Why EVERY wedding needs a photo booth

..yes, EVERY wedding.

As some of you may know, I am engaged and am marrying the most incredible man EVER in less than four months. We were engaged in December and since then my life has been completely consumed with school, work, dress fittings, school, cake tastings, work, wedding board pinning, yadda, yadda, yadda.

While all of this has been fun (except the school and work.. that wasn't necessary.. ), my favorite part has been going to bridal shows with one of my dearest friends, Abby.

Abby is getting married next weekend (CAN'T wait!), so we got to share our engagement/bridal fair experiences together. We attended wedding gown fashion shows, survived several sugar induced comas from all the cake we sampled, chatted with potential DJs and photographers together, the whole nine yards. While all of this was a blast, the best part had to have been trying out the photo booth machines.

Fun, right!?

Now, actual photo booth machine rentals can be a bit pricy (they will typically run you around $500-$800 for 3-4 hours which doesn't cut it for this thrifty bride!), but there is an alternative: set up a backdrop (whether it be a solid colored hanging sheet, scenic background, etc.), pick up fun props from a thrift store and grab a friend/family member/acquaintance/photographer/anyone to take pictures for you and voila! You have your own, personalized makeshift photo booth. 

The homemade photo booth works just as well for a fraction of the price. AND you can fit even more people into the pictures (whereas with a machine, you're lucky to squeeze in 6 people). Photo booths will capture the personalities of your guests more so than your regular, generic professional snapshots and you have the ability to make a fun scrapbook with all the pictures you receive.

Here is a fun board on Pinterest that will give you even more homemade photo booth ideas.

So, the moral of my post tonight is this: EVERY wedding needs a photo booth (hence the title) and, if you're engaged, grab a girlfriend or two and head to a bridal fair. You will get all sorts of ideas and discounts for your wedding and you'll make new memories with your girlfriends that you'll cherish forever.