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One of the things I would really like to fit into the budget is a photobooth. Yes, it’s trendy. But I don’t care. It’s an awesome idea. And also a budget-buster.
Source: Party Booths
So for more than $1000 less, we are having a fauxtobooth. This is, essentially, a fake photobooth. People come up, dress up in whatever silly props they want, pose in front of the backdrop, and four pictures are taken. These four pictures are printed on one 4×6 piece of photo paper - one copy for the guestbook and one copy goes to the people in the picture as a favor. Our venue has a great little area right off the main ballroom that would be perfect to set this up.
Supplies we need:
- A camera
- A tripod
- A printer
- A table
- A backdrop
- Fun props (optional)
- Lighting?
- A person or two to man the whole thing
Tripod and printer is taken care of. We’ll probably use my little Canon P&S, so camera is taken care of. The table will be supplied by the venue, so that’s done, although we’ll need to rent a tablecloth. I’ll probably use some sort of material as a backdrop (I want the pictures in black and white, so color doesn’t really matter but I’m thinking white so the people stand out). I’m working on props. We may also need some sort of lights so we don’t have to rely on the on-camera flash.
The main issue is: who should man it? I don’t want to ask friends/family to work at the wedding, but I don’t want to have to instruct the people who are having their pictures made on how to work the camera timer and how to get the pictures printed exactly so. It would be much easier to instruct one or two people than 130. I don’t know if I should hire someone, nor would I even know how to go about that. Any ideas?
I think i’m having my second shooter man our Faux-photobooth. I also want to have props and stuff, so an actual photobooth can’t accommodate a large party size. It wont be as cool b/c guests wont get their photos right away, but it’ll be a great something to include in the thank you cards 
Do you know anybody at work that has a teenage son or daughter that would want to make a few bucks and get a free dinner? How about a neighbor? Somebody at your church or gym?? A grandchild of one of your grandparents’ friends? Something along those lines? It is really hard to have guests do it because they want to be guests and might get talking to other guests and not doing their photo booth duty. We had this problem with asking friends to man the guestbook - we only had about 30% of the guests sign/get their pictures taken! 
Here’s the low-down on what we did:
http://www.promtoaltar.net/2008/10/our-silly-fun-homemade-photo-b.html
We had some 11-13 year old cousins run it and it was perfect– they didn’t get bored, and they had the tech know-how to take and print the photos. They even brought a bunch of silly hats. They LOVED it and they did a great job.
We did something similar but without printing the pictures out. We found someone of Craig’s List who took pictures, supplied the props and back drop. He then posted the pics onto SmugMug and I emailed the link to everyone. On smugmug, you can right click and save the pics. He also mailed me a cd with the pics. All this for $100.00! It was great and my guests loved it! Try amateur photogs on craigs list.
I second the teenager idea. It’ll give them something to do that will feel important and useful. Even if said teenager is a guest, I’m thinking this would be more fun for them than “mingling.”
Hi Miss Fondue,
I recently attended a friend’s wedding and they did something similar that I thought worked out fabulously. They had a home-made fauxtobooth (which was so much fun!) and it was set-up by a bridesmaid’s husband and then manned by a tech-savy preteen guest. The kids loved the responsibility and it was such a hit with the guests!
See more info here:
http://www.promtoaltar.net/2008/10/our-silly-fun-homemade-photo-b.html
contact a local college- a smaller college (belmont college, perhaps?) will usually have an “employment/occopasion/job” office/department- try the student resources office, for example.
i went to a small private school in Madison, Wisconsin, and my roommate worked in the jstudent resources office- we ended up getting a ton of parttime random really fun work from people who would call in- house sitting, dog walking, childcare, even a personal shopping assistant for christmas- you can hire college students for ANYTHING cause they are usually so strapped for cash- and if you ask for a student who is studying in photography- they will probably be able to hook you up with someone who specializes
I agree with the amateur photographer idea, but some photographers may have a problem with that. But if you have teen cousins, that might be something fun for them to be involved with!
Do you know any high school or college students in the area? I’m sure they’d be more than happy to help out for minimal expense. I have a brother in college and I know my first inclination would be to get a friend of his to do it.
We have been trying to figure this out as well. I’m thinking of some that I may hire a few of my brother’s college friends. Some of them have grown up around our family and it would be a fun way to include them and let my brother have some of his buddies there.
My only question is if we need lighting? We are going to use a tripod and a digital slr set to automatic. What did you guys do?
Hire someone or get an friend of a friend… I swear you really need someone. This was a concern of mine that got lost in the last min plans. We ended up with a lot of bad pictures because a couple kids at the wedding were messing with the camera. I think people had fun and we ended up with a few good pics, but honestly I really wanted more.
I’m eagerly looking forward to Part II - I’m completely baffled by the tech part of how to pull this off! How do you set up the printer, get it to print 4 per page… so many details that make my head hurt!
And a teenage relative/slave laborer sounds like the perfect helper for this project.
If you don’t have a teenager around, how about a photography or arts major from one of the local colleges or community colleges. You could always just post an ad on their board and find someone with some photography skills in case something goes amiss with the tripod route but MUCH cheaper! (BTW, I’m in N’ville on business this week and it’s much colder than I anticipated!)
I’m planning on making a “photobooth” using my macbook and its accompanying photobooth software. I haven’t worked out all the details though …
I love the idea of finding a photography student or two to help out. We don’t have very many teens/preteens in the family at the moment (lots of babies and lots of adults though!) or I might go that route (my niece is pretty much the only one and she’s a bridesmaid). I’m also considering Craigslist, though. Thanks for all your help!
@MMWedding: I’m definitely stumped on this as well. The flash on the camera should provide enough light, but I’m concerned about shadows. I suppose if I get a photography student, they will probably know better than me what would be best.
@Kerry and @nikkinicole: Those came out great! This is exactly what I’m going for! Did it use any special lighting or just the on-camera flash?
Fantastic idea, Fondue! Can’t wait to see how the photos turn out.
What about a teenage cousin or sibling who would like to have an honor task for the day? You could also have a sign printed by the camera with easy step-by-step instructions. It can’t be that hard to figure out, can it?
[...] printer I am using for our fauxtobooth is a Canon Selphy ES2. My parents bought it last spring to use at my grandmother’s 90th birthday [...]
[...] printer I am using for our fauxtobooth is a Canon Selphy ES2. My parents bought it last spring to use at my grandmother’s 90th birthday [...]
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Miss Fondue, Nashville Age and Occupation: 27, Technical Analyst Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Network Admin Student/Senior Game Advisor Engagement Date: December 25, 2007 Wedding Date: May 2009 Blogging Since: September 14, 2008 Venue: Ravenwood Golf Club About Me: I’m your average computer geek marrying a gaming geek and trying to find a good balance of elegance and geek chic in our wedding. I adore The Sims, Nintendo, cosplay, (good) music, TiVo, theme parks, and our two crazy felines.
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