Photo booths are the latest trend in weddings, event planning

The latest trend in weddings and event planning doesn't involve hors d'oeuvres or decor. Rather, it involves an old-school machine that's been given a fresh update: the photo booth.

Jenny Yancey, 30, of Glendale discovered the trend in its early stage. She had never heard of using photo booths at weddings until she went to a Phoenix wedding convention, but she liked the concept and booked one for her 2008 nuptials.

"I wanted our guests to be able to take pictures, 'cause I'll have photos from the wedding, but they really won't," Yancey said. "So it was nice that they had something to take with them and leave with, that had our date and names."

Today's photo booths aren't like the traditional ones of years past, where friends crammed into tiny booths to take pictures that printed out in strips of four. The most current booths allow groups to take pictures in an open area with a variety of customizable screen images as a background.

"You can even draw and write (a) message on your photo, and then, best of all, you can share your finished product via social media in real time," Candace Kiminaia-Sawa of Scottsdale said. "You can Facebook the photo, Twitter, you can e-mail it, you can get a high-quality print right there on the spot."

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Kiminaia-Sawa knows firsthand the opportunities that modern-day photo booths offer. She opened a local franchise of TapSnap, an open-air photo-booth company that provides its services for fairs, corporate events, weddings and other gatherings.

Part of TapSnap's appeal is its 42-inch touch-screen display, where guests can create their photo with special effects from an array of digital props that can be dragged and placed anywhere on their photo.

Kiminaia-Sawa had previously been a mortgage-loan banker at Quicken Loans, but after she had her daughter in 2011, she decided to quit her job and become a stay-at-home mom.

"I was looking for different avenues of opportunities, something that I can kind of juggle between home, (being a mother), work, all of it. And when I saw TapSnap, I thought, 'Let me just look into it,'" she said.

"I realized how different and unique [it was], and this was not the average photo booth," Kiminaia-Sawa said. "It was just so easy, creative. It was just interactive fun for everyone, and that's kind of where it all began for me."

Selina Wong, 25, of Mesa hadn't experienced the latest generation of photo booths firsthand, but she knew enough about them to know that she wanted one at her wedding in 2012.

"We wanted something fun for our guests to do.... I wanted my wedding to be more fun and loose and not so uptight, and I felt like a photo booth was a great way for people to do that," Wong said.

TapSnap utilizes a Canon digital camera, and prints can come as 4x6s, 5x7s or 6x9s, depending on the size selected by the event coordinator. Guests can choose whether to do one image or four images on a print.

With rental pricing ranging from $895 to $1,695, TapSnap is competitive with other photo-booth options in relation to pricing, according to Kiminaia-Sawa.

TapSnap always has two representatives at the event to help ensure lines move smoothly and assist if guests have issues using the touch screen. If event coordinators are still concerned with timing for each photo, TapSnap can limit the options available for guests to choose from, or specific background images can be pre-selected to speed up the process.

"Everyone loves pictures. To commemorate your event is what it's all about," Kiminaia-Sawa said.

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