You guys. This morning I had a dream about the best wedding idea ever.
The sad part here is that I am now apparently dreaming about weddings. As if I have nothing better to do in my sleep.
Anyway. So I know that putting Polaroid cameras on the guests’ tables has been SO DONE before, but I’m still kind of enamored of the concept. The beau and I are also big fans of the wedding photobooth — yeah, another super original idea — but not at $1,000 a pop. Using Polaroid cameras would at least be a relatively inexpensive way to amuse our guests, while getting some fabulous shots we wouldn’t normally have gotten.
That’s what I dreamt about — making a book of Polaroid pictures from our wedding. In my head, I came up with this fantastic method for arranging the pictures on each page. I was gonna take a large sheet of nice paper, carefully cut Polaroid-sized holes in it, paste up some descriptive text next to each hole, carefully lay the paper on the bed of my scanner, put the Polaroids face-down on top of the window holes, then scan everything at a high resolution. And then do this again for the next page. And the next. Then, we were going to print all these pages out and cobble them into books that we would then mail to each of our guests.
Via www.furiousphotographersblog.com
I dreamt I was doing this. My dream self was. So. Excited. But my dream self apparently failed to realized that 1) It is 2010 and holy crap, words and pictures can be laid out digitally on computers, not to mention that 2) There is no way in hell could we possibly afford to make and mail 120 books to 120 people.
The more my now-awake, slightly-more-rational self thinks about it, the more I wonder if we should even bother with Polaroids at the wedding. To start with, isn’t it kind of rude to provide Polaroid cameras to guests and then expect them to hand over the pictures for us to keep? I mean, who am I to be the picture enforcer? What would that even entail? Would we need to post little signs at each table directing the guests to deliver their Polaroids to a special basket on the main table, or something? Yikes.
Assuming that we could even collect the Polaroids in a way that wasn’t totally impolite, what can we really do with them once we have them? I’ve heard of people making picture books of their weddings and gifting them to their families and wedding party, but my family’s going to be way more interested in seeing the “professional” pictures versus some Polaroids snapped by our drunken friends. So that leaves us with a pile of photos that only we will enjoy. We could make a book, yes. One book for one couple to peruse, in the privacy of our own home. But don’t printers have a minimum quantity for things like this? God knows I’m not about to try to print and bind a book myself.
Eh. I’m willing to just let it go. Put the cameras out on the tables, let guests tuck the pictures in their pockets and purses to be found later; a hidden surprise. Know that I’ll probably never see the boozy, fuzzy, blurry, trigger-happy outcome. That’s the closest they’ll get to favors, anyway, since I’m pretty sure the beau and I are going to be too lazy to worry about favors.
Are you providing your guests with any form of “entertainment?”
Maybe you could make it optional for them to leave the poloroid. I remember seeing someone having a basket to collect the photos. You could make a sign that says ‘Find a poloroid that we’d love? Leave it here. Thanks!’ Then they’d feel like they have the option to give you a fun photo or bring it home with them. But this way they’re more likely to think you’d want to keep it and you wouldn’t look like a photo nazi. Win-win.
Your dream cracked me up, btw!
We’re entertaining our guests with yard games – disc golf, bean bag toss, rope golf, croquet, etc. mostly because I love playing those games. I hope to set up our own photo booth too – even if it is over done.
Jus an FYI…Polaroid cameras are not cheap (used around $40) and the film is even worse, like $18 for 10 exposures. Ridiculous.
I was going to ask if you have a plan for getting a bunch of Polaroid cameras because didn’t they stop making the film and stuff for it?
I really like Davanie’s idea about having a fun sign that gives your guest the option. Chances are that you may find a lot of Polaroids just strewn about the tables at the end of the night- taken and forgotten.
My mom is big on the disposable camera on the table idea. She told me she really wants us to do it, but I think it’s kind of overdone…and does anyone actually get decent photos off of it? I wanted to put a Flip video camera on each table, but my fiance says people will walk off with them and my mom says she hates having video cameras thrust in her face during weddings. So we’re still figuring it all out.
Davanie — I like your idea about the sign, too! The yard games sound awesome, especially since they are so YOU. Your guests are gonna love that.
The Thirty-Something Bride — You’re right about the price factor. We’d probably limit it to about 6 cameras, and I’d hopefully find used ones. And maybe I’d get a mix of new film and cheapo expired film (if there’s any of that left). But yeah, the Polaroid only sounds like an inexpensive option when holding it up to the actual photobooth rental option.
Jess — actually, they’re bringing the Polaroid back. A group took over the old factory in the Netherlands and they’re going to start producing film and new Polaroid products again this year — next month maybe?
I just had to look up what a Flip video is. I’d never heard of it! Those look awesome. I like the fact that it’d be so easy to share the videos with your guests — just post them online. Maybe you could try to limit the possibility of guests walking off with them by leaving them in a basket with a sign like “Feeling creative? Shoot a video using one of these, and we’ll post them for all to watch after the wedding!”
Like any of us need to DIY one more freaking thing, but DIY photobooths are pretty easy. Set up a sheet on the wall, bring a bunch of random props, put a camera on a tripod (or have a friend man it for an hour) and voila. There’s also free programs out there to link it to a timer and a printer. I should post about this. Maybe I will.
Also, I’ve found that disposable cameras are an expensive waste – maybe one or two photos are usable from your drunk friends but you have to pay to process all the film. Everyone has digital cameras anyhow. When we were thinking about going super cheap on the photography, we thought about having a friend stationed at the door with a computer and universal to instantly pull the digital shots as people leave (so we didn’t have to harass people for 8 months about uploading to snapfish, or wherever.)
There’s also an instant sticky-picture polaroid-type camera out there. The PoGo instant mobile printer. It works with digital phones and digital cameras for an instant guest book.
Seriously, I hate myself for knowing all this. Wedding crap is obviously clogging my brain tubes. I wonder what I could accomplish in the world if I didn’t have budget/DIY wedding project memory recall available at all hours of the day.