Say cheese, not cheesy!

September 13, 2011 11:15 AM

We're having a photobooth at our wedding. As photobooths can be either cheesy or fun, we need to make some awesome props to push the feature to the Fun end of the spectrum. What should we have?

So, my parents were reeeeeeeally into the photobooth idea and offered to pay for it entirely. This is fine, even though I think the idea is a little cheesy and I'd never pay for anything but a DIY version. We got some cute props already, but I'm wondering if there's anything else we should include? Our friends are extremely irreverent and funny, so this seems like a good opportunity to let them go wild.

posted by slightly sissy tea hound to Grab Bag (20 answers total)

I think a bag of assorted vegetables would work, and maybe some plastic army men.
posted by bondcliff at 11:17 AM on September 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

I was at a wedding in April with a photobooth, and it was a huge hit. Crazy hats were popular, wigs would have been awesome.
posted by amicamentis at 11:21 AM on September 13, 2011

Some sort of ridiculous fancy hat. Like a top hat or a bowler.
posted by phunniemee at 11:21 AM on September 13, 2011

Feather boas, clown noses, temporary tattoos.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 11:21 AM on September 13, 2011

(perhaps that may be too cheesy for your taste, but it did make for some funny and well-loved photos)
posted by amicamentis at 11:21 AM on September 13, 2011

Fake moustaches. Maybe a monocle or two. Plastic weapons.
posted by cmoj at 11:25 AM on September 13, 2011

A Nixon mask?
posted by mostly vowels at 11:34 AM on September 13, 2011

A sign people can write on: http://annieray.net/photobooth-view.php?id=520

Actually, just about anything that photographer does would work. She does a very good job running photobooths in Austin.
posted by michaelh at 11:34 AM on September 13, 2011 [3 favorites]

I had a photobooth with props at my wedding. It was fantastic. Something that really worked was little chalkboards on strings that you could write on - it ended up making for some really touching shots, as well as lots of hilarious ones.
posted by piato at 11:36 AM on September 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

You could get some poster board and do some goofy scenes with cutouts for people to stick their faces through. Godzilla and King Kong, Starfleet uniforms, Frankenstein and Bride of, circus performers, stick figures, human and pet on leash.
posted by Glinn at 11:38 AM on September 13, 2011

Done this before for a few parties. Props that people can use "on each other" are usually big hits -- like toy swords or stethoscopes (so cute for a wedding, too, listening to someone's heart!).
posted by telegraph at 12:18 PM on September 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

I'm a photographer and I help my friend sometimes with her photobooth business. The best props are things that get people to interact with each other - guns, old Polaroid cameras, lassos, swords, musical instruments (you can rent beat up student instruments for nothing), etc.

And of course hats, lots of hats.
posted by bradbane at 12:22 PM on September 13, 2011

A wedding book I was reading had someone use prop moustaches (on a stick!) from Etsy, and other cool things like that.

I've also seen people do cut out frames to look through, stuff like that.
posted by disillusioned at 1:14 PM on September 13, 2011

Laminated white-paper speech bubbles on sticks with dry-erase markers.
That way you don't just get cute messages of congratulations.
You get your drunk friends actual thoughts in pictorial form.

Then you remove the pictures you do not want little children or your parents to see.
posted by Seamus at 1:31 PM on September 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

We had a photo booth at our wedding and it was great. We had the glasses and mustaches on sticks props, which was a lot of fun, and honestly enough. I was going to make dry-erase speech balloons but I had no idea of the scale. You can make some out of foam core and chalkboard paint, but plywood would be better if you've got tools. But it turns out a bottle of Malört was the most popular prop.
posted by hydrophonic at 2:02 PM on September 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

A live sheep. (via)

(Okay, I'm being silly, but a stuffed animal sheep would delight any Arrested Development fans in attendance.)
posted by en forme de poire at 3:44 PM on September 13, 2011

just went to a friend's wedding who printed enlarged pictures of his and his now-wife's heads, cut them out and taped them on giant sticks. they were used earlier in the day to get everyone to the right spot at their outdoor ceremony, but for the the rest of of the night they made for awesome pictures/photobooth fodder.
posted by nanhey at 7:12 PM on September 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

How about a make-your-own hat station/kit? You could give everyone cheesy straw or styrofoam hats (men's and women's), and/or headband/fascinator blanks, flowers, feathers, yes to the plastic army men, crazy bows from a gift-wrap store, cat toys, pipe cleaners, hot glue (supervised), jingly things, fake birds - basically raid Michael's or another craft store. Little boxes! Old wind chimes! Seashells! Big ribbons for tying under the chin! Deely-boppers / insect antennae! Fake plastic gems!

Then, people get a silly hat, have something to talk about, and get a hilarious picture. Make sure there's enough room in the photo booth for people + hats.

Perhaps you could donate leftover craft supplies to a school.

Alternatively, you could provide, or have people make, silly cardboard scenes or "portraits" (elaborate Victorian costumes, cowboy outfits, "wedding on the moon"?) with circles cut out for their heads. Maybe a special big-format printer (poster-size) connected to a laptop with some fun scenes; people can choose for themselves what to print (on posterboard, so it won't be too floppy), then cut out the circles themselves. OR you could avoid overcomplicating this and just find some scenes and have them printed at Kinko's or something.
posted by amtho at 8:55 PM on September 13, 2011

Mannequin body parts, like an arm or a leg. Stuffed animals. Fake flowers.
posted by infinityjinx at 7:22 AM on September 14, 2011

Throw in some books of varying sizes and seriousness, childhood toys from each generation, halloween costumes/props (superheros, wild animals, etc)
posted by bilabial at 9:17 AM on September 14, 2011