DIY Bride: Photobooth + Wedding Guest Book

One of the projects I was most excited about for Mr P and I's wedding was making my own photobooth and guest book for guests to have fun with at the wedding reception.

I got prices for a photobooth and it would cost around $1000 and being a DIY bride I took on the challenge to do it myself on a $300 budget - I spent $360 in the end because I splurged on a beautiful custom made guest book (which took up a third of the budget!) I found on Etsy. The cost breakdown  with links to shops is at the end of this post.

It was definitely worth the money spent, plus a bit of creativeness to make the photobooth and props, this was a great feature to have at the wedding and can be used again in the future for Birthdays or special occasions.

This is how I made the photobooth and wedding guest book .....

The custom made guest book - I found the guest book on Etsy which had so many amazing creative stores to shop from. I finally decided on Lorgie who is based locally in Fremantle so that I could collect it. I got a large wedding album with black pages as I love how it looks with white pens. I kept the design simple and had our names and wedding date engraved on the front.

The instant camera - I researched the best reviews for instant cameras and liked the Fujifilm Instax Mini 8 Camera. I shopped around and got it on sale at Myer.

It's the instant film that's expensive - It works out to be about $2 per photo if you buy the film in-store, but if you buy in large quantities from Ebay it's half the price and works out to $1 per photo. I purchased 100 film online which was enough for a photo of each guest and had about 40 leftover as most guests had photos in groups.

Camera accessories - I found a pretty box from the discount store that I filled with all the extra film, spare batteries, photo glue, photo stickers and white pens which I tied with ribbon to pretty them up.

For the photobooth props - I found a pack of props from The Reject Shop and jazzed them up with embellishments and stickers. 

I invited a few crafty girlfriends over to help with this and under the influence of a bottle of french champagne and the promise of a home made dinner we got to work and had a lot of fun making them.

I made some of the photobooth props - By printing out free templates I found online - these included drinks, lips, moustaches and masks. 

I simply glued them onto cardboard and then cut around the shapes and attached a wooden skewer. Then decorated them with embellishments, stickers and different papers.

For the larger photobooth props - Like hats, gloves, wigs and scarves I borrowed a vintage suitcase from a friend, lined it with pretty fabric, and filled it with the props.

Photobooth sign - I typed up instructions and framed them in a wooden frame so everyone would know what they were meant to do.

Now for the backdrop for the photos - We needed something pretty to stand in front of and for this we made a frame, covered it in a canvass painters drop sheet we already had and attached paper flowers to it to give it a textured background. 

Mr P made the frame by attaching PVC pipe and brackets together, the base was wide with the rear base extra wide to support the frame so it didn't topple over.

To cover the frame we hung a large canvass drop sheet over the frame and attached it using velcro. The drop sheet was perfect for this as it was thick fabric, hung well and was inexpensive.

We wrapped the sheet all around the pipe to hide it, including wrapping it around the base of the frame.

I ran the iron over the sheet to try to remove some of the wrinkles and creases, my iron is almost 20 years old and not a very good one but it got most of the wrinkles out and I figured the flowers will cover most of it anyway.

I marked the corners of the sheet so I knew where to start decorating it and for the decor I had some paper flowers my brother had bought back from a holiday in Vietnam for me. The flowers were pretty cheap I got about 80 flowers for $20 and they added great texture and colour to the backdrop.

I took the sheet off the frame, laid it down flat on the floor and placed the flowers around and then went to work with the hot glue gun sticking each one on.

Once the flowers were stuck on I hung the sheet over the frame again and then labelled the frame and sheet with "top" and "bottom" so the wedding venue setting it up would know how to do it. 

We pulled the frame apart to transport it and the venue assembled it for us on the wedding day.

Set up at venue - There was an area at the wedding reception that was set up with the photobooth frame and drop sheet, a table for the suitcase and jars of props, and the camera and guestbook on another side table (sorry I don't have any photos of the set up of it at the wedding!)

Photographer friends - I asked some friends to be in charge of the camera on the day to make sure it had film in it and the batteries didn't go flat. I also asked them to be photographers and take a few photos to get everyone into the spirit of things and this worked out really well pretty soon guests were lining up to use it!

Overall the DIY photobooth was a real hit and I have lots of gorgeous instant photos now stuck into the wedding guest book.

The photobooth frame and backdrop sheet have been packed away but I can't wait to get them out again for another party - it would be perfect to use at a spring bash or baby shower!

I also have the camera which I have used again (but now I'm out of film and need to buy some more!).

The guest book has doubled as a scrapbook for both the engagement and wedding so while this was a splurge it was worth it to me as it's such a beautiful keepsake and it's large enough to keep everything together so all our memories are in the one book.

I have stuck in all our invitations and stationary, the engagement party messages in a bottle, and lots of photos from the engagement and wedding as well.

Seeing how much fun everyone had using the photobooth at the wedding was the best part!

If you're a bride on a budget I would highly recommend DIYing a photobooth similar to this.

This is what our DIY photobooth cost: 

Fujifilm Instax Mini8 Camera, Myer $84.15
100 film, Ebay   $94
Box (for film and spare batteries), Red Dot  $2
Custom wedding guest book, Etsy shop - Lorgie  $115
Photo glue and photo stickers, Target  $4
White pens, Kikki-k  $6
Frame (already had) typed up instructions DIY  $0
Old suitcase and props (borrowed from a friend)  $0
Pack of props, The Reject Shop  $5
Gold cardboard, Spotlight  $2.50
Embellishments, stickers, papers, sticks (already had)  $0
PVC pipe and brackets to make frame, Bunnings  $20
Velcro, Bunnings $5
Canvas drop sheet (already had)  $0
Paper flowers, from Vietnam  $20
Total $357.65


Sharing with link parties:
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[All images my own - images 21 and 22 via Sam Proctor Photographer]