A photo booth at your wedding reception is a fun and memorable way for guests to take silly photos and leave messages or well wishes for the newly married couple.
Professional photo booth companies invest heavily in fancy backdrops, elaborate costumes, hats and masks, and other fun photo booth props. While the variety and quality are great, you’re essentially paying rental fees on all those items. With a little Pinterest inspiration and some craftiness skills, you easily make your own affordable DIY photo booth backdrop and props.
For the backdrop, visit your local craft or fabric store for bold patterns, faux flowers & and greenery, streamers, or inexpensive scene setters that you drape behind the photo area. The dollar store is also great for picking up frames, chalkboards, colorful umbrellas, or anything else you arrange into a fun backdrop. As for props, reuse what you already have at home or thrift. Feather boas, plastic jewelry, silly glasses and masks left over from Halloween, funky hats, crowns, signs with custom messages – let your imagination run wild! Spray paint, glitter, ribbons, and other craft materials spruce up boring items. Keep costs minimal by sticking to easy no-sew projects. Also, check on The UKs Number 1 Wedding Photo Booth Supplier who can help in better guidance.
DIY photo booth accessories
Professional photo booths are equipped with fancy cameras, lighting, printers, and computing equipment to instantly print strips of photos for guests. While hiring a photographer to manually take photos lacks the immediacy guests are used to, you still make a DIY photo booth feel high-tech and official.
- Use an Instant Camera – For nostalgia’s sake, use a Polaroid or Fujifilm Instax instant camera to take photos. You won’t have the ability to print double strips, but passing around a single Polaroid pic still makes for giggles and fun. Provide some Instax accessories like colored frames to enhance photos.
- Use Photo Apps and Accessories – Turn a tablet or spare smartphone into a connected camera by downloading a photo booth app that lets you apply fun filters, digital frames/props, signatures, etc. Connect it with a remote shutter release or Bluetooth button so guests snap their shots. Enable auto-save so all images are stored digitally to share later. Add a ring light for perfect illumination when photos are taken at night.
- Print Photo Strips – Can’t manage the instant printing logistics? Have someone review the photos on the tablet periodically and print photo strips from an app like Stitchit! so guests still walk away with quick prints. This will save tons of money rather than running an expensive full-service rental photo booth.
Low cost backups
To pull off a DIY photo booth, make sure you have backups in place so equipment failure doesn’t end the fun prematurely:
- Extra batteries and SD cards for cameras
- Surge protector and extension cord for plug-in equipment
- Additional tablets/smartphones loaded with your photo app
- Extra printer paper and ink
If hiring a professional photographer to man the photo station all night is out of budget, recruit a handful of volunteer shooters. Come up with a schedule where each person handles an hour of camera duty taking photos of guests who step into the DIY photo booth. Make sure to feed them and have someone ready to give breaks. Having a few people means if someone forgets to show up or any technology fails, there’s always a backup ready to go and keep the party rolling! Just be clear on instructions for equipment use and photo printing so amateur mistakes don’t happen.
