Guides
Photo booth hire or a digital photo booth?
What a wedding photo booth costs to hire, what you get for the money, and when a digital photo booth on every guest’s phone does the job better.
A photo booth is one of the most popular extras at a wedding, and it is easy to see why: props, a backdrop and a strip of prints to take home. It is also several hundred pounds for one evening. Here is what hire actually buys, what a digital photo booth does instead, and how to choose between them.
What photo booth hire costs
In the UK, a wedding photo booth usually costs between about £350 and £900 for three to five hours. Mirror, glam and 360 booths sit at the top of that range, and quotes in London and the South East run higher. Most packages include an attendant, setup, unlimited sessions during the hire and prints on the night.
- Hours: most quotes start at three, and every extra hour is charged on top.
- Booth type: an open booth costs less than a mirror, glam or 360 booth.
- Extras: custom print designs and a printed guest book album are often add-ons.
- Travel: suppliers usually charge more beyond their local area.
What a hired booth does well
Posed photos with props, in flattering light, printed on the spot. A booth gives people something to do between the meal and the dancing, and the strip on the fridge afterwards is a lovely thing. If those are what you want most, book one.
What it misses
A booth photographs whoever queues for it, in front of the same backdrop. The speeches, the first dance, the kitchen at one in the morning and the guests who never go near the corner all happen somewhere else.
How a digital photo booth is different
A digital photo booth puts the camera on every guest’s phone instead of in one corner. With Capsule, guests scan a QR code, shoot a short roll each in their browser, and every photo goes into one shared film that develops at the time you choose. There is nothing to deliver, plug in or staff.
It costs one payment instead of a hire fee. Five people is free, and a hundred guests with twenty-four shots each is £27. What you do not get is props, a backdrop or prints on the night.
Which to choose
- Book a hired booth if prints on the night and a prop table matter most, and the budget is there.
- Choose a digital photo booth if you want the whole day from every guest, or would rather spend the money elsewhere.
- Or have both: the booth takes the posed portraits and a shared film catches everything else.
Want to try the digital version first? A free film for five people takes two minutes to set up. How the digital photo booth works