Fauxtobooth Mock Up!

Since last week I saw a post on the boards asking about how to make a DIY photobooth, I decided to share our fauxtobooth in it's mock up stages, instead of waiting until after the wedding when we'll have the pictures from it. I had to set it all up so I could write up the assembly instructions before packing it for the wedding, and thought it might be helpful to others thinking about doing their own photobooth!

I already mentioned the USB button we will be using to control the photobooth program on my sister's Mac here, and here I showed you all the fun props we got.

But as far as supplies other than the USB button, Mac and props, we're using the following to construct our fauxtobooth:

3 garment racks
3 queen size top sheets
Snaps (to hold the sheets on the racks)
2 clip lights
2 chairs (from our venue)
2 tables (also from our venue)
Large LCD computer monitor
High res webcam
1 small table for holding USB button
Wood box, with sister's laptop inside, LCD monitor on top (back of box is open for laptop fan circulation and cords)
3 signs
USB extension cord
Power extension cord
Double sided tape (for securing USB button to table)

Before doing the full mock up, I made this quick and dirty 'bird's eye view' diagram, so I would have a clear idea of where to set up everything (click for a larger view).


Now, I won't bore you with all the step by step photos I took (I'm guessing you all don't care to see how to assemble a garment rack, or the precise draping of the sheets on the racks), so I'll fast forward to the photos* with things more set up.

*Please use your imagination when looking at these rough mock up pictures. The real version with linen covered tables, nice chairs and non-wrinkled sheets is going to look a lot better, I promise! ;)

The quick and abbreviated set up instructions:
1) Assemble garment racks, adjust to head height, and drape sheets over the top.
2) Snap the snaps on the sheets, and form three sides of a square with the racks.
3) Place 2 dining room chairs in the booth (the actual chairs we'll be using are smaller than the ones in the picture, and don't have arms, so more people can cram together on them)


4) Place "Press button, smile, repeat" poster on table, facing the chairs, along with laptop, box over laptop, and LCD screen with high res webcam on top of box. Place "Photobooth" poster in front of table. (in the picture below, kindly imagine that the barstools are really a table with a nice table cloth on it)
5) Put the small round table right next to the chairs, with the button on top. Run the USB extension cable around the outside of the garment racks and up to the front table.
6) Clip the lights to the top of the racks, toward the front. Turn them to directly face the chairs, not pointing down. (The lights are not pictured below, and there won't be a window shining light through the sheets in our real set up.)

7) Lay out the props and prop sign on the side table. (We'll just pretend this box is a big table that covers the garment rack legs, ok? And that we have 10x as many props on the table.)

8) Adjust the webcam so that only the green back drop is in the frame of the pictures, and take some test pictures to make sure all is working correctly. (I obviously didn't follow step #8 in lining up my sample photos below, but on the day-of, the brown side sheets won't be showing)
(I made 2 chalk board conversation bubbles with wood and chalk board spray paint. The lavender round table you see between the chairs is where the USB button will go, but I used my wireless mouse in this mock up. Also, in the real version, you won't see the garment rack legs through the sheets, it's only there in these pictures because I stupidly did my mock up in front of a window!)


Once I was finished playing in the fauxtobooth with my kitty, I packed everything away as compact as possible for transportation to our venue. Minus the LCD monitor, sister's laptop, webcam and the USB button itself, which I don't have at my house, all but the garment racks fit nicely into just two boxes.
I'm guessing that on our wedding day, it won't take my sister more than 15-20 minutes to get this all set up, especially with my (much more detailed than this post) set up instructions sheet.

We've included a note about our fauxtobooth in our programs and on our wedding website, and you can't miss seeing it on your way to the restrooms, or through the big windows from the deck/dining area, so hopefully our guests will put it to good use! The next day we'll upload all the photos to our site for everyone to download, and we also plan to print out some of the pictures of each guest on photo paper and include them with their thank you cards. It will be like getting another favor after the wedding is over!

Is anyone else jumping on the fauxtobooth bandwagon?

I'm Doing Cartwheels and Backflips!

I just had such a great weekend, as far as wedding-things are considered!

First of all, I had 6 appointments scheduled for dress shopping yesterday, and I bought my dress! My little sister/MOH came to town for the weekend and we went shopping with our mom. I'm going to post more soon about the dress, after I scope the web for more pictures of it and PhotoShop the pictures of me in it to show it closer to the color I ordered it in. I can't wait to share my dress, it's just so perfect, and I'm so freakin' happy about crossing this thing off the list!

Secondly, I think we might have figured out a way to DIY our photobooth! I had already considered, and rejected, the idea of a DIY booth, even before I looked at the pricing for renting one in our area. Unfortunately our nice camera we just bought six months ago doesn't have the remote shutter control as a feature, and I didn't want to have to ask someone to run my camera the whole night on a tripod. But while my sister was here I realized that she has a MacBook Pro, which awesomely has a program called Photo Booth on it! {Source}

I've heard of several other people using this program on their Mac for a DIY photobooth, including Mrs. Bunny recently on WeddingBee. But I think we're going to take it a step further.

To protect my sister's laptop from spilled drinks and such, as well as to make the set up a little less "sit at a computer and click the camera icon with the mouse", we're going to put the laptop under a table, and set up a large LCD monitor with a good quality webcam on top of the table, and utilize this fantastic invention: a button that you can program to act as any key command in any program! This will act as the "start" button that people can press to start the '3-2-1-snap' countdown on the Mac Photo Booth program.
{Source}

Combine all this with some fabric hanging from one of my garment racks, a bench, and some props, we'll have a DIY photobooth for cheap! I actually just ordered the USB Button (and I Googled "Griffin Technology Promo Code" and found a code for 20% off my order, and shipping was free too), so we'll have it for when my sister comes back for Thanksgiving and can test it out. I'll be sure to post pics from the trial, since we'll need to figure out how far away the monitor and webcam can be for the best photos, and that will dictate a lot of the rest of the set up.

I'll also have to make a sign to explain how to use the DIY photo booth (I sort of like this concept, but "Smile. Press. Repeat.", or something like that with cute graphics). Additionally, I'll need to make a page on our website for guests to download the pictures after the wedding (we have 50gb of storage on the site, so it shouldn't be a problem, and all the people who'll be interested in the photobooth are web-savvy).

Yay! I'm so excited we'll get to have cute pictures of us and our guests like these:

{Source 1, Source 2, Source 3, Source 4}

So all in all, an awesome weekend! I found my dress, I have a plan for a budget-friendly photobooth option, and best of all, I got to hang out with my sis. She lives in the Portland area, so we don't get to talk in person very often, but we had a blast chatting until 5am last night, telling funny stories, discussing wedding things, and just being girls. I was so exhausted after the long day of dress shopping, I'm not sure how I stayed awake that late but it was a perfect end to a perfect day!

Have you had a stand out weekend where things just seemed to come together, and you were able to cross some big ticket items off your list? And what do you think of our new DIY photobooth plans?