Monday, October 11, 2010

Do me a Favor?

The second hardest thing* for me to pick for my wedding are favors.  We started off thinking of making a donation to a charity in lieu of tangible favors. We scrapped that idea when we realized there are too many choices, and differing opinions.  We moved onto candy, because who doesn't like a practical favor? Chocolate capital buildings seemed appropriate, but expensive too.  Also, they have nothing to do with our theme.

Wine corks?  Not everyone drinks.
Yankee candles? Too cliche.
Picture frames? Even more cliche.
Key chains? Flower seeds? A nice cocktail and an evening of dinner and dancing (you know, what we're already paying an arm and a leg for?!)

Then my daydreaming led me in a different direction to photo booths.  A space for guests to grab props, friends, and smile for the camera.  Plus they leave with a great memory captured in a picture, in their hand!

Photo booths are a growing trend.  My friend's wedding (Hi Joy!) had a similar set up, with only a back drop not a booth, but the same idea - where guests can ham it up and capture the moment. This is a great way to get pictures of everyone in attendance, too!  

Then a Wedding Channel Deal email (similar to Groupon) came my way, offering $100 for $300 off the rental of a large photo booth from Lovely Day Photo Works. With only 24 hours to research and execute my plan, I jumped and quickly found that Lovely Day's prices are very competitive for the DC metro area.   After some more phone calls, weighing the cost for the rental vs. the money actually budgeted for favors, we decided: yes!  
The photo booth will be our favor to our guests AND our guest book!
See, after taking a photo, guests can then put one of the strips in an album next to the booth, and write us a message next to it and sign their name.  Voila!

I'm hella-excited about this one.
We will have our "logo" (monogram, date, names, or something like that) on each strip.  Also? Unlimited Photos!   We will rent the prob box, full of silly hats, crowns, feather boas, plastic swords and things of the like, to make the pictures extra fun.  The large booth, which can seat up to 8 people, will allow for a lot of fun photos!
(Our wedding is going to be so much fun!)

The one hitch (there's always a hitch): set up.
It costs $60 per idle hour (hours when the booth is set up but not in active use, like during the ceremony).  So if I want to feel safe I have them come early and pay for 3 idle hours.  If I want to risk it, I have them set up during dinner, coming in through the front entrance with stairs, and hope they are not a sore thumb of a distraction. 
To stress or to spend money?  
Anyone wanna sponsor this one? $180 gets you the first photo with the bride in the booth!


Anybody out there attend a wedding with a photo booth?



*The first headache being bridesmaids dresses.  Gym shorts and Tshirts, anyone?
{image source}

15 comments:

  1. LOL.

    I like your idea of a donation and am going to propose it to Matticus.

    :)

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  2. We did donations in honor of a relative that we had wanted to be there, but who had passed on just before we got engaged. So that narrowed it down, we just picked a charity he would have liked. But we did do a Polaroid pictures guest book and everyone had tons of fun with that. It's really fun to flip through. The only tip is that I would put it somewhere (bottom of the menu if you get to have customized menus, back of the program, have band leader/DJ announce, etc.) that the pictures are your guest book and you really want everyone to take pictures. Our younger friends took many pictures but our older guests were not as into it in some cases. We had to remind them repeatedly.

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  3. I agree that choosing a favor is one of the hardest! You should come by to our site, we have some fabulous ideas too :) I love the photo booth idea!

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  4. I have seen so many people incorporating photo booths they are a great idea. i just talked my soon to be sister in law and brother into doing mixed cds with their photo on the cover. They each are picking five of their favorite songs.

    Cheap, practical, and cute!

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  5. Hey! I found your blog from Teenage Bride--I'm a new follower! :)

    I love the idea of a photobooth. I was 100% set on having one (they would be our favors too), but then we slowly started creeping well above our budget. One huge cost that we could cut? The photobooth. I was disappointed. We are still entertaining the idea of a DIY photobooth, but I don't know how that will play out.

    Great idea, I know your guests will enjoy it!

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  6. Hey there.. me again ... forgot to tell you that you WON MY GIVEAWAY!!!!! Congrats to you lucky girl!!!!

    <3

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  7. Oh, I love!
    My cousins had a character artist brought in for their double wedding...not the same thing of course, but just as fun.
    Hey, and it sounds like you might have a taker already for 1st pick with you...awesome, right?!?

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  8. *heehee...I meant caricature artist...my bad.

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  9. Photo booths are the best!! We didn't have one at ours (got married before the trend otherwise I would've been on it!) From other weddings that had them, they were truly the hit of the evening!

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  10. OMG this is going to be AWESOME!!!!! I have never been to a wedding with a photo booth but this is PERFECT. ESPECIALLY the idea of the guestbook. That is just flippin' amazing. And props?! Dude. Dudddde. You're going to have to put a sign-up sheet next to that thing. SO AWESOME!!!!!!

    Side note: I didn't realize how thirsty I was for a wedding update, but it was so awesome to read more progress! What am I going to read after your wedding?!?! *panic*!

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  11. Hello! I am a new follower from Teenage Bride! Congrats on winning her giveaway and I look forward to reading more about your wedding!! I am a bride to be as well! I am looking for all of the ideas I can get :-)

    As for a photobooth! I want one...we will see if it is in the budget... :-)

    http://latache-t.blogspot.com

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  12. That is going to be so AWESOME!

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  13. At my sisters wedding she rented a button maker for under $100. They pre-made some buttons with their pictures on them and then left the materials and markers on a table at the reception for guests to make their own. It was a blast. Everyone had fun making buttons, especially the kids.

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  14. Stopping in from SITS and I love the photobooth idea! And what a great way to have pictures of your guests - 12 years after my own wedding (wow, I'm ancient), I find myself trying to remember if certain people were actually there.

    And because I'm such a worrier, I'd totally pay for them to come early. It would be worth the money for me not to have it cross my mind during the rest of the day.

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