Props to You
Having a photo booth for your wedding is a great way to include your guests in all the festivities. Not every one of your guests will want to pose for your wedding photographer, but there’s a high chance they will head to the photo booth for a fun group picture or selfie with a goofy prop. Western Australia Wedding & Bride’s Jacqueline Foy sits down with Vicky Le, owner and designer at Perth’s Illuminate Photo Booth Hire, to discuss how hiring a photo booth for your big day can add elements of fun and uniqueness for both couples and guests to enjoy.
Image Credit: Illuminate Photo Booth Hire
Starting her business during a rocky time across the board, but particularly for the wedding and hospitality industries, Le launched Illuminate Photo Booth Hire in 2021. In the years since, she has been able to start building up her prop and backdrop selection slowly to curate a unique setup with modern props and appealing and fun signs. Le’s goal has always been for your wedding guests to enjoy the day (almost) as much as you do. With such a large range of props, there is something for everyone to select from to inject fun and excitement into your day. Read on to learn how to open up your wedding day to a world of fun.
What’s In A Booth
Having a photo booth at your wedding provides a fun and exciting experience for the wedding guests with lots of laughs, unforgettable memories and a printed copy of their photo booth session to take away from the day. The photo booth experience is enhanced with a variety of props on display. The guests have a great time deciding what props they are going to use, deciding what order they are going to use them and what poses they are going to do in front of the camera. “The best part is when they get their print and smile as they look at the photos,” Le says. With so many props to choose from – from lightsabers, Hulk fists, pokéballs and Pikachu glasses or gold chains to classic ‘Love’
and ‘Bride’ signs – your photos will be bursting with personality.
“With a busy day filled to the brim with formalities, the bridal couple misses a lot of the fun moments at
the wedding reception,” Le notes. “With the photo booth you are able to capture all the guests you have invited to your wedding enjoying themselves,” she adds. Couples love having access to an online gallery and sharing this gallery with their guests to look back on. “After all, the bridal couple has spent a lot of time planning their wedding and the biggest compliment is their guests posting pictures from their wedding,” Le says.
Quirky Fun
“A picture can tell a thousand words, but a few words can change its story,” Le says. “Hard prop signs have some fun sayings and our fun props can definitely liven up the mood in the photo booth,” she adds. Illuminate Photo Booth Hire’s unique aspect is its add-on range of themed prop sets. “Australia is such a multicultural country and with each country comes different ways of celebrating a marriage,” Le explains. “Whether you’re 1st generation, 2nd generation and so on, the language and culture that we come from doesn’t change,” she adds. Her goal is to accommodate all different cultures, so she has sourced and designed several different cultural wedding sets to accommodate the guests who might not speak English or want to have some fun culture-specific sayings.
Le notes that wedding attendees loves the ease of being able to access the photos from the wedding they attended with a simple online gallery link, allowing them to download the photos they’re in almost instantly for a sentimental keepsake from their loved ones’ special day. “There is also the
ability to get the print version sent directly to their phone by scanning the QR code on the screen which allows the guest to download it straight away,” Le says. “This has been so beneficial for us as a safety precaution for Coronavirus,” she adds.
The Formalities
In terms of the practicalities of hiring a photo booth for your wedding day, a lot of what you can do depends on outside factors – particularly the venue. Le advises that in general, you will need to allow for two hours for set-up so the team can unload their vehicle and get all the equipment to the venue room. Photo booths need access to a power point and need a three-by-three metre space to set up. Le says you have to make sure you are aware of any limitations that your venue might have to ease any day-of stresses.
These days everyone has seen a photo booth, and it sets an exciting tone for your wedding. It’s one way of getting photos of the guests who have made it to your special day. “You can even sit down with your loved ones and have a slideshow and laugh and enjoy the photos that were taken,” Le says. “There are so many wedding trends at the moment that add a fun element and allows your guests to be entertained at the same time. Whether it’s an audio guestbook, a photo booth, or a live painter. By providing some entertainment for your guests they will remember how fun your wedding was,” she says.