In this special guest blog, our friends at the London-based Photo-Booth and 360 Booth supplier Booths By Lux give you their top tips on booking for your wedding.
After a long old year… we are finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel of this pandemic. Our vaccination rates are amongst the highest in the world, and cases have dropped by around two thirds since the turn of the year. And with that, couples across the country are now able to start to make some progress with their wedding plans for 2021 and beyond.
It’s no secret that photo booths have become an intrinsic part of wedding culture over the past decade. Wedding photographs capture the major moments of the day, but we all know where the fun shots are taken!
With that said, the range of options currently available on the market means it’s not always easy to figure out how to find the best booth for your occasion. So we’re here to provide you with some top tips, to make sure you find the perfect fit!
Photo Booths vs Magic Mirrors
You’ve definitely seen the traditional “Oval Booth” – the one with the curtains and padded enclosure. These were the first booths to enter the market and remain the staple at the majority of events, but there’s a few things to consider here;
These booths are tremendously popular for a number of reasons. First of all, being inside an enclosure is fun. It’s a physical structure that you can actually go “in”. You may even have a seated booth, but be wary that they are less popular nowadays for two reasons.
Firstly, they greatly reduce the amount of space available in the booth. This means you may only be able to fit 2 or 3 guests, as opposed to 4 or 5. Secondly, guests can sometimes get too comfortable being sat down. This can lead to long queues outside, which provides a poor experience for your guests. We would advise opting for a standing booth where possible.
When deciding whether to have an enclosure or not, you really need to decide on how many guests you’d like to have in each photo. If you have a pool of guests where lots of people know each other (family events, proms etc), you may want to maximise the amount of people that can be in each photo by booking a Magic Mirror. As these booths do not have an enclosure, it’s far easier to get up to 15-20 guests in a photo. Everyone simply needs to take a few steps back. However, If you prefer a more intimate touch, then the traditional Oval Booth might be the right call for you.
Another factor to be considered is deciding whether you want your photos to be Landscape or Portrait. Traditional Photo booths produce a postcard-style landscape photo, meaning the photos are trimmed around waist-height. Magic Mirrors are the opposite, meaning your photos are Portrait. This means you can fit your full outfit into each photo. Each booth has its strengths, so it’s worth weighing up which factors excite you the most before making your final decision!
Maximise Fun by Considering a 360 Photo Booth
There are a number of options available when it comes to picking photo booths that provide physical print-outs – the traditional Oval Booths, Magic Mirrors, Roamers and Selfie Pods. But did you know about the brand-new video options currently on the market?
360 Booths started to appear in late 2019, becoming very popular, very quickly due to appearances at big-name events such as the Oscars and Grammys. These booths differ in that they do not have an enclosure, but instead, a circular platform (that holds up to 4/5 guests). Simply stand on the platform with your friends and family, and get ready for some fun! The camera (which is on a long arm) will complete a full rotation of the platform (hence the 360), capturing a slow motion video. This is then rendered to a live video gallery, which can be viewed by your guests on another monitor. Guests will also have the opportunity to e-mail their videos over to themselves straight after taking them!
These booths can really be taken to the next level by adding a dollar blaster or confetti cannons. Watching these pop-out in slow motion creates quite the effect!
When choosing a supplier, always check the reviews
This should form an extremely important part of your process when booking any entertainment supplier. Whilst most suppliers are available on many websites, most of their reviews are likely to be on Google and Facebook.
When reviewing a potential supplier, first check the number of reviews the business has. Ideally, they should have at least 20+. This means that the business has been around long enough to receive a suitable amount of reviews, and have also engaged enough with their customers to receive them (presuming they are positive).
Of course, you want to see that the company has a high average score. But be sure to check if they do have any bad reviews. If they did – what was the nature of the review? And most importantly, how did the business react? Sometimes, unfortunate events happen – but it’s how the company reacts that really sets them apart from other suppliers. If they have reacted well, providing a detailed and compassionate response, you can feel more confident that this is a supplier that really cares about their customers.
Ask lots of questions
If you’ve found the right supplier for your event – nothing should seem like too much trouble (within reason of course). If the person you are speaking to is providing short responses, disinterested in what they are doing or doesn’t seem passionate – then move on. Don’t waste your time. There are a number of event suppliers out there that truly love what they do – and would love to make your event as special as possible. Ask lots of questions, and make sure you’re getting the kind of answers you’d expect from a professional supplier. You may also want to consider if your supplier offers live streaming capabilities.
We hope this provides some insight into navigating the wide world of Photo Booths. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out in the comments section.
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