If you have been looking at having a photo booth at your wedding or next big event, you have probably seen some companies advertising that their photo booths are connected to social media. The idea sounds really cool, when you first hear about it, because the photos can be taken, posted, and shared all at the same time. However, at Limelight Entertainment, we not only think that social media is not necessary in a photo booth, but actually think it is a bad idea. Here are the reasons we discourage social media and photo booths.
- It makes the process slower. We tend to think of social media as instantaneous, but using social media in photo booths tends to really slow things down. It takes time to tag people in photos. Even more than that, we all have that friend who takes 25 different shots before posting a selfie; let’s face it, the pressure of social media often leads to people posing and reposing for shots. While this is happening, the line for the photo booth is getting longer and longer and guests are getting antsy.
- Some guests may not want to be tagged or have their pictures posted. We all have that friend or relative who hates pictures. Interestingly enough, the same people who balk when a professional photographer approaches or cringes when someone brings out a camera for a snapshot are often relaxed and fun in a photo booth. There is something about a photo booth that encourages playfulness and discourages people from taking themselves too seriously. However, when these pictures are posted immediately, the same pressure that makes some people so camera shy rears up again. The result is photo booth photos that lack the spontaneity and fun they are supposed to have. Plus, it is important to keep in mind that some guests have legitimate privacy concerns about posted photos; saving the posting for after the wedding can help ensure that you are able to respect all of your guests.
- Having social media at the photo booth takes control away from the married couple. It is your wedding, and you are not a control freak to want to be able to control the photos posted of it. Are you going to be able to keep people from posting smartphone snapshots? Probably not. However, those photos are going to be on their accounts, under their names. If you connect your photo booth to social media, then every photo posted is going to look like something you endorse, even though the odds are that you will not even get to see those photos until well after the wedding. So, if a guest does something embarrassing in a photo, you will be the one to catch heat for it. On the other hand, if you control the posting of the photos, then you get to decide which ones to put up and which ones to hold back, saving you and your guests from potential embarrassment.
