Oakville wedding venues and the photo booth

Oakville weddings tend to land in one of a few kinds of venue: a private club by the water, a large banquet hall, a hotel, or a conference centre set up for the night. Each one handles a photo booth a little differently. This guide covers the main kinds, with real Oakville examples, and what to ask so the booth ends up in the right spot. It is not a list of places we have worked.

What every venue needs for a booth

About 10 feet by 10 feet of floor and a standard 120V outlet within 25 feet. That covers the booth, the studio light, the white backdrop and a small prop table. The full rundown, with ceilings, outdoor setups and a checklist to send your venue, is in how much space a photo booth needs. We set up about 45 minutes before your booked hours start, so you get every minute you pay for. Most couples open the booth as dessert clears and run it into the dancing. Three hours from that point covers most weddings.

Clubs by the water

The Oakville Club on Water Street sits on Sixteen Mile Creek in downtown Oakville, overlooking the water and the yacht clubs next door. Listings put it at roughly 100 to 150 guests.

Private clubs usually have firm rules about where vendors set up and when they can load in, and the coordinator will know them well. Ask early where the booth can go. In a room this size, the best spot is near the bar or the doors to the terrace, where guests pass anyway. An open-air booth with no curtain takes up less visual space than an enclosed box, which suits a club room.

Banquet halls

Oakville has several large banquet venues. Oakville Legacy Banquet and Convention Centre lists 50 to 570 guests. OE Banquet Hall and Conference Centre has about 15,000 square feet of indoor space. St. Joseph's Banquet and Conference Centre on River Oaks Boulevard East has hardwood floors, big windows, patios and a courtyard, with listings up to about 500 guests.

Banquet halls make the booth easy: plenty of floor, good power and a long night. The real question is length. With 200 guests or more, book four hours or a lot of people will miss it. Put the booth at the edge of the dance floor rather than in a separate room, so the line becomes part of the party.

Conference centres

The Oakville Conference Centre on Wyecroft Road has rooms that can be set up for most kinds of wedding, from about 80 guests to several hundred. The Sheridan Conference Centre on Trafalgar Road has a 7,000 square foot event space with windows onto woodland.

Conference rooms are built for equipment, so power and load-in are rarely a problem. They can feel plain, which is where the strip design and the backdrop do some work. The white studio backdrop is included. The flower wall is $100 on top, and a custom-printed backdrop starts at $250 and needs at least two months from artwork approval.

Hotels

Holiday Inn Oakville Centre lists events of about 10 to 150 guests, and the Holiday Inn Hotel and Suites Oakville at Bronte lists up to about 120. Hotel ballrooms are a good fit for mid-size weddings where guests are staying on site. Ask about the loading route from the parking area to the ballroom, and whether the hotel needs vendor details in advance.

Where the booth goes in the room

Whatever the venue, the same rule holds: put the booth where people already walk. Next to the bar, beside the dance floor, or on the route between the dinner room and the terrace. A booth in a side room or a hallway gets used by the guests who already knew it was there, and nobody else.

Keep it out of the path of the first dance and the cake cutting, and away from the DJ's speakers so guests can hear the attendant. Give it a little light of its own if the room goes dark for dancing. The studio strobe handles the photo, but guests still need to see the props table. If your floor plan is tight, send it to us and we will tell you where we would put it.

Questions to ask your Oakville venue

• Where can a 10 by 10 foot booth go, and is there a 120V outlet within 25 feet?
• When can vendors load in, and through which door?
• Does the club or hotel have rules on where vendors set up?
• Does the venue want a certificate of insurance from vendors? We send one if so.

What it costs

Essential is $550 for 2 hours, Signature is $650 for 3 hours and is the one most couples book, and Ultimate is $800 for 4 hours. An extra hour is $150. The digital self-operated booth is $350 for 2 hours in Burlington, Oakville and Waterdown. All plus HST. Oakville is inside our included travel area, so there is no travel fee, Bronte included. Every attended package includes the attendant, unlimited prints, the custom strip with your names and date, and setup and teardown. The full list is on the packages page, and our Oakville photo booth page has more on the town.

Planning the rest of the day? The wedding photo booth checklist covers timing and guest book ideas, and the weddings page has the rest.

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