Wedding Photography and Videography Forum

Photo booth questions

I think that photo booths are fun at weddings. I think they give guests something fun to do and are a good way for us to get pictures of more of our guests. 

A friend of mine used a great service last year. Unfortunately, when I contacted them I learned that their rates are about $1,500. Yeesh. I was expecting to pay about 1/3 of that. The trouble is I attended an event recently with a bad photo booth. I didn't think that was possible but it was a fully automated booth that took multiple pictures (which no one was ever ready for) and the camera was mounted at a height that was too low for even me (a 5'6" girl), such that I had to kind of lean down into the photos. The props were pretty lame too. I also am not a fan of the strips/multi-shots so much as the single shot where you can put your event date and stuff on the bottom of every shot. 

Anyway, thought you guys might have some wisdom on tricks to finding good photobooth services and what else I should look for. And, if you've used one, what did you learn? What would you do differently. 
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Re: Photo booth questions

  • I think you'll be hard pressed to find a photo booth for $500 if you want it to run for the full reception. Mine was $1K bc I book it through my DJ so it was discounted. I think $500 is hard bc they have to pay the attendant to be there, cover supplies and the hidden costs - equipment, insurances, taxes, etc.

    I have seen Groupons for them for $500, but they are usually only for 3 hours.

    Have you considered DIYing one?

    Honestly, IMHO this is one of those you get what you pay for things and you aren't willing to pay for it you probably should just scrap it. Ask on your local page for recommendations. Perhaps they'll have some better suggestions, bc this vendor doesn't sound like it's worth paying $5 for :( GL!
    :kiss: ~xoxo~ :kiss:

  • I think you'll be hard pressed to find a photo booth for $500 if you want it to run for the full reception. Mine was $1K bc I book it through my DJ so it was discounted. I think $500 is hard bc they have to pay the attendant to be there, cover supplies and the hidden costs - equipment, insurances, taxes, etc.

    I have seen Groupons for them for $500, but they are usually only for 3 hours.

    Have you considered DIYing one?

    Honestly, IMHO this is one of those you get what you pay for things and you aren't willing to pay for it you probably should just scrap it. Ask on your local page for recommendations. Perhaps they'll have some better suggestions, bc this vendor doesn't sound like it's worth paying $5 for :( GL!
    Photokitty -- thanks for the tips. I will also post on my local boards. I am finding ones for that $500 price range but they are the problematic ones. Would love tips on diy'ing it. 
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  • Check the DIY board. I'm sure there are plenty of girls with great tips...I'm not a DIY type unfortunately :-\ Good luck!!
    :kiss: ~xoxo~ :kiss:

  • Our photobooth was $500 for 3 hours, but only because we had a family friend who knew one of the photobooth workers.  I think it was supposed to be $750 or $799 for 3 hours.

    What we looked for/ liked: guests could get extra prints and could get them in both color and black and white, we got a scrapbook at the end of it, all the photos went to Facebook in both black and white and in color so we could download all of them, tons of props were included, we got our names/ date printed at the bottom in the color/ font of our choice, and delivery and insurance, as well as a staff member there, were all part of the package (they have one package type, but a few different booth types).  It was very important to us to go with one that had a staff member there and wasn't just a booth.  Ours did the regular 4 photo strips.

    Why we didn't go with others that we looked at: cost of course, some only printed 2 copies of their strips (went to a wedding recently where one copy went into a scrapbook and the other could go to one person...so when we had 3-6 people in there, we had to choose who would keep the photo), no USB drive or online album of the photos, no staff member, the listed prices didn't include standard things like insurance, you couldn't personalize strips, etc.

    DIY booths can be really cool, but make sure if you go that route that someone is well versed in the equipment used!  I attended a birthday party where they had a really cool one set up, but somehow a guest deleted about 30 photos taken before theirs and also their tripod didn't stay tight so the camera slipped down in the middle of some pictures and made them blurry.
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  • KPBM89 thanks for the input!

    I found someone who is based out of our area and they do $450 for 3 hours. Their pictures are not quite as amazing as the folks who were $1,500 but they are very good and better than a lot I've seen. They did an event at my fiance's work the other week and he said they did a good job. They do all of this for that price: 

    • Photo Booth Service
    • Unlimited Prints
    • Silly Props
    • Scrapbook
    • Video Snap
    • Custom Logo & Layout
    • CD with Pictures
    • View Photos Online
    • Unlimited Photo Downloads
    • Professional Attendant
    • Delivery & Set Up
    So I guess it pays to keep looking. 
    image
  • I managed to get my photobooth for about $650 but I had to negotiate a little. One important thing to me was that I wanted to make sure everyone taking a picture in the booth received a copy of the photo. I know this sounds bratty but I hate it when I'm in a group photobooth shot with like 10 other people and then you receive 1 or maybe 2 copies for everyone to share. And now with weddings, one of the copies usually goes into a scrapbook. The last wedding I went to was like this, and I never saw the hilarious photos again. 

    But one time I did go to a wedding where every person in the booth got a copy AND an extra copy went into the scrapbook. It was great! So I specifically looked at photobooth companies that had this option, and of course the packages were pretty high and the original price for the whole night was around $850. But I got it down to $650 because we're only having it for 3 hours. I figure no one will use it during cocktail hour (too sober), and not during dinner, so they're setting up while we eat, and lasting 3 hours to the end of the reception. Might be worth talking to a company to see if you can get a cheaper price if they aren't there the whole reception.

    Good luck! Sign up for groupon and living social emails; they have photobooth deals on there all the time.
    Daisypath Anniversary tickers


  • KPBM89 thanks for the input!

    I found someone who is based out of our area and they do $450 for 3 hours. Their pictures are not quite as amazing as the folks who were $1,500 but they are very good and better than a lot I've seen. They did an event at my fiance's work the other week and he said they did a good job. They do all of this for that price: 

    • Photo Booth Service
    • Unlimited Prints
    • Silly Props
    • Scrapbook
    • Video Snap
    • Custom Logo & Layout
    • CD with Pictures
    • View Photos Online
    • Unlimited Photo Downloads
    • Professional Attendant
    • Delivery & Set Up
    So I guess it pays to keep looking. 
    Shame on me for not even reading your latest post OP! Glad you found a great deal. :) have fun!
    Daisypath Anniversary tickers


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