The term “photobooth” has come to mean a few different things with regards to weddings. In my opinion, it can now be generally referred to as meaning one of the following:

  1. A legit photobooth (a la the mall or your hometown roller skating rink)
  2. An area at the wedding where your wedding photographer sets up a backdrop, some props, and takes “Photobooth” pictures
  3. The ultimate DIY version- you prop a camera down on a table with some instructions and props, and let your guests have at it!

I REALLY wanted to have Option #1 at my own wedding. I had heard that people had a blast with these things at other people’s weddings and the picture could easily double as the wedding favor. If you are thinking of going this route – be sure to check out the following rental companies that serve this area:

Option #1 quickly dropped from my list when I learned of the price. Unfortunately, due to my budget, it had to be cut (the band was a bigger deal to us!)

SO… I started researching Option #2. This is something you want to decide on BEFORE picking your wedding photographer – namely because not all photographers offer this option! After talking with our wedding photographer, we learned that this wasn’t something our photographer normally does and we then started to explore other options.

Which brings us to Option #3: The DIY Photobooth Alternative!

Once we decided to go this route – it actually became quite easy to make. Here is what we needed:

  • 1 Fujifilm Instax 210 Camera & Film (RIP Polaroid!)
  • Blank Guest Book (we got ours from Etsy seller, RedOtter!)
  • Markers for guests to write in your book
  • Props (we went the mustache route) & box or jar to hold props
  • Permanent Adhesive Rollers (we used these for ALL of our DIY projects, invitations, name cards, menus etc…)
  • Extra Batteries (just in case!)
  • Instruction Signs for Guests!

 

Step 1: Make your instruction signs! We mounted white paper onto leftover black card stock from our DIY Wedding Invitations.

We had the polka dot ribbon leftover from our invites & menus too – so we kept it consistent with the instructions as well. We kept our instructions short and sweet:

  1. Choose your ‘stache
  2. Strike a Pose
  3. Snap a Picture
  4. Paste the picture in our guestbook
  5. Write your message
  6. Congratulations! You’re done. Now go have fun.

Along with the instructions – we took a picture of each “step” to paste on the instruction card (seen above). We asked the catering company to bring extra table number holders to hold the instruction cards!

Step 2: Collect your props or make some easy DIY Mustaches! My crafty husband cut out some ‘staches from thick felt and then hot glued them to dowel rods from the craft store.

Step 3: Get all your props, camera (with extra film & batteries!), guestbook, instruction cards, and glue rollers together in one big box. At the reception – map out an area for your guests to have a BLAST using your DIY Photobooth and creating a seriously memorable guestbook for you and your hubby or wifey!

Our guest book is seriously one of my favorite things from that day! All of our guests had so much fun taking the pictures and leaving us funny notes – beats a signed picture frame any day, right?? Check it out for yourself! (all shots below are from our wedding photographer, Live It Out Photo):

My mother & her best friend!

IDK how … but every single one of our guy friends here picked the most appropriate mustache for themselves, right????

We made sure to get in on the action!

And again with Andy’s boss & coworker!

Andy & his mom show everyone how it’s done!

And then Andy’s dad gets in on the action too.

Seriously people – I cannot recommend this option enough – it has the crafty, DIY feel, and SO much fun included, but without the hefty pricetag! Even my grandpa got his picture taken! Our guestbook is one of the funniest things I have ever seen!

Let us know if you plan to do this for your wedding!!

 

 

 

 

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20 comments

  1. This is so awesome, and exactly what I’d love to do! One question; did you need someone to take each picture, or is there a delay option on the camera? Love the pics, and thanks for posting this!

  2. I actually had this very idea today! I figured I’d do some research and see if anyone else had already done it and posted. Just a quick question though – where did you end up buying the film? I actually have an old Polaroid camera but it’s been years since I used it so I’d have to check on what I’d need, but all of the Instant film is so expensive. I’m thinking we’d need at least 150 photos and that’s probably going to be at least $150…did you find it cheaper somewhere, or did you find that it was worth the cost (it sounds like you did!)? Any help is appreciated :)

  3. I’m doing this for my wedding and was wondering what was your RedOtter guest book size? 8×10?? I’m trying to figure out how I can do the same thing…get two photos on each side and still have room for a message. Now that it’s been a while, have you did you have any problems with the photos on the backs of the pages sticking to the ones on the fronts?

    1. Stephanie – we used a 9.5×11 book (enough for 3-4 pictures per page) and would recommend using double sided tape over the glue rollers. Guests got confused using the glue rollers, and some pages did end up sticking together (mostly towards the end of the night ;) Please send us your final result! We’d love to share!

  4. A note of thanks: I used this for my wedding exactly as instructed above, and it was a hit with the crowd. People really had fun with it all night long. And I’m really happy we have the memento – it’s so much better than a boring old guest book of signatures. Thanks again!

  5. This is such a great idea! We’ve been trying to come up with a guestbook idea that we could display or would be happy to look back through (and really wanted, but can’t quite afford, to rent a photobooth). Do you know how much film you went through for how many people? Can’t wait to brainstorm what kind of props to use :-)

    1. Hi Megan! So glad you like our idea. Our guests had a BLAST. We bought about 120 (12 packs of 10) things of film, and probably only used half for our wedding guest list of 135. Hope this helps!! <3

  6. This is exactly what I’m trying to do at my wedding!!!! Love that you took photos on the instax of the steps too. My major question is, who did you have photographing the guests? My thought was that the guests waiting for their turn would be happy to snap photos of each other since it’s fun and interactive – and would be a great icebreaker for our guests to mingle! – but my groom is worried and thinks we might need a designated person. How did you do yours??

    1. Hi Valerie – we did exactly what you said! We just let our guests figure it out and they happily snapped photos of each other. We did not designate anyone in particular, and just left it up to them – they had a blast :)

    1. Allyson – not hard and guests MOSTLY figured it out on their own, but maybe having 1 or 2 instruction sheets on hand with how to change the film wouldn’t at ALL be a bad idea!

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