Treely, Madly, Deeply: Our Photobooth

I recently read that photobooths are on their way 'out' as a 'wedding trend'. This surprised me on a few levels. 

First, I didn't realize that it had become a tend, per se. I mean, does any/everything featured in one's wedding have to be considered a 'trend' or a 'thing'? Can't it just be something that was at a wedding? I'm not even up in arms about the "WIC" or anything and this confused me. But hey, I've never been trendy (I wear nude shoes with gray pants, which is apparently a big no-no), so I'll take it because it means I was trendy, for a period in time, and I can claim it as a characteristic. 

Second, WHY ARE THEY ON THEIR WAY 'OUT'?! Hive, I freaking love photobooths. If I haven't made it blatantly obvious yet, I am a picture whore. Choosing our photographers was not an easy decision (but it's one of the best we've made, if my recaps haven't echoed that sentiment clearly!). Deciding to have a photobooth was, however, an easy decision - even if it took some effort on my part to convince Mr. Palm Tree that it was worthwhile. 

Long story short: I went to GM Pythagoras' sister's wedding prior to our engagement. She had a photobooth. I fell in love. The Palm Tree's had a photobooth. Boom.

ShutterBooth Pittsburgh is awesome, you guys. I'll go into details in my vendor recaps, but I totally and completely recommend them. They are reasonably priced, the people are fabulous and their packages are awesome. Our package was for four hours and included a ShutterBooth attendant, the choice of a photo strip or a grid, choice of color or black and white, a customized logo, a guest/scrapbook with a copy of all of the pictures taken, access to the online gallery and a DVD with a copy of high-resolution images - for significantly less than $1,000. I cannot say enough how pleased we were/are with their service. 

I knew that so many of our friends would be all about the photobooth but what I didn't know was how many of the parent-aged guests would be into it. Some of our absolute favorites come from the "real adults" at the wedding. 

*all photos courtesy of ShutterBooth Pittsburgh

This one is super close to my heart. The girl on the right is Mr. PT's cousin on his mom's side, K, and she and I are super close. We spend every family get together, well, together and our wedding was no exception. She came up to me after our First Dance and asked if she could hang out with me. When I said I still had people to visit, she grabbed my hand and said, "let's go" - and stayed with me the entire time. The girl on the left is another of Mr. PT's cousins (on his dad's side) and she came up to me when I was getting a refill at the bar, with K in tow. She said, "Miss Palm Tree, I know you're really busy right now, but I was wondering if you would take a picture with me in the photobooth." (MY. HEART.) I said of course and asked if K could join. The result was the above and I just love it.

The above picture is another one of my favorites, featuring BM Tiny Dancer's parents. They were behind me when I was in line with the girls and they didn't have props (which DOC E had so graciously gifted to us)! I asked if they intended to grab them and Tiny Dancer's dad said he didn't "do" props. I said, "well, if the Bride asks you to, you kind of have to, right?" And lo and behold, he went and grabbed them. 

MOH Mem's niece B and I. Mr. Palm Tree and I both have very specific things that we remember when we were walking back up the aisle after being announced as Mr. and Mrs. My memory is of B, standing on her chair with her camera in one hand, the other hand waving wildly as she whisper-yelled, "MISS PALM TREE, MISS PALM TREE! HI!"

BM Blackout, her boyfriend and her family.

BM Badonk and two of her cousins (who I had very intense conversations with at the end of the night, not much of which I remember. . .oops. They were a BLAST, though). 

DOC E and friend A.

One of the only pictures we have with friends - Mr. Palm Tree and myself, The Y's, BM R and our dear friend J (who grew up with BM R/lived with he and Mr. Palm Tree their sophomore year).

Another funny story, this time about the above picture: these are Mr. PT's cousins J and E. E rocked that mustache all freaking night and apparently, J was not okay with it. I'm told that there was a fight on the dance floor later that night, where he demanded she take it off, she refused, he walked away and she danced by herself for a few minutes before sighing, removing it and going off to find him. There are so many pictures of her dancing with it at our reception. When I told them both the story this summer at a family get-together, we were all laughing so hard. I love memories.  

MOH Mem and her nieces.

Mr. Palm Tree's aunt and uncle.

Mr. Palm Tree's grandparents.

MIL Palm Tree and Step-FIL Palm Tree. <3

Friend B and some of our wonderful PITT friends. Hilarious.

PITT friends L and K with their men.

GM Pythagoras' sister and husband and friends B and D.

Rev. Fun and her sisters.

One of my favorites - co-worker/friend J and her husband, also a J, spelling out 'tot'. Mr. Palm Tree and I frequently use it to describe a multitude of things/people and it's spread throughout our friend circle. I laughed so hard when I saw this. 

Our dear friend J. He didn't even keep his copy, instead he slipped it into our card box. Mr. Palm Tree laughed so hard when he found it. It now lives on our fridge.

We were the last two pictures of the night - we ran over right at the end and our attendant was like, "THERE you guys are!" Oops. I'm so glad we have these, though - they're so perfect and fitting.

In addition to a really freaking awesome collection of photos, the guest/scrapbook is also so special to us. It was so nice to have something to look at immediately (for real, I looked at it the morning after our wedding, before I even got up to pee - I have zero patience) and keep the memories alive. Some of the notes are hilarious and some of them bring tears to my eyes, especially the ones that the kids wrote. Having to decipher them ("this is the best pirte ever," "thank you so much for haveng us! BEST WEDD-ING IN THE WURLD!") only makes them that much cuter and sweeter. My cousin A wrote, "you guys are the perfect couple," which really touched my heart - not something 16-year-old boys tend to write, you know? It was looking through this guest/scrapbook that had sold Mr. Palm Tree. He kissed my head and said, "I'm really glad we did this." WIN.

Although I can totally understand that photobooths might not be for everyone/every crowd, ours was a huge hit and I am so, so glad that we had it. I am a huge fan and I totally and completely recommend them. I'm obviously biased but if you can, KEEP THE 'TREND' ALIVE, HIVE! 

. . .if only so Mr. Palm Tree and I can attend weddings in the future and have our own mad fun with them. ;)