A photo booth can be a fun addition to your wedding or special event. The photo booth creates a ‘thing to do’ during your wedding and capture candid photos of your guests that will last a lifetime.
A photo booth is a fun and easy to use must-have for your wedding, graduation party, holiday party of corporate event. While a simple product that virtually anyone can use, there are a few different options available for photo booth rental, and those options have a large impact on the overall price. The options of photo booths can vary. Like anything, you can go for a high end booth with all the bells and whistles, or go for a more basic booth that focuses on the essentials (like, you know, capturing images of your guests!). The most expensive booths offer features like Mirror selfies, 360 degree photos, actual physical booths (some that are inflatable) and more.
While all of these options add to the expense, there are also ways to decrease the overall cost and by far the most inexpensive way to add a photo booth is to use a self service booth that can be delivered by mail – with a base cost (including shipping) of around $320.
We surveyed photo booth companies across the country, Some with pricing on the their site, others required us to ask for a quote by filling out a form on the website or calling.
About Photo Booth Rental companies - Most photo booth rental companies are “Mom and Pop” shops, or “side hustles” that handle 1 or 2 events a weekend. There are a few franchise operations (run by “mom and pops”) but there aren’t really any national companies with standardized service levels, unless you are ordering a self service (who likely handle dozens of events each weekend). Because many of these companies are side hustles, the quality of the service, responsiveness and availability will vary.
Key Photo Booth Features
Basic Photo Booth: A basic booth usually includes a backdrop (which can be customizable), props, the camera, and lighting. For most booths “social sharing” is the default options, which means that you will receive a digital copy of your photo, which you can share with friends via text or social media. There will like be a photo gallery that compiles all the photos in one place.
Attended Photo / Not Attended: A self service booth does not have an attendant to set up the booth. With an attended booth an employee of the booth company attends your events in order to help with set up the backdrop and plug in the booth.
Printing: Most places still offer printed copies of your photos as an add on service for an additional fee. A printer is provided, and special paper, and much like a color printer at home, the prints are printed out as the would be on your home printer. Printing is declining in popularity (most people want to share images online), and can often slow down the booth as printing can take a minute to complete.
Logo: For most services you can add a logo to your digital copies or your printed copies for an additional fee, it can be a great way to personalize your photo booth experience.
360 Photo booth: A 360 photo booth takes a 360 degree GIF or panoramic image of a guest. The 360 photos are then able to be shared digitally. To get the 360 photo, a guest (or guests) must stand on a pedestal, while the camera circles the users. We don’t recommend these for weddings, as the stands are often too small for multiple guests, and the revolving arm can come in contact with guests and mess up the photo
Mirror Selfie Photo Booth: In a mirror selfie photo booth, a mirror is stood up in front of guests, and the guests can take their selfie while looking in the mirror. Typically, a photo booth displays what the camera is seeing as the photos are being taken
Availability: Some photo booth companies will have limited availability on busier weekends, and some charge a premium for the busy season. Since Self Service Photo Booth companies have larger inventories, and don’t require an attendant, they usually have availability for any weekend.
Average Photo Booth Rental Prices:
All of these options have individual prices associated with them, with the higher end Mirror Booth and 360 Booth being the most expensive. The least expensive is the do it yourself option, followed by any option that offers prints and an attendant.
