DIY Wedding Photo Booth

Wedding photo booths are getting to be so popular right now. I see them at every bridal expo I attend, plus our friends just had one at the last wedding we went to. It's fun to choose props and take silly photos with your date, your friends, and the bride and groom.

But what if you don't have the extra money to rent one? No worries. You can just create a DIY wedding photo booth. Yup, this is possible and actually a lot easier than you would think.

DIY Wedding Photo Booth

Choose a background.
You have a lot of options for this. If your venue has a brick wall, you can just go with that because it's easy (and already done for you).

If you don't have a nice wall at your venue, you can just choose one to dress up. Purchase a large piece of fun fabric for your backdrop and hang it behind where you are going to take photos. For an easier method, you can hang streamers in your wedding colors (we actually did this for a DIY photo booth we made for homecoming my senior year of high school). You can even purchase a personalized photo backdrop, if you want to go the DIY-ish route.

Get props.
You can pick up a photo booth props pack on Amazon for ridiculously cheap. Plus, shop in your own closet. Have any leftover boas from old Halloween costumes? Mardi Gras beads from who knows when? Funny hats from Kentucky Derby parties? Plus, you can go to the dollar store and pick up oversized glasses, wigs, and a bunch of other items. Set these up in a box or on a table close to your camera.

If you're a little more hands on, you can print clip are in various images (mustaches, lips, sayings, etc.) and attach them to wooden dowels from the hardware store (although, honestly, if I was making props, I would just attach them to bamboo skewers).

Set up your camera.
If you have a tripod, you're ahead of the game. If not, you'll want to purchase (or borrow) one. Same thing with a camera. If your only camera is the one on your phone, check out Borrow Lenses. You can actually, as the name implies, borrow camera equipment (cameras, lenses, tripods, backdrops, underwater packages, etc.). That way, if the only time you need a tripod is your wedding, you can rent it.

Have someone figure out where to stand in order to be in the shot and mark the ground there either with a taped "x" or box to stand on.

Super important: Make sure you have a fresh SD card in your camera. The worst thing would be your guests trying to take photos and not being able to because your camera card ran out of room.

If you don't want a digital camera because of the delay in getting the photos to your friends, you can always go with a Polaroid camera. Just be sure to stock up on lots of film.

Man the booth.
Have someone designated to be the photo taker or tell the guests to grab an extra friend to take their photos.

I was trying to figure out a way to have your guests use a wireless Bluetooth remote control but I can only find ones for cell phones, not cameras.

Send the photos to your friends.
After your wedding, be sure to upload your photos to somewhere your guests can access them (like Facebook) or email them to your guests who aren't as social media savvy.

BRIDAL BABBLE: What would you add to your DIY wedding photo booth?