Wedding Reception Forum

Photo Booth - worth it?

I'm getting married next September - I did a lot of planning and booking my important vendors back in March and now am doing research on some additional things including photo booths.  They are a lot more expensive than I originally thought they would be but it is something I think I really want.  This has always been one of my favorite things at weddings as a guest!  We are having full open bar, cocktail hour, dinner and an AWESOME band as well as having a bonfire with s'mores, booze and probably late night pizza after so we are already having a lot of "fun" things.  I don't feel like we absolutely need a photo booth but my question is for brides who had them at their wedding - was it worth the cost?  My fiance and I are paying for a decent chunk of the wedding (my parents are graciously paying for a lot of it) and we can afford it, but it is money coming out of our savings.
My photographer does not have any sort of packages for a photo booth.  I did find 2 companies that are "reasonably" priced.  They are both real type photo booths (no backdrop).  If I go this route - which one sounds better? (they are both the same price):

Company 1 (I can't find any reviews on this company - they are new)
4 hours of operation
Friendly photo booth attendant for the entire booked time
Delivery & Setup
Our Exciting Prop Package
Custom Photo Booth Graphic
CD with all of the pictures taken at your event
We have just added video so that your guests can leave a 20 second message for you. (free) 

Company 2 (this place had great reviews online)
4 Hours of Photo Booth with Unlimited Sittings 
Full Time Attendant. 
Double Prints of each sitting. 
Scrapbook For 2nd copy of photos. 
Fun Props And Costumes Flash Drive With All Images.
All Images Posted to Online Gallery.

The main difference is 1 has a 20 second video from our guests as a "guest book" but no reviews on this company any the second has a scrapbook with the second strip and great reviews.

Thanks :)

Re: Photo Booth - worth it?

  • SP29SP29 member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    I have not gotten a photo booth as a bride (I think they are awesome, but just can't afford one), but I have been to weddings with them.

    One wedding in particular had the same thing you describe as by Company 2. I love the idea of the double prints- the guests get to keep one half (my FH and I still have ours on our fridge) and you get the other half in a scrapbook. In our case, we were able to write a message next to our photos, so it took over as the guest book. I like this idea much better than a traditional guest book that you may never look at again. 

    One thing I will add that we are doing, since I like the photo guest book so much. For photography we will have two photographers and during the cocktail hour, the second photographer will have an area set up with a simple back drop for our guests to take a picture with a board (either chalk or white board) that they can write a message on for our guest book. If this is one of the big reasons you like the photo both, this might be a good compromise if your photographer will do it. 
  • Before I make any decisions I want to talk to my photographer since I will have a second shooter to see if we can work something out.  For #1 the guests get copies of the photo strips we just don't get a second copy (just the CD).  I guess I have time to decide but both companies have specials going on right now!  
  • I think a DIY photobooth can be done. You just have to come up with some kind of backdrop and be willing to leave a camera or other device that takes pictures nearby.  I was going to do this with my old polaroid camera, but then I got a half off offer for a photo booth after attending a small bridal show. I like the idea of the guests having the favor more, so I chose not to add the memory book at an extra $95. You might be able to see if they are willing to do more of an a la carte approach instead of the whole package...since you have other stuff going on maybe the photobooth is only open for 2 hours instead of 4 and then people go out the bonfire and have pizza after it closes?
  • I would choose company 2. I like the double prints and that they are posted online to a gallery. I think photo booths are super fun, but I wouldn't miss it because you have other things going on.
  • We did a photobooth and everyone LOVED it. Ask if you can test out the photo booths. This is something I wish we would have done when booking. Not that we were disappointed, but the camera had a slight delay that was awkward. We booked it sight unseen. If I were to do it again, I'd ask to test them out, see a strip of photos, see what the 20 second video looks like, check the quality of the booth, etc.
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  • I had one. We used it for our favors and guest book. Our guests loved it. We loved it. We did the math post wedding and based on our guest usage we totally got our money's worth. If not a lot more. All of our guests loved it, even my stuck up stiff family members had a great time with it.  Ours printed photos really quick, so that was a big deal. There was always a line of 2-3 people for the photobooth the whole night and I couldn't be happier.
  • Do either (or both) of these vendors attend wedding festivals? A lot of of photobooth companies will actually have the photobooths set up at wedding festivals so you can test them out. If that is an option, I'd definitely recommend that. It would help see if they have any weird delays like SouthernBelle mentioned and it would help see what kind of props they have. 
  • Hi, I engaged and in the planning process of my wedding, I do have a photo booth on my list.  I am going to use this as my guest favors.  The company I am going with is allowing us to have your name and date attached to the frame of each pic. The way I see it, it's one less DIY item I have to do and if you take the amount of the photo booth and divide it by the number of guess it ended up being aprox $5-$10/pp depending on what options I choose.  In addition, with option #2 it an inexpensive way of getting great pics of all your guest in a fun way! Congratulations and good luck!
  • We are having one at our wedding next year and actually have one at an annual fall party we host each year as well. For the wedding, our photographer has a photobooth package, with the 2 strips and guest book. For the annual party, we made our own and let guests take pictures themselves.

