When we were planning Yay New York, Leah and Mark offered to do a photobooth for us. And I said yes because that’s what you do when you’re planning an event with very little money and very little time. You say yes a lot and trust that people will know what’s good for you. I only had one rule: no mustaches on a stick. Because yes. I’m tired of that.
Well, thank god we said yes, because the photobooth was epic (and easy). First of all, please don’t feel like you have to spend a ton of money on photobooth decorations. We made ours by buying about nine tinsel curtains and layering them on the wall to make a really thick backdrop (we spent less than this, but here is the best I could find online).
Then Kari of The Handmade Event made some signs, picked up some affordable props, and BAM. The magic. (I hope you’re enjoying the third set of arms in this picture.)
Turns out, it was super, super fun. And now I have visual memories of how hot APW readers are. Seriously. And you thought I was kidding. Y’all are full of sassy hotness.
So the photobooth was epic and awesome, and it was the quickest possible way to make friends. It’s hard to stay strangers when you’re throwing around props and taking hilarious pictures. So now I’m going to let you enjoy Team Practical…
Side note: this might be the funniest picture I’ve ever taken. I want to make it my profile picture for everything. Though I increasingly find myself at the center of a swirl of activity, I always remember that all of this is something I made up and somehow convinced other people to believe in. Team Practical was, once upon a time, both a joke that I used to make myself laugh, and just me. Until I convinced people that it wasn’t.
Then it became you, too. And I’m so, so glad. Hooray for that.
For the whole photobooth set (and I know you want to see them) in two parts: here and here on Leah and Mark. Have I mentioned that they travel all over the country with no travel fees and 20% off for APWers? And also that +Raven is even more affordable than they are, and hilarious, and awesome, and you will love her. (I love her.) She wrote about the event here.
I know. There goes the afternoon. Have fun in photobooth land.
Yay for dreams coming true!!
August 31, 2011 8:36 am
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In my case it would be kind of like weird inside jokes becoming reality ;)
August 31, 2011 8:38 am
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Yeah. I feel the same way about our Intern Army. Started out as a joke. Now we’ve had as many as 15 at one time. I don’t always dream big, but I definitely joke really big.
August 31, 2011 9:03 am
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Totally. You and me, Mark, you and me.
I’d say our jokes get us into trouble, but it’s clearly a pretty fun kind of trouble.
August 31, 2011 2:26 pm
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Oh goodness I love these first thing after arriving at work. Makes me wish I had been there so hard.
August 31, 2011 8:41 am
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You know what’s annoying? My need to look at every. single. one of these. I’d better get some more coffee.
August 31, 2011 8:44 am
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These are fabulous! I’m grinning just looking at them! Yay, indeed, for everyone on Team Practical.
August 31, 2011 8:49 am
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I had to stop looking through because I was trying really hard to keep from cackling to myself in my cubicle, so instead I was making sounds like a dying goose.
These are amazing! Team Practical 4EVER.
August 31, 2011 9:00 am
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Dying goose.
August 31, 2011 2:26 pm
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I’ve got third degree burns from all that hotness.
August 31, 2011 9:21 am
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We would have all been hospitalized if you’d been in the room too.
August 31, 2011 2:27 pm
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Aw shucks, you make me blush.
August 31, 2011 9:21 pm
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Look at all of those beautiful people! I just want to hug the internet today.
August 31, 2011 9:23 am
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These are all awesome. For those of you who want your own photobooth (and why wouldn’t you – I kinda want one set up in my house and at dinner parties this kinda magic happens) LeahandMark have a fancy setup that lets you push a button and control taking your own picture – and you get to see them, so you know if you cut off your head or made a stupid face. Thumbs up.
Tinsel curtains were from Oriental trading company, if you are looking for cheap ones – but any party supply store will have them. Probably they are too much for my living room? Maybe.
In Team Practical goodness coming full circle – the yellow frame was made for an APW wedding – Katherine from the NY bookclub used it for her photobooth and she let me have it for YayNY and she was happy to see the new couples using it to (she boogied down at the party).
Speaking of Team Practical – I think the next merch might need to be T shirts, like we are all in the same bowling league or something? It certainly feels like a club
August 31, 2011 9:23 am
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Tinsel curtains are never too much for any room ever. Just think of all the SPARKLE they would bring to a room.
August 31, 2011 9:31 am
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I like the t-shirt idea. I’m a t-shirt nerd.
August 31, 2011 10:05 pm
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These are EPIC. And I am also laughing out loud/snorting.
August 31, 2011 9:23 am
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Best. Photobooth. Ever. The backdrop is divine, I have a feeling a few readers will be scooping up that idea for their own weddings!
August 31, 2011 9:52 am
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YAY. YAY YAY YAY. I love everyone. A lot. And our photobooth is awesome. Just like everyone on here.
August 31, 2011 10:07 am
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These are awesome! However, you can pry my mustaches on sticks from my cold, dead fingers. :)
Photobooth general question: We’re having one much like this, which is to say some pipe-and-drape background and props rather than an actual “booth” – and the photographer is bringing an assistant to snap the pics. Is that lame, since it won’t be a situation where you can immediately see them? I guess I could ask if maybe we could bring a laptop and once every 20 minutes or something the assistant could upload them and people could come by and laugh at them?
Hmmm.
August 31, 2011 11:05 am
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It’s not exactly ‘lame’ – but it does change the photobooth experience.
It’s difficult for people to really ‘get into’ the whole thing and have as much fun as they would if they had the immediate feedback of a screen. It’s actually very much like… just having your picture taken… and it stops there.
Of course – it also might not matter depending on your guests and just how much fun they decide to have with it anyway. The most simple and sometimes most fun booths obviously don’t have a monitor included. And we only started using our current setup within the last 6 months.
August 31, 2011 12:15 pm
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Whatever Mark. People don’t know how to party. I would act absurd without seeing myself on the screen. I REGULARLY act absurd without seeing myself on a screen. I say do it.
August 31, 2011 2:29 pm
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I was just at a wedding where we didn’t get to see the pictures immediately, but it was still a ROARING success! It helped that we were a few beers in at this point, and that they had hilarious props (bride’s parents are retired teachers and had access to drama departments!). I say go for it too… the photos are hilarious, even after the fact. Have fun!
August 31, 2011 8:59 pm
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scrolling from the picture of meg with the team practical sign to the picture of meg surrounded by a bunch of hot grinning ladies made me cry a little. love!
August 31, 2011 11:28 am
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I so wish I had been there. Well I was thinking of you guys all day :) Those pics are all kinds of cool.
August 31, 2011 1:00 pm
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Oh my god I am so glad you said it first….I am also so tired of the mustache on a stick!
August 31, 2011 1:34 pm
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DYING. <3 <3 <3
August 31, 2011 3:05 pm
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Do you know that Lemony Snicket began as an inside joke? He had to request info from some right-wing folks for book research and didn’t want to use his real name. And they had a group of friends who used it for things like dinner reservations.
That is all.
August 31, 2011 6:17 pm
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I did not know. Brillant. Maybe all the best things start as jokes. Hum.
August 31, 2011 9:26 pm
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Every one of these is lovely! But the last one is fantastic–just unbelievable timing. I adored getting to talk to APWers in person and these images capture all that sass and smarts so well.
August 31, 2011 9:26 pm
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