Nowadays, everyone is taking pictures and videos at weddings with their smartphones. Still, there’s no denying that having a photo booth with all sorts of props is a fun experience for guests at a wedding reception. And although you might be looking forward to having a photo booth at your wedding, there are a few things you should be thinking about when getting this kind of equipment incorporated into your wedding entertainment. So here are some tips from experts in photo booth rental in Essex and Suffolk.
1. Plan the location
The location of your photo booth is an extremely important aspect to take into account since this is the best way to maximize its use by your guests and make sure it gets all the attention it deserves. When thinking about where you’re going to set up your photo booth, you must make sure that it’s a high-traffic area. Great examples of high traffic areas at a wedding reception are near the bar or the dance floor.
Many venue coordinators will try to put your photo booth somewhere hidden, like a backroom or even a separate lounge, but you should insist on high-traffic areas of the venue. You want your photo booth to be used by your guests.
2. Be mindful of the backdrop
A huge part of photo booth pictures is what the background looks like since this will be what sets the tone for each and every picture your guests get taken at the booth. Sometimes, when hiring a photo booth, you might get a backdrop included, but you can also just choose a nice spot for your photo booth, like a place with a nice curtain, some plants or just a clear wall.
You can also choose to go with a rustic photo booth rental or the DIY way and make a custom backdrop yourself, and you can get creative with it and create a beautiful and fun background for your photo booth pictures that will get your guests excited about it.
3. Photos as wedding favours
Weddings usually will have small gifts called favours that are supposed to be souvenirs for your guests, so they can remember being part of this amazing day you’ve decided to live with them by your side. Favours can easily become cliché, and many guests don’t keep them around or remember them after a few days of attending your wedding. This can be easily changed with a photo booth so your guests take home beautiful favours that will remind them of your wedding for years to come.
Whether the pictures taken by the photo booth are digital or physical, photographs are a great way to remember such a special day as your wedding. Your guests will be able to take these physical pictures home or even save the digital version forever and post them on social media and treasure them for years to come. So if you were planning on giving favours to your guests, you could get ahead of it with a photo booth that will materialize beautiful moments at your wedding.
4. Troubleshooting
Many things can go wrong at a wedding, and sometimes we’re not in control of it, so we always have to be on the lookout for any and all kinds of problems that can arise during the big day. Photo booths are machines at the end of the day, and something can go wrong with them, so in order to prevent this, you want to take a few precautions.
First, you should be completely aware of the requirements the photo booth you’ve hired has, such as how much electricity it requires, connection to WIFI or the space it needs to function properly. These are things that can be anticipated and prevented. Still, sometimes these machines can suddenly fail, so it’s also advisable to have someone from the rental company staff be ready to attend to any malfunction in the photo booth.
5. Encouraging your guests
Photo booths are only good when your guests are using them, and sometimes it can be the case that your guests just don’t approach them, which can truly be a problem. Maybe guests are a bit camera shy, or they aren’t familiar with photo booths or don’t know if they can use them yet.
So if you want your guests to be making the most out of this photo booth, you should be planning how to encourage your friends and family to use it. A good way of doing this is by leading the way, being the first to use the photo booth and showcase just how fun it can be, and then you can tell your bridesmaids or family to go ahead and give it a try.
6. Make sure everyone can share
Nowadays, we’re all sharing everything we do by taking pictures and posting them on every social media platform. Knowing this, it’s only natural to allow your guests to share the pictures they get taken by your photo booth on social media.
To make the best use of these kinds of features, you just have to let your guests know how to share these photos on their social media and let the fun go on. You can set up a sign with instructions to let them know how to do it.
7. Open and closed hours
Time is crucial during a wedding, from when your ceremony will last to when the toast finishes and when you’re dancing with your partner for all your guests to see. Because of this, it is advisable to set up open and closed hours for your photo booth. You don’t want your guests to be using the photo booth while the toast is happening.
So, to distribute time fairly and make sure everyone is present at the most important moments of your wedding, you should keep the photo booth closed during these important events, just so you make sure nobody misses a thing.