We’ve had three Photobooths this weekend. Friday night we were in Hurley in Berkshire with a Photobooth with a new look and some props!

Saturday afternoon the Photobooth made a debut in W2 at a huge Nigerian wedding and in the evening we were in Richmond at the Bingham hotel with Rachel and Johnny.

On Friday in Hurley Vicky and Dave were married and the theme of the reception was pirates and the colours were red and black. Vicky asked if we could swap the entrance curtain from white to red and, of course(!) we were happy to oblige. Here is a shot of the Photobooth in situ. We loved the image so much you can now go to the Rentabooth website and the entrance image changes. When you scroll over the main image with your mouse it will change from the black and white Photobooth to the red one. It is very simple to give the Photobooth a totally different look for your wedding or event. We do need a couple of weeks notice though for your colour of choice as a seamstress has to hem the curtain.

I laid my hands on a load of props for the evening and they really add another dimension to your images but you do need a bit more space at your reception to give your guests some space to try things on.

Here is the image. It’s getting pretty late so I’ll post more images tomorrow. Or should it be later today…

He we go. A bunch of images from the Photobooths over the weekend. A real variety. From the beautiful and incredible colours of a Nigerian wedding and Vicky & Dave’s wedding with the props, to the classic black and white shots from Rachel & Johnny’s wedding.

Here are the bride and groom, Vicky and David.

Here are some shots from Kemi & Chikumbi’s wedding. I love the colours and the headgear!

And finally to Rachel and Johnny’s wedding in Richmond…

Here are the two of them.

We had fun at Tina and Matthew’s wedding on Saturday in Ealing with the wedding photography and the Photobooth.

This is Tina and Matthew’s gorgeous little girl, Summer with mum. As long as she was clean, fed and watered she smiled all day long.

This is Matthew with little George later in the day in the Photobooth. He’s the same. Hardly stopped smiling, all day long.

One of the four small bridesmaids.

The two of them in a Strictly Ballroom type pose on Ealing Common, just outside the church.

This is Heather who was assigned the job of looking after Summer for a big part of the day. James caught her having fun on the dancefloor with one of the bridesmaids.

And finally the two of them just after the DJ’s smoke machine set the fire alarms off! Having spent quite a few years DJing I suggest that you ask them to leave their smoke machines at home if you have booked a disco for your wedding or party. The disruption of a great party is simply not worth it as everybody had to troop out into the car park while the fire brigade check that there is no real fire.

Here are the two of them. The first through the Photobooth!

The couple who recommended us to the bride and groom were at the wedding reception and here they are. Keith and Kerry after five years of marriage!

This guy has been watching too many Blackadder repeats… The only thing missing is the underpants on his head!

Even the youngsters get into the spirit of things…

Watch out for the Christmas Special Offer that will be up on the Rentabooth website by the end of the week. You’ll even get to see me in a Santa suit!

The Photobooth is becoming ever more popular and last weekend was no exception…

We covered James and Habibe’s wedding reception over in Surbiton and then shot Gemma and Nick’s wedding with a Photobooth too on Sunday. A busy weekend!

Habibe is Turkish and her family lent a very exotic nature to the dancing and the Photobooth.

Even the priest went into the Photobooth before he left!

On Sunday, Gemma and Nick tied the knot at Great Fosters in Egham. A beautiful venue, a good looking couple and they know how to have fun. The reception went onto 1.30 am!

Here are Gemma and Nick in the moonlight just before we left.

A little earlier in the day.

Relaxing in the grounds of Great Fosters.

All of Gemma’s friends on the bridge.

Ellie and friend in the lovely but very low archway.

On to the Photobooth pics. A bunch of fun loving and imaginative youngsters…

Here’s Nick’s mum with one of the younger guests.

Here are all of the older bridesmaids together. Seven of them!

Here are a couple of guys who were determined to do something different and when I saw the contortions I did mention that there was nothing behind him if he leaned back.

Opps. He didn’t take my advice! The Photobooth sees all…

This couple were determined to shoot something like it was out of an underwear catalogue. Shame about the underwear!

