About a year ago, I started offering my “portrait” booth as an alternative to the classic photo booth setups that I had seen at many events. At the time, I offered unlimited shooting and 4×6 color or black and white prints on demand, custom backgrounds up to 20 feet wide, custom logo’s and banners on the prints, and free clear bags, glassine envelopes, or custom enclosures.

But wait! Now there’s more!

A couple weeks ago when Anne helped coordinate Oscar & Tanya’s booth, we did so in less than 3 days. Tanya & Oscars friends scoured Party City and picked up a gigantic box of various props, and Tanya chose a plain white background because she knew there would be no lack of color based on her wedding decor and attire.

The night before the booth was ready to rock and roll. It occurred to me that Anne had all of the design files for Tanya’s invitation suite. I gave my buddy a call and begged her to make me some custom labels for the clear bags that were going to be used to hold the prints. Without hesitation, she hung up the phone and got to work.

Anne arrived to set up with a package full of these labels in her hot little hands:

I knew the second I spoke to Tanya for the first time that her booth was going to be fun because her friends were putting a lot of effort into the props. Since that was the focus (in addition to having a good time), I knew that surprising her with these labels would be a great way to give her guests the information without adding any distracting elements to the photos.

As an added bonus, Anne also made me these labels to use on the back of prints, on bags, and to hand out to little kids. Not quite as cool as getting a sticker from a Sheriff, or the Dentist…but not bad for a handout from a random Photographer at a wedding, right? =)

I’ve found that sometimes guests haven’t had a proper family portrait taken in years, and when they arrive to an event and see my setup sometimes they want to make the most of it and get a few shots for their homes and offices. In this case, it’s nice that I can offer them a print without a custom banner so that it will fit nicely in a frame without distractions. Plus, they have the option of getting an enlargement. Since I use a portrait studio lighting setup, it’s easy to grab a few family portraits after guests are done having fun for a few frames.

That’s where the custom label option comes in handy. So many folks are taking the time to work with Designers like Anne, that by the time they contract my services they typically have access to the creative elements they’ve developed to make their own event unique.

I do receive a lot of questions about my booth via email. Because there are few limitations to what I can do with my setup, I’ve found the best way to give interested parties access to specific information is to send out an information packet via email or snail mail after we’ve discussed all of the tiny little details during a consultation in person or over the phone (if you’re out of town).

I can tell you that the most common questions I receive are about cost, prints and about how many photos to expect in a 3 hour block. On average, the portrait booth costs about half as much as a portable classic style booth, depending on the level of customization. The 4×6 photos take about 30-60 seconds to print, and we keep them displayed in any way our client sees fit until their guests are ready to pick them up. Typically, we can do anywhere between 200-300 images in a 3 hour block (our most common package) which varies depending on how long guests spend putting on props and taking breaks to participate in other activities during the event. The booth is really only limited by your imagination, and thanks to my creative pals like Anne, it’s pretty easy to create just about anything you need to put your own twist on it.

Interested in booking the booth for your event? Email me at pamela@pamelamastersphotography.com

Oh, and big ups to Anne. I’m on a mission to learn a hundred different ways to say “Thank you” because of your continuous hard work, support, and friendship.

…that forces wedding guests to wear their inner freaks on their sleeves.

Okay, maybe the hosted bar had something to do with it. Maybe that box of props that showed up right after I started snapping away just inspired people. Or maybe, Tanya & Oscar have friends like mine.

Sure, I could have censored some of the more wild and crazy shots, but that wouldn’t be any fun now, would it?

Thank you to Anne K. for connecting the dots between Tanya and I. See, Tanya had Anne design her invitation suite, and at the last minute during a meeting between the two of them, Tanya mentioned how much she would have loved to have a portrait booth. Of course the first thing Anne did was give me a call and coordinate the last minute addition of a portrait booth to Tanya & Oscar’s wedding at the Los Angeles River Center and Gardens.

Tanya and Oscar chose a modern day Fiesta theme for their wedding. Check out their invitations by Anne. Just hours before their wedding, Anne designed some labels for the bags that we included with each 4×6 print that each guest took with them. I was hoping to provide a photo of the label upon showing you this slideshow, but I’ve been so incredibly busy I haven’t had a chance to take a photo yet!

I’d also like to thank Carina of Tealight Weddings. From the moment I was added to Tanya & Oscars lineup, Carina made sure I was in the loop. It’s event coordinators like her who make my evening easy. I always knew where to find someone for a cleanup on aisle 6 (aka, spilled liquor in front of the booth), or when to quiet down so that the guests could focus their attention on some of the evenings other activities. Thanks Carina!

And like I haven’t written about her enough lately, a neverending thank you to Anne. She was in charge of the prints for the evening and that is no easy task. I can always count on her to show up ready to command the print station without any hangups or delays. To be able to call someone up 12 hours before an event and ask them to design custom labels without any hesitation or second thoughts is really an incredible bonus to working with someone as talented as her. Hello, my name is Pamela and I’m the President of the Anne K. fan club.

To view Oscar and Tanya’s portrait booth slideshow, click here or anywhere in the image below. *Warning* The photos in this slideshow are hardly G-rated. In fact, if you’re at work or there are little ones in the room, you may want to wait until later to check out these photos.

If you happen to be a guest from Oscar and Tanya’s wedding and you’re interested in ordering reprints from the portrait booth, please email me at pamela@pamelamastersphotography for ordering information.

I knew Juan & Perla’s wedding was going to be fun as I passed the Paul Frank beach cruiser while walking into the ballroom at the country club. I was even more certain when I saw that Perla had taken the time to bring some of her own fun props for their guests to use in the portrait booth.

Perla and Juan now hold the record for the most enthusiastic wedding guests….ever! I had so much fun with everyone! By the looks of it, everyone else had a great time too.

Click here or anywhere on the image below to launch Perla and Juan’s wedding portrait booth slideshow!