wedding photo booth and guest book

As I mentioned in the previous post, we made a Photo Booth for Ben and Michelle's Wedding.  The idea was to get everyone at the wedding to take a picture and leave a card to create a Guest Book.  I know not everyone got in there, but most did, and people seemed to have a lot of fun with it.  It was also cool that they got to walk away with a picture as a souvenir from the night.  It didn't need a person to run it, so Zach and I were free to enjoy the party and we didn't have to hire someone or beg a friend.  It was kind of a lot of work to put together, but we had fun with it, so I decided to share the details.  

BACKDROP: White Sheet with PVC Pipe Gaff Taped to the top and bottom; We strung rope through the PVC to hang it from the rafters; Scrapbook Paper and Twine for the Pennants, and Office Clips to hold them onto the sheet. (Bench was from the Pavillion and we actually stacked a bunch of the benches to create a table tall enough for the computer to be at a good height. Then we covered it with another sheet)

COMPUTER and PRINTER: My Mac with the program SparkBooth;  It was not free, but it was way better than any free ones out there, so I would recommend it.  We set it up so people could take three poses.  Then it sent the picture straight to Ben and Michelle's photo printer with two sets of pictures on each page. The guests just had to cut them themselves with the provided scissors.  They kept one and left the other for the bride and groom.

CAMERA and LIGHTING: We could have used the camera on my computer, but Ben has an HD webcam that was better quality so we attached that to my computer instead. During the daylight no extra lighting was needed, but with no flash on the camera, the pictures after dark where not going to turn out.  We bought two lights at Home Depot and connected them to a Tri-pod. A few extension cords were needed as well.

SIGNS: Cardboard with Chalkboard Paint and Chalk for the Instructions

PROPS: Various Mustaches, Hats, Crowns, Wigs, Boas, Necklaces, Glasses, an Eye Patch (that was disgustingly sweaty by the end of the night), and Cardboard Chalkboards and Chalk (I had planned on having baby wipes to erase things, but I forgot, so we were using wet napkins. I don't recommend them).

CARDS and GUEST BOOK: Michelle picked out some stamps she liked and put them onto little note cards for people to sign.  We decided it would get to crazy for people to assemble at the wedding so I just put it together afterwords.

Zach and I had to take a few practice shots while we set up.

Once the guests were there, they pretty much took care of it themselves.

 Of course, I checked in every now and then to see how it was going.

Here is one of my favorites:

My family had to try it out a few times since Gus is pretty wiggly.  

Jimmy on the other hand could have done it all night.

Some smaller groups:

And some a little larger:

And here is the finished product of the Guest Book I put together:

My one regret is that I didn't force the Bride and Groom to get in there together.
I guess we were having too much fun.