We did two Photobooths this weekend. Friday and Sunday.
Gaby on the left in the first picture organised a function at her school in NW1 for her younger school mates where all of the proceeds went to Childline. At 17 years old I believe she organised the whole lot. Disco, food, Photobooth and all the flyers etc and she organised the security in the form of nine teachers!

Last night we covered Joelle’s Batmitzvah in Quaglinos in SW1. We have worked in Quaglinos before prior to launching Rentabooth and we’ve taken photographs of Joelle before. Here she is at Yasmin’s batmitzvah last year.

Here she is at her own Batmitzvah at Quaglinos last night. What a party! It had robots wandering about, 20 foot projection screens, video and a whole host of extra goodies apart from the Photobooth for the youngsters entertainment.

Here’s a couple of shots of Quaglinos with the party in full swing.

A couple of the lads larking about. It always fascinates me watching people rehearsing what they intend doing from shot to shot prior to going into the Photobooth.

A couple of the adults being Photoboothed… Mum is on the right.

A bit late this week but that’s not too unusual…

Paula and Dave were married at Hartwell House, close to Aylesbury on Saturday. What a beautiful venue and a lovely couple! To take a look at the venue click on the link here.

Here are couipe of my favourite shots of the two of them. The shot of the two of them is a little Shakesperian and Dave was contemplating climbing up from the ground a la Romeo and Juliet!

The rooms in the hotel itself are stunning and set on two levels. I was able to go up the stairs and shoot down for this shot. I had to remove a TV from the background of the image but that’s ok.

The Photobooth did amazing service last night at Tate’s Batmitzvah and we didn’t take the booth itself! The company that set up the marquees etc actually built a Photobooth for us to match the rest of the decor etc in white and fuschia pink. It was huge. About 10 feet x 10 feet and about 10 feet tall.

We are talking about a huge party here which culminated in big firework display over the River Thames. The MC was an Ali G impersonator. There was a nine piece band, all dressed in white with their own dancers and no expense was spared. As always with the Jewish functions that we cover there were many youngsters we recognised.

They know exactly what we do and couldn’t wait to dive in there and have their photographs taken.

Here is Ali G with some of his entourage. He was brilliant with the youngsters.

A member of the band with some of the dancers.

I have no idea of the significance of the chefs’ hats but I spent most of the evening wearing one!

One thing I have noticed with the Photobooth, (bearing in mind that I have spent most of my working life as a professional photographer), is that even very young children really, really love having their photographs taken in it. I’m starting to think that it is to do with the fact that they can see themselves on the computer screen prior to triggering the camera. A bit like a reflection in a mirror. They absolutely love it! They don’t get embarrassed or mind having shots taken with their mums and dads either. Usually a totally uncool thing to do.

Traveling down to Hampshire to Clare and Ryan. The two of them were up for fun in their photographs and we shot some fab images. I’m taking a look through a bunch of them now. Here they are before everything went slightly out of control in the Photobooth. Ryan has five sisters, by the way! I have three and I thought that was bad…

This was shot after the Photobooth had been packed away.

A few people signing and leaving a message in the guestbook for Clare and Ryan.

Here are the Bridegroom’s sisters and this is probably the only clean shot I can put on here. To be fair to them the wedding ceremony took place at 2.00 pm and this was around 7.30 pm…

We had a very busy weekend starting in Oxfordshire on Saturday night with a photobooth at Ben and Amy’s wedding reception and followed with the photography and Photobooth at Clare and Ryan’s wedding in the West Meon Valley Golf Club near Fareham in Hampshire on Sunday.

Lots and lots of fun but it’s no good me telling you that without pictures!

Here’s Ben and Amy.

It was only a matter of time before somebody decided to do something as daft as this and we managed to get them both in the shot!

The first time we’ve seen a baby alarm being used as prop in the booth…

Great Gran decided to enter a special plea in the booth.

I do like the subtly of these two.

This little fella didn’t stop smiling throughout the Photobooth experience. He should have been in bed!

Once again a bit late this week but I have a good excuse!

We shot a very colourful Ghanaian wedding last Saturday for Akua and Vincent and they used our photography and they had the Photobooth too. Everybody had a great time.

