One of the DIY projects that I did for my wedding that worked really well and saved a lot of money was a DIY Wedding Photo booth! Photo booths are quite popular and fun at weddings but they can be quite expensive. There are companies that you can hire to set up a photo booth, but the pricing for a couple of hours can be over $400, not including printed pictures. So, this DIY wedding photo booth is perfect for those that want to save some money for their upcoming wedding or event.
I did a lot of research when planning this DIY project, but to be honest, I was actually quite unsure that it would work so well. But it worked amazingly!!! And it was a lot of fun for the guests!
There isn’t much out there on Pinterest and blogs about how to do your own DIY photo booth so I hope this is helpful to anyone looking for ideas on how to save and make your own photo booth along with printing photo booth pictures. And this entire project cost me less than $200, and I get to keep the printer and supplies. Which is a win win!
First of all, you will need a backdrop for your photo booth. I can do another blog post on how we did the floral backdrop which was another easy, inexpensive, and fun DIY project that looked amazing! We chose to do a floral backdrop because it went with our wedding lunch reception theme, however, there are many other backdrops out there that you can choose to do.
Next, you will need a printer, and a wireless printer is perfect for a photo booth. I bought the Canon SELPHY CP910, but there are other wireless printers available out there as well. I bought mine on Craigslist for $90 so I could save some more money, so try looking on Kijiji or Craiglist in your city first before purchasing online or in stores. This printer is also very easy to set up, just follow the instructions provided with the printer and once you have the printer connected to your WiFi network you are all set for the next step. My printer came with an ink cartridge as well as some printing paper, however, you can purchase them separately as well. See the links for where to purchase the printer, ink and paper on Amazon!
Okay, so now you will need something to take pictures with. I chose to use my iPad2 because it was easy to set up and had the perfect app to take pictures and send them directly to the wireless printer to print. I bought an iPad to tripod mount to have a perfect setup for taking the photobooth pictures. We already had a tripod, so didn’t need to worry about that.
One last thing you need to get before you are all set is an app that will take photo booth style pictures and send them directly to print on your wireless printer. Again, I did a TON on research on this. There are so many options available, some that are in the 100’s of dollars, and others that don’t send the pictures to print. But, I finally found the perfect one. It is called My Photobooth and cost me $13.99 and was well worth it. You can choose from one of the templates available on the app, or create your own and upload it into the app. We chose a default wedding template. You just click start and the app will take 4 pictures, so your guests can strike a pose for the camera.
Once it has taken the pictures, just click finish and save photos. This will save the pictures on your iPad as well as give you the option to Print a copy. If you click on Print a copy, your printer should be connected and all set to print!
SUPPLIES
Backdrop of choice
Printer paper and ink (if not included with printer)
My Photobooth iPad app
DIRECTIONS
Set up your Canon Selphy CP910 printer and connect it to your WiFi network and place it in a secure location. Have someone at hand that can help guests if need be.
Install the My Photobooth app on your iPad and mount the iPad to your tripod so that it is facing your photobooth backdrop.
When taking pictures in photobooth, click start on app and strike a pose. Then click Print a Copy and wait for the printer to print you your very own photobooth picture.
If you’re looking for ideas on how to make your own backdrop, check out this post on how we DIY’d a Sprinkle backdrop.
Love this post! Thank you so much for sharing!