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DIY: Destination Wedding Photo Booth

wedding-photoA photo booth is a great way to have fun and create lasting memories, without the heavy price tag that comes with most wedding venue projects. There's only so much a hired photographer can do, and a photo booth can cost next-to-nothing, if you play your cards right. You can get some of the most interesting pics of the night, if you set up one of these stands (especially when the guests have had a few drinks).

Nick Someone's Camera

If you don't have a fantastic camera, borrow someone's. You will need a sturdy tripod too and good lighting - you can get these off eBay for a song, if no-one has them lying around the house. Consider buying a remote shutter device, so people can take pictures of themselves. Alternatively, ask someone to be in charge of the photo booth for you.

Remember to leave instructions outside the photo booth, so no-one gets confused! You can even leave theme cards for guests as an optional ‘strike a pose' task - these can be as wacky as you like, from ‘The Titanic' to ‘The Russian Wrestling Team.'

Fabric Backdrops

Choose a wide and vast length of patterned material for your backdrop. If that doesn't work, just set up somewhere with a bright white wall. Place your photo booth somewhere obvious, but unobstructive.

Viewing Station

A nice feature for the evening could be a viewing station, where you can leave all the photos to randomly display by the booth. All this takes is a little technology and software. If this sounds a little too complicated, you can always wait until the end of the evening to make it into a DVD or create a scrapbook of all the images.

Props

The photo booth doesn't really work without props. These silly accessories can reflect your theme, or they could just be a mish-mash of interesting objects or costume props. Many photo booths opt for a large photo frame, so the participants can cram in and become living artwork! Get creative and make your own props, from pretend moustaches to speech bubbles.

Step Up

Always jump into the photo booth first. When people see how much fun you're having, they'll all want to have a go. Instead of meeting and greeting your guests, you can herd them through the booth for some fun wedding snaps. It gets rid of that awkward ‘hello,' ‘hello,' ‘hello' moment.

Prepare Properly

Most photo booths will take merely minutes to install. However, it's really important that you have the forethought to fully charge the camera's batteries and have spares, if the camera runs out of juice. And you can look this cool.

Photographer

It's likely that you'll have your hired photographer around, so when they have little to do, rope them into photo soothing. Make sure that your photographer knows of your photo booth in advance, as they can get touchy about any other cameras interfering with their territory.

If you have any questions, please ask below!