Photo Booth Hours Help!!!!

evanquil

We are hiring a photo booth for our reception and can only afford to have them for 3 hours.  We want to have it start during our cocktail hour (5pm-6pm) and then close during dinner and then reopen for the remaining two hours that we have paid for (approx. 8:30pm-10:30pm).  My question is if it is weird to have the photobooth close at 10:30 when our reception ends at midnight.  As much as we would love to extend it for another hour, we don't really want to pay for it.  Thoughts?

[Deleted User]

personally, I would just have them set up while you are IN your cocktail hour. Is it happening in a different space? This was more people enjoy it during the actual party since cocktail hour is mingle time. People tend to get more into it when the music is going and drinking some more. Do not waste the 1 hour on CH. Do it from 8:30-11:30 and see if he will throw in the extra half-hour and breakdown at midnight.

That is my advice. Hope it helps.

evanquil

The cocktail hour and reception are taking place in the same area, and it is pretty small (only about 120-130 people fit comfortably).  I did think of having him set up during dinner, but I didn't want it to disrupt everything else that is going on.

CherandAl

I agree with amsphoto. I would think people would get into during the dancing/party time. I would just have them set up during dinner. It seems weird to me that you can pay them for 3 non-consecutive hours. The attendant still has to be there when the booth is "closed" so I would think you would be charged for the hours that it is at the reception (but I don't know because I am not getting a photobooth). Besides that, I would think that a good time to use the photobooth would be while people are finishing dinner but the dancing/party time hasn't started yet. In my experience, that is when the reception hits a wall and we're just sitting around waiting for things to get moving.

StephBeanWed61502

I agree with Cher that it's weird that they'd let you pay for 3 non-consecutive hours... I would think you'd have to pay for the entire time the booth and attendant were on-site, regardless of whether the booth was "closed" or not.  Also, people tend to get into photobooths more towards the end of the reception, so I'd ask the photobooth company to set up during dinner, then have it from 8:30-11:30 or 12 if you can get the extra 1/2 hour covered.

[Deleted User]

in my experience, there is not a single vendor that would break up the time since they are all basically paid for their time. If you have a gap they will probably charge you for it as well, even if it is down time.

evanquil

Just to clarify with everyone, we would only have to pay $25 for the down time.  It states that clearly in the contract.