NEW YORK, Oct. 3, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Knot, a leading digital wedding planning brand, today announced that Veri by The Knot, the $100, five-star-rated photo-sharing app, is now available for free as The Guest app and offered within The Knot's suite of free wedding planning tools. The Guest (available for free on iOS and Android) is the premier photo and video-sharing mobile app for weddings and events, and will automatically share images from users' built-in cameras without even opening the app—no need to hashtag or manually upload photos. Compared to a wedding hashtag on Instagram that only receives an average of 22 photos uploaded by guests*, couples using The Guest app receive an average of 870 photos and videos per wedding from their wedding guests, in addition to the professional photos and videos captured by hired professionals.

Weddings are increasingly becoming multiday affairs, with more than half (55%) of all wedding guests attending at least one other wedding-related event outside of the ceremony and reception**. Wedding guests are eager to be a part of these big moments in their loved ones' lives, and they want to share their unique perspective from the celebrations through photos. Couples view these guest photos as complementary to the professional photos they receive from a photographer, who plays a critical and irreplaceable role in capturing a couple's wedding.

As a leading photo-sharing app, The Guest (formerly Veri) has captured 5.76 million photos and videos. Since Veri was acquired by The Knot in September 2017, app downloads have increased 126% and the number of photos and videos shared has increased 111%, year over year.

"We loved using this app for our wedding! My husband and I love it because we were able to see photos from our wedding on the way to our honeymoon," said The Guest user, Christine Q. "Our guests loved being able to share photos easily with one another, without having to text or email. We also had a few family members unable to attend our wedding due to medical reasons, and they were able to join our event and see photos from our wedding in real time from our guests."

"It's our mission to make every aspect of wedding planning and the celebration as joyful as possible for couples, from booking their wedding professionals to collecting all the wedding day photos from their guests," said Zohar Yardeni, Executive Vice President, Product, XO Group Inc. "We're extremely excited to offer this valuable photo-sharing app for free and add it to The Knot's existing suite of free wedding planning tools like the guest list manager, registry creation and manager, vendor marketplace, checklist, budgeter, wedding day timeline and more. We are the first wedding brand to create a product for wedding guests, providing them the ability to be more involved and share their story of the celebration. An amazing guest experience is central to the wedding experience, and The Guest app will soon be an indispensable part of that experience."

"The Guest app is pure brilliance! So many of my couples have asked me how they can collect and save their guests' photos from their wedding—I'm so excited to share this app with them!" said Marlies Hartmann, photographer, M. Hart Photography. "Now they can seamlessly and automatically get their guests' photos without having to bug them or search through a bunch of social media platforms." 

To celebrate this exciting launch, The Guest is giving away $10,000 to one lucky couple. To enter, couples hosting an event—a wedding, bridal shower, bachelorette weekend, rehearsal dinner or more—must download The Guest (on iOS or Android), create their event in the app, and invite 10 or more guests to join their event on the app. For every 10 guests that download the app and join their event, the couple receives an entry to the sweepstakes. Full sweepstakes rules are available online here.

*Based on internal research
**Source: The Knot 2018 Wedding Guest Study

About XO Group Inc.
XO Group Inc.'s (NYSE: XOXO) mission is to help people navigate and truly enjoy life's biggest moments together. Our multi-platform brands guide couples through transformative life stages: getting married with The Knot, having a healthy and supportive marriage with Lasting, having a baby with The Bump, and bringing important celebrations to life with entertainment vendors from GigMasters. The Company is publicly listed on the New York Stock Exchange and is headquartered in New York City.

About The Knot
The Knot is the nation's leading multiplatform wedding resource offering a seamless, all-in-one planning experience—from finding inspiration and local vendors to creating and managing all guest experiences, wedding registries and more. The trusted brand reaches a majority of engaged couples in the US through the #1 wedding planning website TheKnot.com and #1 iOS and Android mobile app The Knot Wedding Planner, The Knot national and local wedding magazines, and The Knot book series. Since its inception, The Knot has inspired approximately 25 million couples to plan a wedding that's uniquely them. The Knot is the flagship brand of XO Group Inc., which helps couples navigate and enjoy life's biggest moments—from getting married to moving in together and having a baby. Visit The Knot online at TheKnot.com and follow on social media: Facebook.com/TheKnot and @TheKnot on Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.

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The Knot logo. (PRNewsFoto/The Knot) (PRNewsfoto/The Knot)

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SOURCE The Knot