1. Start with your guest count and run-time
The two numbers that drive everything else are your guest count and how long you want the booth running. A 360 booth can comfortably handle around 30 sessions per hour. A traditional open-air or mirror booth runs closer to 60 prints per hour. If you're hosting 150 guests and want everyone in the booth at least once, three hours of run-time is a safe baseline. For weddings over 200 guests, plan four hours.
Run-time is also where most overpaying happens. Don't book the booth for hours when nobody will use it. Cocktail hour and the post-dinner dance window are the high-traffic stretches; idle time during dinner is fine to skip or quote at a reduced rate.
2. Lock the venue's space and power early
Photo booths need real space. A 360 booth needs roughly a 10x10 footprint with overhead clearance for the camera arm. Mirror and open-air booths need about 8x8 plus room for a prop table. Confirm with your venue where the booth will live before you finalize the floorplan — not the night before.
Power matters too. Every booth needs a dedicated outlet within reach. Tented and outdoor events often need a generator or a long-run extension; that's worth raising during your venue walkthrough so it doesn't become a surprise on event day.
3. Pick a booth that matches your event style
- 360 PRO video booth — slow-motion vertical videos, great for weddings, mitzvahs, and brand events that want shareable social content
- 360 Express — same concept at a lower price point, perfect for birthdays and casual parties
- Mirror booth — touch-screen interactive booth with prints, classic for weddings and milestone parties
- Open-air booth — a backdrop plus a camera; flexible for large groups and easier to brand for corporate events
- Flower wall — beautiful neutral backdrop that doubles as decor, popular for showers and weddings
- Roaming booth — an attendant walks the room with an iPad-based booth; great when guests are spread out
4. Decide on prints, sharing, and branding
Most booths now ship with instant text, email, and AirDrop sharing built in. Physical prints are an add-on, not a default — and for weddings they're absolutely worth it as a keepsake. For corporate events, a custom overlay with your logo and event name is what makes the booth a marketing asset rather than just a fun activity.
If you're using a booth as part of a brand activation, also ask whether you'll get the analytics — emails captured, share counts, and a gallery you can pull content from later.
5. Questions to ask before you book
- Is setup and breakdown time included in the price, or billed separately?
- Is an attendant included? (Yes is the only acceptable answer for a real photo booth.)
- Do you carry liability insurance and can you provide a COI for my venue?
- What happens if the booth has a technical issue during the event?
- Will I get a digital gallery of everything captured, and how soon after the event?
- What's the deposit, and what's your cancellation and reschedule policy?
What it costs
Photo booth pricing varies significantly by date, location, booth type, run-time, and add-ons like prints and uplighting. Saturdays in peak season (May–October in New England) book up early and price higher than off-peak weekday events. Rather than chasing a flat number online, send a real event date and venue to a couple of companies and compare actual quotes. We typically turn around custom quotes within a few hours.