit was important. Some photographers wanted the frames as a presentational layer, but they still needed the raw originals for their own editing. We built it so you could have both. That's the difference between a feature that feels like it was designed *for* you and one that was designed *at* you.

What this taught us about building for events

The custom frame story isn't really about frames. It's about listening to what people are trying to do, then getting out of their way. A bride wasn't asking us to solve photography. A corporate organiser wasn't asking us to replace their marketing team. They were asking for a small, specific tool that would help them add a layer of intention to something already happening.

We've applied that thinking across the product. The live photo wall isn't a slideshow; it's a way to celebrate what's happening in real time. The audio guestbook isn't a voice memo tool; it's a way to capture something you can't get from a photo. The automated photobooks aren't a print-on-demand service; they're a way to turn a digital gallery into something you hold in your hands.

Every host comes to Poolr because they want to capture their event. The frame feature just helps them do that with a bit more intention. A bit more personality. A bit more *them*.