Pixels photographed Akua’s uncle and aunt’s wedding over five years ago and we have got to know a lot of the family over the years with Christenings etc. The last time I saw this young lad was at his christening! He’s grown a bit… His older brother is now taller than his dad.

This is Ben Junior, and of course, he was the pageboy and very, very smart he is too. The whole day was great starting at the bride’s family home near Heathrow, the church in Twickeham, followed by the reception at one of the largest hotels at the airport. They needed the room! When the evening guests arrived there were 250 people there and the colours and vibrancy of the people and the outfits was fabulous. I love the head dresses etc.

Here is Akua prior to leaving the house for the church. In true Ghanaian tradition she was almost half an hour late but that was nothing in comparison to her Uncle and Aunt!

Here are Akua and Vincent in their traditional wedding outfits. I took them for a five minute wander around the hotel lobby and love the ambient light from behind the bar.

One thing I didn’t know until recently was that the pattern and colour of the robes they are wearing are individual to their particular tribe in Ghana. Similar in a way to a Scottish tartan where a clan has their own pattern and colour. If I wrote it down correctly a couple of weeks ago it is called a Kente. Many, many of the guests dressed up in their robes for the wedding itself of changed later for the evening reception.

As you can imagine the colours in the Photobooth were varied and bright. Here’s a few examples. See you next week!

We had a fabulous time at Thorpe Park yesterday. What a difference after the show at Ascot! We chatted to over a hundred couples who are getting married between now and 2010 and the Photobooth created a lot of interest.

We learn something new every time we cover a show like this and the latest is the fact that so many extra services are available for weddings, all of which make inroads into the all important wedding budget.

We had an enquiry this morning with the couple asking for a discount which is fine but as our nearest competition charges around £1250 for a Photobooth we feel that we offer real value for money. The Photobooth is a totally different thing compared to many of the wedding services on offer at wedding shows. The main difference being that you are left with a permanent memory of your wedding whereas, for example, after a chocolate fountain has been packed away at the end of a wedding there is nothing to show for it (at around £400 for a few hours). It may satisfy all the chocoholics for a few hours but that’s about it. They do look quite pretty though!

If you take the book option, you have a superb momento of all of the guests that attended your wedding, complete with messages from them, and you get to take it away with you at the end of the night. At around a similar price for a choccy fountain there’s no contest really!

Just a thought… Why not replace conventional favours with the photo’s your guests have taken in the booth? That way you both win.

We have also come up with an interesting option for the Photobooth where you book our photography too. We can add a couple of extra pages at the end of your wedding album that will show a really nice collage of some of the images from the booth. It can be in addition to one of our Photobooth books or you can have both.

Don’t forget that we are currently offering a £100 discount on the Photobooth if you book our wedding photography and the Photobooth. The offer runs out on the 31st March 2008.

Reserving dates.

As a small postscript, quite a few people are making enquiries but delaying making a booking. We are currently getting up to half a dozen enquiries per day and as there are only so many dates in the year that most people get married, it’s inevitable that some of you will miss out. Please don’t make us disappoint you by having to say your chosen date is not longer available. It really is very popular and the second Photobooth will not be ready for a few months…

Because of the popularity of the Photobooth and in the interest of being fair, we have had to adopt a new policy. Once we have quoted for a specific date, we will hold that date for a further four days. If no retainer is received during that time and another client requests the same date we will have no alternative but to take their booking.

If you want it, you need to book it!

When you phone to make a booking, we will need details of your event, along with 50% of the quoted price, payable on a credit/debit card. Credit card payments are fine if the booking is less than 6 months away but for more than 6 months, payment needs to be on a debit card due to the rules governing credit cards.
Please note: We no longer accept cheques. It is such a slow form of payment. We have been with Streamline (the card clearing company) for more than five years now and provided you call us with your details, we can process your details straight into the card machine. Be assured that our procedure for using debit and credit cards is safe and we would be happy to discuss this with you if you have any concerns. You can also do a bank transfer if you email us for details. By the way, Photobooth is available for parties and corporate events too!

Sorry to be so serious today. )