Do couples actually care whether your venue already has a photo booth? Yes, and the reason is simple: a booth is one of the most requested extras at receptions, and couples who find one already waiting at your venue have one less vendor to hire, schedule and pay. A permanent wedding venue photo booth turns a line item couples would otherwise book separately into something your venue offers out of the box. In Florida, we put one in at no cost to the venue, and you take a share of each session it runs.
What couples already want at the reception
You don’t need to take our word for it. In The Knot 2023 Real Weddings Study, 75% of couples said the guest experience was the most crucial part of planning. Among couples who added extra guest entertainment, photo booths were the top pick at 61%, far ahead of games at 20%.
Put those two findings together and the picture is clear. Couples are planning around their guests, and when they reach for something extra to entertain those guests, the booth is the first thing they grab. If your venue can say “we already have one,” you’ve answered a question before the couple even asks it.
What years of wedding rentals taught us
Our founder, Thomas Steckman, ran event photo booth rentals before starting SmileMore, so he has worked hundreds of weddings, parties and corporate events from the vendor side. A few lessons from that work shaped how we think about booths at venues.
The first is that every extra vendor is extra coordination for your team. A rented booth means another arrival window, another load-in around the florist and the band, another insurance certificate for your coordinator to collect, another person who needs a spot to park and a place to plug in. Multiply that by a full season of Saturdays and it adds up.
The second is that the booth is where guests go to be with each other. Grandparents who would never take the dance floor will squeeze behind a curtain with three grandkids. College friends who haven’t seen each other in years line up to recreate an old photo. The strip that comes out is often the one people keep long after the professional album is on a shelf.
The third is that couples remember who made planning easier. A venue that hands them something guests love, with no extra contract to sign, earns goodwill that shows up in reviews and referrals. If you want to talk through what that could look like in your space, start on our venue hosting page.
Why a permanent wedding venue photo booth beats a one-night rental
Rentals are great for spaces that can’t hold a permanent booth (we offer event rentals ourselves). But if you have the room, a permanent booth changes the math for everyone involved.
It’s already there
No load-in, no setup window, no arrival time to chase on a wedding day. The booth is in place, tested and ready when the doors open. For your coordinator, that’s one fewer moving part on the busiest day of the week.
It’s yours in every photo
The booth gets wrapped in your venue’s palette and logo, and the strips print with your venue name. Each guest leaves holding a small piece of your brand, and those strips travel to fridges and memory boxes in a way a website banner never will. Every wedding becomes quiet marketing for the next one. Our post on the instant print photo booth explains why that physical strip matters so much.
It works on the off days too
Wedding venues rarely host only weddings. Rehearsal dinners, showers, quinceañeras, corporate holiday parties and open houses all bring groups through your doors, and the booth is there for all of them. For more on filling the calendar, see our list of event venue marketing ideas.
It moves when your floor plan does
The Classic sits on casters and rolls through a standard door. At our first live booth, at Nova Southeastern University, facilities required that the booth be movable, and we handle relocating it rather than the venue’s staff. Venues that flip rooms between ceremony and reception can tell us how their layouts change during review.
Give couples one less vendor to book
We install a real enclosed photo booth at your venue at no cost, wrapped in your brand. You earn a share of every session, wedding season and off season alike.
What it costs your venue
Nothing. A wedding venue photo booth from SmileMore costs you zero to install or keep. What goes in is a true enclosed walk-in booth, curtain, bench, flash and printed strips included. Delivery, setup, paper, repairs and insurance are all on our side. From you, we need a corner of about 5 x 5 ft and a standard outlet. If you’re not sure where it would fit, our guide to photo booth dimensions covers footprint and clearance.
Payment is self-serve by card or phone tap, so your bartenders and servers never handle cash or run sessions. A wedding guest ducks in, hits four poses, and leaves about 90 seconds later with two printed strips and a QR code for the digital copy. Between events we monitor it remotely and restock it by hand, and if something breaks before a wedding, a local crew is usually there the same day.
Every guest who steps inside adds to your share: 10% to 25% of each session, agreed on paper before you sign, paid out on the 1st with that month’s sales report. We sign a 12-month agreement that starts with a 90-day trial, and if your couples aren’t using it by the trial’s end, removal is free.
A word on honesty: we’re early. We have two live booths, at NSU in Davie and at Hausmash in Lauderdale-By-The-Sea, with more in setup. In its first month it passed 300 paid sessions and took in roughly $2,400 from guests, though move-in week drove much of that. Guests praised the camera and the print speed, and kept asking if the booth was permanent. You can read how it went, early hardware fault and all, in our NSU case study.
Questions wedding venues bring to us
How does the booth work during a private wedding?
The details of how the booth runs at private events are something we agree on with each venue in writing during review, so you can set expectations with couples from the first tour.
What if a couple already booked an outside photo booth vendor?
That’s your policy decision, just like outside caterers or bands. One simple approach is to let couples know the in-house booth is available so they can skip booking a separate one.
Does someone need to attend the booth during the reception?
No. The booth is self-serve, with on-screen guidance for starting a session, and payment happens right at the booth.
Can we promote the booth in our wedding packages?
Yes, and you should. It’s a permanent feature of your venue, so feature it on tours, in your brochure and on your website like any other amenity.
When a couple tours your space next month and asks, “do you have a photo booth?”, what would you like your answer to be? If it’s yes, check whether your venue qualifies. We take projects as they come, and spots are limited.
