One of the best parts of owning a photobooth business is that almost every kind of celebration could use one – weddings, birthdays, holiday parties, proms, product launches, the list goes on!
But “could book” and “should book” are two very different things. In a recent blog post, we walked through how to decide your photobooth business niche and one of the most common ways to niche down is by event type.
The tricky part, however, is that each photobooth event type comes with its own kind of client, its own busy season, and its own way of running the night.
So in this blog, we’re breaking down the 6 most common types of photobooth events, what each one is really like to work, and who each one is best for. By the end, you should have a much clearer idea of which photobooth events make the most sense for you to market!
6 Types of Photobooth Events (and Which Ones Are Best for Your Business)
Weddings
Best for: Photobooth owners who love a styled, detail-driven setup, enjoy building vendor relationships, and are happy to give up their weekends during peak season.
First and foremost, let’s start with one of the most popular photobooth event types – weddings. Weddings are often the first thing most people picture when they think of photobooth events and for good reason.
Couples want their guests entertained, they want a keepsake from the day, and they’re already in the mindset of investing in vendors who make the day feel special.
A few things to know about this photobooth event type:
- wedding clients tend to book months in advance
- these clients care deeply about how things look
- you’re working within strict timelines and alongside other vendors
- weddings are seasonal and require weekend work
A huge pro of marketing your photobooth toward wedding clients is that because they book months in advance, your calendar (and your income) can be a lot easier to predict!
The tradeoff, however, is that weddings are high stakes. There are no do-overs and as mentioned, timelines run tight and you’ll be working alongside planners, venues, and photographers who all have their own expectations, so that’s something to consider!
The biggest win with weddings that’s important to consider though is the referral loop. Once planners and venues know you’re reliable, they’ll send couples your way again and again and that can be HUGE for your bookings!
Milestone Events
Best for: Newer photobooth owners building a portfolio and reviews, and anyone who wants steady, year-round bookings with fun, low-pressure crowds.
Milestone events cover all the personal celebrations that aren’t weddings. Think birthday parties, baby showers, bridal showers, anniversaries, graduation parties, sweet sixteens, quinceañeras, and bar and bat mitzvahs.
What’s great about marketing your photobooth business for this event type is it never runs out! Someone is always turning 40, having a baby, or graduating, which means milestone events can keep your calendar busy year-round instead of only during peak wedding season.
A few things to know about this photobooth event type:
- more relaxed and shorter
- often held in homes, backyards, or smaller venues
- your client is typically the host (or the host’s mom, best friend, or sister)
- they book on a shorter timeline and have smaller budgets
One thing to keep in mind with milestone events, however, is that not all of them are created equal. Bigger celebrations like quinceañeras and mitzvahs often look a lot more like weddings, with larger guest counts, planners involved, and bookings made well in advance.
So, if you love the personal feel of milestone events but want to land clients with bigger budgets, those are the ones to lead with in your photobooth marketing!
Corporate Events and Galas
Best for: Organized, professional photobooth owners who want weekday bookings and repeat clients, and who are comfortable with contracts, branding requests, and communicating with a team instead of one person.
Corporate events are another common photobooth event type and can include anything from holiday parties, company picnics, employee appreciation days, award nights, conferences, formal galas, etc.
A few things to know about this photobooth event type:
- your client isn’t a couple or a host – it’s often an HR manager, an office manager, an executive assistant, or third party event planner
- there’s often a strict company budget they’re working within
- they value professionalism and ease of use
These differences alone really change everything about how you sell!
When you’re targeting corporate clients in your photobooth marketing, it’s important to know that they often care less about how sentimental or aesthetic the experience is – they just want someone who can do the job well and can handle branding, invoices, and a certificate of insurance without a fuss.
The upside, however, is that many corporate events happen on weekdays and weeknights, which fills the gaps in a weekend-heavy calendar. And when a company has a good experience, they tend to rebook you every single year!
Trade Shows and Brand Activations
Best for: Tech-savvy photobooth owners who enjoy the creative and strategic side of the business, can speak the language of marketers, and have the equipment (and stamina) for long, high-volume days.
At first glance this might look like the corporate category, but the goal is completely different. At a corporate party, the photobooth is there for fun, but at a trade show or brand activation, the photobooth is a marketing tool.
A few things to know about this photobooth event type:
- your client is a marketing team or an agency
- these events often come with the biggest budgets
- the days are long (and often require several in a row)
- early load-ins and strict venue rules are often required
- there’s often a lot of travel involved
- there may be a lot of back-and-forth on design approvals before the event even starts
With these clients, they’re often measuring success by things like foot traffic at their booth, social shares, and the number of leads they collect. That means they’ll likely want branded overlays, custom backdrops or full booth wraps, data capture, instant sharing, and a recap of the numbers afterward.
