Weddingbee Blog

We had a photo booth out on the balcony where cocktail hour was held, courtesy of Red Cheese Photo Booth Rentals. It ran for about four hours, starting around when toasts were wrapping up, and it held court at the epicenter of fun for the rest of the event. Some 150 sets of photos were taken, and most guests participated. I gravitate immediately toward these things at bars and events that have them, so my excitement was hard to contain when we nabbed one for wedding day.

The photo booth printed two 4×6 copies per session. Each pic had a custom event banner, modeled after our save the date filmstrip and designed by the same gal. So, we got favors, entertainment, and a still-makes-me-laugh guestbook in one fell swoop. People mostly signed the book as they came in, and we had instructions so people knew why an empty photo album was sitting out there.

Pics by Ashley Forrette and Gem Photo unless otherwise noted.

DIY feather pens above! All you need are some boring ballpoint pens, some feathers, and floral tape. And, that, ladies and gentlemen, was my tiny DIY spotlight. The book is just a standard square wedding photo album you’d get at Target or Michaels, with memo space for signing. When I printed the photos later off the CD, without the event banner, they were 3×5.

Cues, cues, cues were still key: we printed the sign you see up there, as well as a sign for the booth itself, at home. We used Tall Deco and Helvetica fonts; Tall Deco, a free download, was on our wedding invites and I get warm and gooey inside when I see it.

The balcony was a major gathering spot, even more so than the bar, it seemed. The photo booth played a huge part in that, but I think the balcony was just a good space for fresh air, hanging out, a beanbag-chair lounge, and a cool view.

Here are the beanbags, courtesy of La Tavola, via Miraglia Catering. Pic by Miraglia.

This was the first time we really got to mingle without keeping our timetable in mind; though we had said hello to everyone during dinner, there were still some scheduled items to think about as we moved from table to table. At this point, however, there was nothing on the schedule except cake-cutting and party time, and I breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Hello, handsome. I know it’s just a symbol and all, but it is always exciting to see your man with a ring on. If he’s married to you, that is

Reunited with our cutouts. This was the first time we saw them in person.

That there crowd is waiting for the photo booth.

…but, line shmine, as we shamelessly cut in front of our neatly queued guests. They seemed to be OK with it and we were definitely egged on. Also, I’m unsure what possessed me to do a finger gun.

There was a screen where everyone watches your shenanigans and laughs along.

…especially when you start making out for the crowd. *blush*

I noted earlier that a photo booth will compete with your raging dance floor, but it really won’t be the end of the world. Especially when you get stuff like this:

In which a kid learns to hate the photo booth and the people in it. He belongs to one of our ushers (who thought this was hilarious) and liked everything again later. See?

“We” took a lot of pictures, with and without guests. Good ol’ cutouts.

That lower-right photo below is one of my favorites from the whole night.

Someone was trying to steal my thunder:

This kid owned the photo booth:

Check it out:

Everyone describes certain wedding items as “totally worth it,” which is completely subjective and difficult to apply broadly. But this was ours. Maybe it’s yours, too.

There were some things we didn’t have that, if given a fairy godmother, rich uncle, or winning lottery ticket, I could have signed on for. A bourbon signature drink, though mister thinks this would have resulted in vomit all over the venue and a lost deposit. The fab-est San Francisco chef money could buy. Maybe a videographer. But this was worth not having any of those things after seeing how happy it made people.

Catch up:

• Introduction to the Snot Wall (from childhood, during toasts).
• Led Zeppelin and The Beatles kick off a rockin’ buffet dinner hour.
• Cocktail hour, just-us time with the photographers, and life-size cutouts.
• Ceremony: “comedy hour,” not falling, and a snub-nosed canine flower girl.
• First look, bridal-party wanders around Civic Center in SF as tourist buses beep hello.
• Getting ready for showtime with sandwiches and mimosas.