Make Your Own Wedding Photo Booth With Your iPad
It’s a good idea make your own wedding photo booth. It’s a good way to keep your guests entertained during the whole day and evening. Plus you will have lots of hilarious photos to share with them after the event!
Is it worth buying the equipment and material and building one rather than leasing? In terms of money, the answer is yes.
Now, the amount of money you’ll save depends on the equipment you already own. Is it worth doing it yourself? It depends on how much time you can invest to build one.
In this post, I will give you an estimate of how much it can cost and where you can cut to save both time and money.
Let’s start with a list of what you’ll need:
- iPad \ laptop with a camera
- iPad stand, tripod with iPad or laptop support adapter
- My Photobooth app or other Windows compatible apps
- Printer
- Lighting (optional)
- A backdrop with a stand (optional)
- Photo booth props (optional)
Budget breakdown
These are average prices for each item you’ll need. Note that in this list, I’m assuming you will be using an iPad rather than a PC or laptop for the following practical reason.
Your guests are not all comfortable with computer technologies. From a user perspective, a tablet is probably more suitable in terms of ease of use than a laptop. The truth is, I can’t picture my grandmother using a computer mouse as she never used a computer before.
You just can’t beat the simplicity of a touch screen.
Equipment needed and cost:
- iPad stand: $25.00 – $50.00
- My Photobooth app: Free (compatible with iPad only)
- Portable wifi printer: $50.00 – 150.00$
- Lighting: $40.00 – $80.00
- Backdrop with a stand: $40.00 -$70.00
- Photo booth props: $10.00
Total: $165.00 – $360.00
If you don’t have an iPad, it cost between $200 and $400 on Amazon. It can cost over $700 for an iPad with the latest technology, biggest storage capacity, etc.
As far as I’m concerned, these are overkill options for a photo booth so keep it simple and cheap.
Other tablet brands
There are other tablet options that are cheaper than the iPad. Unfortunately, My Photobooth app is only compatible with the iPad.
Make sure the tablet you’ll choose has a decent photo booth software and that you don’t have to spend a fortune in it.
DIY backdrop
The backdrop may not be necessary if you already have a nice space. It can be a fireplace, brick or stone wall, vintage armchair, large painting, etc.
Also, backdrops can be made out of curtains, or large tablecloth. You can choose an interesting texture like sequin for its shimmering and glamorous look or black and white chevron pattern.
Matching the backdrop pattern and colors with your wedding theme is another great option. Use a backdrop stand to hang it and you’re done!
Why have an open photo booth style?
You can make your own wedding photo booth to save money. In fact, a rental photo booth can cost over $1000 for 2-3 hours!
To keep the cost low and save you lots of time you should think of having an open photo booth. Depending on the type of materials you use to build the walls and structure, it can represent a consequent investment.
Not to mention you will need to build it once, take it apart, and build it again the day of the wedding… This can be overwhelming on a day already pretty hectic!
Make your own wedding photo booth and bring people together
What I like about the open concept is that more guests can gather together to take group pictures.
Obviously, those that are watching will want to try it as well! The photo booth becomes the attraction where guests can interact and have fun.
Using a Windows laptop for your photo booth
The good thing when you make your own wedding photo booth is that you get to keep the iPad, printer, and other equipment. You can re-use it for other family and friends gatherings or sell it.
If you don’t own an iPad and don’t want to invest in buying one you can still use your existing laptop.
Here’s a great DIY with detailed steps to help you build one:
Ready to build your own photo booth?
Hope you’ve found useful information in this article for your photo booth project. If you have any questions or want to know about the equipment I used to make this estimate, feel free to leave a comment below. I will gladly answer you!
Cheers!
♥
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I never would have thought of building a photo booth for photography. What a great idea! Do the backdrops come with stands? Or do you have to buy them separately?
Hi Dan, some merchants selling stands provide a backdrop that is usually plain black or white.
You can buy a backdrop with a good quality image for $10 to $25 each.
You can also make great looking backdrops form a curtain or a large tablecloth that has a nice pattern and color.
Hope this helps,
Now Carolyn, that is an excellent idea. I got married a couple of years ago, and we thought of a photo booth, but hiring one would have meant adding a higher figure to our already inflated gadget, and we desisted. Had we known that we could do it all with the aid of my precious Pad, we would have certainly gone ahead with the idea!
A bit too late, but thanks for the info anyway. Giulia
Hi Giulia, sorry it came a bit late.
You can still pass the info to other people and help them save money for their wedding, anniversary and Christmas parties!
Cheers!
Hi I want get a present for my friend, and she loves the take these kinds of photos however what kinds I of lighting do you suggest me to invest in? Probably it will be used more in home not outside
Hi Furkan, There are many options for portrait lighting. If your friend wants photos like the featured image in this post she can use a ring light. Some of them are available for self-portrait and are mounted on a cell phone.
I think these are good to take pictures when you’re not too far from the subject.
These can be purchased on Amazon
There are also bigger light ring versions that are mounted on a stand and provide more light. Adding a light diffuser can also enhance the quality of lighting.
Hope this helps,
This is a great idea. Much more cost effective than renting a photo booth and then you have an iPad after it is all over.
Hi Amanda, yes they can be pretty expensive for someone on a tight budget (over a thousand dollars for an evening).
Thanks for dropping by!
Cool! I don’t really want to plan or pay for a wedding so if my fiance and I do a celebration, it will definitely be “outside the box”. I’m so glad I found your site! I’ve seen some neat wedding photo booths in the past year. It’s nice to know that it’s possible to do a DIY version. Thanks for getting me thinking!
Hi Jenny, glad you like my website! Thanks for dropping by!
Is the above photo was taken from an Ipad? look too good.
Hi Bob, I don’t know, I’m not the one who took it 🙂
An Ipad Air 2 can take 3264 X 2448 native resolution photo and can even make and 1080p HD video! If you take a similar picture with it I guess it looks pretty good 🙂