    Here's how the DIY works (and it is PERFECT! people take pics with their phones and with our camera so we still get a good amount to keep):
    1. Stand made from PVC pipe (basically a 3D cube)
    2. Shower curtain hung from the back of the stand acts as the backdrop
    3. White foamboard hot glued to the front of the stand (I made the front look like a big polaroid picture). I wrote on the bottom of the foamboard 'Smith Jones BBQ 2013' in fun letters.
    4. Camera on a tripod (tripod was $20 on Amazon) set to proper distance.
    5. Accumulated hats, gloves, toys and props. We bring out old Halloween costumes, buy some fake mustaches from Party City, and pick up random clearance items after Halloween each year to add.

    The DIY booth is 6 1/2 feet tall, 5 feet wide and 4 feet 'deep'. People can step in from either side and about 5 can crowd in. It's really fun when you get people leaning out of the frame and stuff. There's minimal editing, occasionally I have to crop a pic or two if someone moves the tripod. But other than that, it's a ton of fun.

    The only reason I'm not doing DIY for that at the wedding is because my photog had a package deal that I couldn't pass up.

    Let me know if you would like more detail about the DIY. Total cost was under $50.

    Best of luck!
  • emmyg65emmyg65 member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    edited September 2013
    We had a photo booth at our wedding and it was absolutely worth it. People had a blast and we got a ton of fun pictures. Our photographer built her own booth and it was included in the package we bought. If it hadn't worked out that way, we would have built one ourselves. We're pretty crafty and there are tons of tutorials available online.
  • 1) Check groupon. We got 50-60 percent off us from groupon. I noticed most (if not all) of those photobooth companies do groupon regularly. NEVER pay full price. seriously, there are sooo many of them out there, they will probably bargain with you

     

    2) It is DEFINITELY worth it because guests love it. Ours had a blast

    3) #2 sounds better. you will definitely want your guests to get a copy and you keep a copy

  • Hello,

    At first I was a bit hesitant about the photobooth. But then someone mentioned to me that they attended a wedding and the photobooth pictures were the favor at the wedding. So for my wedding next August I am planning on getting the plastic picture frames for my guests to put their pictures in and that will be their favors.

    I recently attended a wedding with a photobooth and it was so much fun! Now I couldn't imagine not having one at my reception.

     

    Hope this has helped!

     

    -Ashley

    Wedding Countdown Ticker


  • P.S.: Check Groupon or Living Social. They ALWAYS have deals going on. I think the usual going price is like $500.

    Wedding Countdown Ticker


  • I think I found a great photo booth for a great price - around $500 for 3 hours (no groupon/living social)!  There are a few things that are customizable including adding a logo.  To add a logo is $25/hour so if we do a 3 hour photo booth (which is probably all we would do - have it open after dinner) it would be an extra $75.  In the grand scheme of things $75 isn't that big of a deal but it is all of the little things that add up!  Here is a pic with and without a logo: https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/217659_467669563280876_373622573_n.jpg  Do you think it matters either way?  I'm thinking it would be fun to have guests reminded of when the pictures were taken vs. just a plain photo strip.  Thoughts?
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