What is included in your price?
EVERYTHING! When contacted, we will quote you a total price for your event that includes everything. It includes: the setup, the teardown, an attendant during the event, the travel, customization of the photo strips for your event, use of our props, photos strips for EVERYONE in the booth during the event, customization of the photo strips and free downloads of the files of the files for you and your guests after the event.
Why do some of your competitors not list their prices?
Because they are more expensive and they want to force you to call them so they can hard sell you or talk badly about their competitors. I believe that we have the most competitive pricing in the industry and I have no problem posting our prices online so you can shop around and compare for yourself. I don’t want to waste your time and make you call me only to find out that we’re out of your budget. I want your entire experience with hiring a photo booth to be happy and stress free.
My friend had your photo booth at her wedding last year. Will I have the same props?
Some will probably be similar but we’ll most likely have new and different ones also. The facts are that we’re human. In addition to wanting to keep clean and germ free props for our guests, we get bored seeing the same props week after week. We’re constantly adding new props and replacing older props. Even though someone in South Bend probably hasn’t seen the props that we used a few weeks earlier in Kokomo, the facts are that we have. For us, it is exciting to see the props changed out.
Why is your booth rental so much less than your competitors?
There are actually two answers to this. The first is that we are based out of a little town in Northern Indiana and we’d like to be affordable for our local residents. The second reason is that we’d rather have the booth rented than sitting in a closet. The booth is a lot of fun and we really enjoy sharing it with people. As the owner of Culver Photo Booth, I personally would rather work three events for the same amount of money as a single event if I’m bringing joy into the lives of three times the number of people.
I see that your competitor is a preferred vendor for such and such company or venue. Why aren’t you?
Please do an Internet search for “preferred vendors”. The term, and concept, is misleading and bogus and does not have any bearing on the company or their services. Being a “preferred vendor” only means that that company PAYS the referring company. We’d rather keep our rates low and pass the savings on to our customer instead of paying a bridal shop or venue to call us their “preferred vendor”.
How is your photo booth different than others?
The facts are this- there really aren’t a lot of difference between photo booths. Before buying my photo booth, I spent months researching them and discovered that almost all of the higher quality booths had the same internal components- a Canon DSLR camera, a midgrade computer, a professional grade dye-sub printed and a touch screen or computer monitor. Externally though, photo booths can be portable, or they can be heavy, rigid structures. Some are made out of high-end materials while others are cheaply made out of aluminum or PVC.
Having said that, our booth is a little different. The user interface is a 22″ touch screen. It is the largest that we’ve seen used in a photo booth which allows for the best previews before the photos are taken. I spent weeks customizing the menu system of the software to allow users more options. (When I started the process, I had no idea that it would be as involved as it ended up being or I probably would not have done it.) When in the booth, the users select if they want color or black and white photos. After that select how many people are in the booth so that EVERYONE IN THE BOOTH GETS A PHOTO STRIP. To our knowledge, we’re the only photo booth in the area where every person in the booth gets a photo strip.
The printer is a commercial grade dye-sub printer. It is fast (about 10-15 seconds) and it cuts the photo strip automatically. We’ve seen a lot of other photo booth operators having to cut their photos individually which slows down the process and keeps them from maintaining the booth and the prop table. Additionally, the printer that we use contains 660 photo strips and a printer ribbon good for 660 strips which means that, at most, a paper replacement would only happen once during your event. (Some printers require ink and or paper replacements every 30-45 minutes.)
Our booth is made of higher quality materials. It is classy, portable, and large enough to comfortably hold 8-10 people.
Some of your competitors claim that a tent design photo booth doesn’t have the same “old-time feel” of a photo booth.
I have to laugh every time that I see this on someone else’s website. My competitors can’t beat me with their prices. They can’t beat me on photo quality. And, they can’t beat me with their prop selection. They’re trying to create a “difference” or “selling point” somewhere where there isn’t one. If you believe that my photo booth lacks the “photo booth experience”, I ask that you visit me at a wedding show or other event or talk with one of the 30,000+ people that have laughed and enjoyed themselves in the booth. I think you’ll find that no one has every felt shorted or cheated when using our booth.
Why do you not include photo albums, DVDs, flash drives or add-on items for the host at the end of the night?
There are actually two answers to this- The first is that we’ve found that most people would rather save money than pay for something that they might look at only a couple of times. By posting ALL THE PHOTOS ONLINE FOR FREE DOWNLOAD AFTER THE EVENTS, we’ve found that most hosts are happy getting their files from there. If anyone would ever like an album, DVD or flash drive, let us know and we’ll factor that into our quote.
Time is the second reason. The photo booth usually is very busy until it closes. It is not uncommon to have a line when we shut down. Often, people rent our photo booth until the end of their event and we find ourselves rushed to pack up so that the host can leave. No matter what the event is, it has been a long night for those in charge. The last thing that we, as vendors, want to do is slow things down and keep people from their friends or families. Creating additional items at the end of the evening requires 5-20 minutes which is time that the host could be elsewhere.
How much space does the booth require?
The more space the better! Our booth will fit in a 10′x10′ area. However, to properly display our props and allow for a better flow of people, a larger area would be preferred. It is not uncommon to have 10-15 lingering around, trying on props and waiting for their turn. Additionally, we have hundreds of props. The larger our area is to set them out, the more we’ll make available for your guests.
What is required for your booth other than enough room?
Enough room to set up and normal 120V power within 15 feet. We’ll have tables, chairs, and everything else. If tables and chairs are available, we’ll leave ours in the car.
How does the booth operate?
With our photo booth, the entire process takes less than a minute. People go in, select color or black and white photos and the number of people in the booth. After making those selections, they are given a live preview onscreen to verify that everyone fits in the photo. Once they are ready, they press start and the photo taking process starts. The booth will take 4 photos approximately 7 seconds apart. (There is a countdown on the screen.) Once they are done, people exit the booth to return their props. Usually their photos are done by the time they have their props returned as the printer only takes 10-15 seconds.
How far will you travel?
Let us know where your event is and we’ll see. For destination weddings or out-of state events, it would not be unrealistic for me to plan a mini vacation with my wife around your event.
Will you set the booth up outdoors?
Due to the electronics and a lot of lightweight props that will blow away, the only time we will setup outdoors is when the booth will in an enclosed, covered area such as a walled reception tent. If a tent is not available, we do own a classy, wedding grade tent that we can use that is large enough to hold the booth and all of the props. For our tent, we do charge an additional $200 as the setup requires additional personal and adds an additional 2 hours and the teardown adds an additional hour.
Is there a charity, not-for-profit, or fundraising rate?
Tell us a little bit about your event and we’ll see what we can do to help. We do support our community and might be able to work with you. Requests are handled on a case by case basis and we might be able to discount things but due to our fixed costs- labor, travel, printing supplies, and wear and tear on the booth and our props we are unable to provide the booth pro bono.