Wedding Blog

I try to avoid doing things that are “in” or cliche or could possibly be considered a fad as the years pass. I still haven’t decided if the photo booth can be deemed any of those things, but there is something you should know… I actually don’t care because photo booths are the best thing weddings have seen since the tradition of serving wedding cake began. I guarantee you there is no chance I would ever have been looking at photos like this without it:

Reasons why I like this photo:
1. My Great-Grandma is over 90 years old. I haven’t seen her look this young in a long time.

2. She used to tell me stories of dancing on the pier while listening to big band music in the 20’s and 30’s. She told me once that she was the one that everyone wanted to dance with. I think the fake pearls, the purse, and the little hat remind me of that time period.
3. I hope to be able to show my daughters this photo one day and tell them “This grandma? She used to send me books because she and I both loved to read, and gave me a pair of semi-precious earrings I have always treasured, and she led a glamorous life sailing the Caribbean and traveling the world after she retired.” I think you can sense her glamour in this photo.
4. Our photo booth? It was free! Jaquilyn Shumate brought her husband and took the pictures in exchange for a meal (and they must have done a fabulous job of coaching people and helping them feel natural because it shows in the photos). The camera and lights were provided by my mom, and the camera lens and backdrop were provided by Kelli. I got the hookups!

This is the first set of photos that make me a little bit sad and glad. Glad, because they are so hilarious (all of them!) Sad, because we only made out with 53 photos by the end of the night. With 75 guests that showed up, this means that less than half of our guests must have made their way over to it.

I don’t want to end on a sad note, but this is the first time I will write about a wedding regret: Not doing a good enough job of spreading the word about the photo booth. I should have posted about it on the wedding website, included “tickets” for it in the ring ceremony program, and talked it up every single chance I got!

I just started to get really sad thinking about it. Then I scrolled back up again and looked at that photo of my Great-Grandma and began to smile again.