Wedding photo booth checklist

A photo booth is one of the easier things to book for a wedding, and one of the easier things to get slightly wrong. The booth itself is rarely the problem. The problems are a missing outlet, a booth opened at the wrong time, or a custom backdrop ordered three weeks out. This checklist is what we walk couples through, in the order it tends to come up.

1. Book it early enough

For a Saturday between May and October, six to nine months ahead is sensible. Those dates go first, and they go at the same time as your photographer, DJ and florist. Off-season and midweek dates are usually open much later, and we can sometimes take a wedding with a week of notice.

With us, a 25% deposit holds the date and the balance is due after the wedding. Before you pay any company a deposit, check that the quote states the hours, what is included and what travel costs to your venue.

2. Check the space and the power

An open-air booth needs about 10 feet by 10 feet of floor and a standard 120V outlet within 25 feet. That covers the booth, the studio light, the backdrop and a small prop table. Ask your venue coordinator where that space is before the floor plan gets locked.

• Near the dance floor or the bar, where people pass, not in a side room.
• Not blocking a fire exit, the kitchen door or the DJ's path.
• Outdoors only with shelter and shade. A tent, gazebo or covered terrace works. Direct sun on the backdrop makes every photo worse, and rain and electronics do not mix.
• An outlet that is not already carrying the DJ or the band, if the venue can manage it.

3. Decide when the booth opens

This is the decision that makes the most difference, and the most common mistake is opening too early. Cocktail hour feels like the obvious slot, but a third of your guests are still parking and the rest are finding their seats.

What works is opening as dessert clears and running through the first stretch of dancing. The speeches are done, people are loose, and the line forms on its own. Three hours from that point covers most weddings, which is why our Signature package, $650 for 3 hours plus HST, is the one most couples book. If your guest list is over about two hundred, add the fourth hour. Setup happens before your booked hours start, about 45 minutes, so you get every minute you pay for.

4. Plan the strip design

Every strip that comes out of the printer carries a design at the base, and on a wedding strip that means your names and your date. Pull the look from your invitation suite: the same fonts, the same colours, a monogram if you have one. The start screen guests tap should match it.

• Names exactly as you want them printed, including accents.
• The date in the format you like, such as 14.06.2027 or June 14, 2027.
• Your colours, ideally as hex codes, or a photo of the invitation.
• Any short line you want on it, like a hashtag or a thank you.

We design the layout and send a proof before the wedding, and you get as many rounds of changes as it takes. About two weeks before the date is a comfortable time to send the details. Examples are on the photo layouts page.

5. Choose the backdrop, and order early if it is custom

The clean white studio backdrop is included and it is what most couples end up using, because the lighting flatters everyone against it. The flower wall is $100 on top and doubles as a photo spot for guests who never get in the booth. There are fitted colour backdrops too, so ask which are free for your date.

A custom-printed backdrop, with your names, a pattern or your own artwork, starts at $250 and needs at least two months from artwork approval. If you want one, put it on the list at the same time as the invitations, not the week you finalise the seating chart. All the options are on the backdrops page.

6. Decide on a guest book

The booth makes a good guest book because the photos are already there. A few ways couples do it:

• Ask for double prints. One strip goes in the book, one goes home with the guest. We do it at no charge.
• Put a blank album and a few pens on a small table beside the booth, with a sign asking guests to stick in a strip and write a note.
• Ask one friend to keep an eye on the book for the first half hour, so it gets going.
• Use the online gallery afterwards for the guests who never made it to the book.

7. Tell your planner, venue and DJ

Put the booth on the wedding day timeline with its open and close times, and share the venue contact with us so we can confirm load-in and parking directly. If the venue asks for a certificate of insurance, we send one. Ask your DJ or MC to announce the booth once it opens. One mention after dessert fills the line faster than anything else.

8. The final week

• Strip design approved.
• Booth location confirmed with the venue, with the outlet checked.
• Arrival time and on-site contact confirmed.
• Open and close times on the timeline and with the DJ.
• Guest book table and pens ready if you are doing one.

That is the list. The rest is our job: we bring the booth, the lighting, the backdrop and the props, set it all up, run it all night and pack it down. Pricing for every length is on the packages page, and venue notes for Burlington, Oakville, Hamilton and Toronto are on the city pages. There is more on the weddings page.

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