DIY Photo Booth

Photo booths are a fun addition to any wedding, but hiring them out can be very expensive. To save yourselves some money, why not try making one yourself?

Make yourself a backdrop – it can be anything you want really. Make it match your theme, have a solid colour, silk flowers or even a mountainous scene – just anything to be consistent. Make sure it’s well-lit too – you don’t want to make all this effort, for the pictures of your guest to be unusable. Flashes can be annoying and can make for some bad pictures – plugging in some extra lamps will work, and it will look good. If you’d rather buy a backdrop, theres so many out there too, and they aren’t  too expensive – like this one from Zazzle for around £28.

There are a few options when it comes to what to use to shoot. You don’t need a fancy DSLR camera to use – in fact, if you don’t know a lot about photography, DSLR’s aren’t a great idea as it’s hard to gauge the settings you will need. If you like the look of polaroid’s, this is a great option – its unique and a bit more of a novelty than a normal camera. So that you can keep the photos – get something for guests to put them in. You can then scan them in digitally after the wedding. This can be expensive when buying the camera and film – and it’s likely that some of the film will get waste – however if your budget can stretch, it’s worth it.  The easiest option is to use mobile phones for your photo booth. If you have a spare phone lying around (one with a decent camera) then try attaching this onto a tripod. Everyone will know how to use it and phones easily adjust themselves to the settings they need. If you don’t have a spare phone, or don’t want to use it, have your guests take the pictures on their own phones and create a hashtag for people to use when they post the photos on social media. You could even include some selfie sticks on the props table so they can get lots more people in!

Photo booth props is where you can really go wild and bring some personality into it. There are so many places to buy them, from pound land to not on the high street – you can tailor to your budget. Or you could even try your hand at crafting them yourselves if you are that way inclined. But it doesn’t have to be just card cut outs to use as props – try different hats or feather boas for some really embarrassing pictures. Ask around to see if anyone has anything you can borrow, or raid your local charity shops – it doesn’t have to cost the earth. You could even include a chalkboard and pens so guest can write messages to you – the options are endless. Give it a go!