This is also where booth type and add-ons matter most! 360 booths, video booths, and AI-powered experiences tend to do really well here because brands want something that stops people in their tracks.
School Dances and College Events
Best for: High-energy photobooth owners with fast, durable, share-friendly setups who are happy to trade a smaller per-event budget for reliable repeat bookings.
This photobooth event type includes prom, homecoming, winter formals, graduation events, sorority and fraternity formals, and campus-wide events put on by student organizations.
If you want a line at your booth all night, this is your crowd! Students LOVE being in front of the camera, they share everything, and they will absolutely come back through the line five times with five different friend groups.
This means that a fast booth with instant digital sharing, GIFs, or video will serve you much better than a slow, formal setup in this instance.
A few things to know about this photobooth event type:
- your client is usually a school administrator, a PTA or student council advisor, or a sorority or fraternity social chair
- budgets are often set (and sometimes tight)
- you may need to go through an approved vendor process
- with Greek life in particular, the person booking you changes every year.
The flip side is that school calendars repeat like clockwork!
Once you’re the trusted vendor for a school or a chapter, you can count on the same dates every year and word travels fast between schools and chapters in the same area, so you’ll likely grow popular within a few different organizations which can really boost your bookings.
Community and Public Events
Best for: Newer photobooth owners who need local visibility, and established owners who want to fill slower months, give back to their community, or build relationships with local sponsors.
Last up are the events that are open to the public, like festivals, holiday markets, nonprofit fundraisers, grand openings, charity runs, church events, and city or neighborhood celebrations.
These work a little differently from every other category because there are a few ways you can get paid. For example, the organizer of the event might hire you directly, a local business might sponsor the booth in exchange for their logo on every photo, or you might charge guests per session.
A few things to know about this photobooth event type:
- budgets here are often smaller
- many community events are outdoors, which means planning for weather, power, and other logistics
A huge pro of marketing towards these types of events is that they put you in front of a steady stream of people who have maybe never heard of you before, which can be a GOOD thing for your future bookings!
A single festival can put your booth in front of hundreds of people in your area, including the brides, business owners, and PTA parents who book the other five event types on this list.
So if you add your logo and social handles to the photo template, every share essentially becomes free marketing and helps people remember you when it comes time to plan entertainment for their own event in the future!
How to Choose the Right Photobooth Events for Your Business
Now that you know the most common photobooth event types, you can more easily decide which photobooth events that you want your business to market towards!
But I know what you might be thinking… “do I have to choose just ONE?!”
Oftentimes photobooth business owners want to specialize in a few different event types and that’s totally normal! So no, you don’t have to choose just one, but we would recommend that you lead with one or two primary event types in your photobooth marketing to make things easier on YOU.
This is where having a photobooth business niche comes into play and it doesn’t mean that you can’t say yes if someone inquires about a birthday party when you primarily do weddings!
You’re allowed to take on any event you want, but for marketing purposes, it’s 10x easier when you choose a speciality and focus on that for the most part.
If you aren’t sure which photobooth event type makes the most sense for your business, here’s a few questions to ask yourself to help narrow it down:
- Which events have you enjoyed working the most in the past? The ones that leave you energized are usually the ones you’ll market best.
- Which bookings have been the most profitable? Look at what you earned compared to the hours, travel, and prep each one took.
- What is your area known for or have plenty of? A college town, a wedding destination, and a city full of company headquarters all point to different answers.
- What is your current setup built for? A glam open-air booth and a 360 booth naturally attract different events.
- When do you want to work? Weddings mean weekends, corporate events mean weekdays, and school events follow the academic calendar.
At the end of the day, remember that picking a photobooth event type to lead with isn’t about turning everything else away – it’s about being the obvious choice for the clients you MOST want to book!
Additional Photobooth Business Resources
Once you know which photo booth events you want more of, your marketing has to show it!
A corporate planner needs to see sleek, branded setups on your website, while a bride needs to see something that looks like it belongs at her reception.
And that’s exactly what Booth Stock was built for!
Instead of spending hours (and hundreds of dollars) staging your own photoshoots to capture content that showcases your event type, Booth Stock gives you fresh, on-trend, and professionally styled photobooth images every single month, so you can market your niche with confidence, without adding “photographer” to your already overflowing job description!
As a member, you get:
✔️ Access To Our Library + Monthly New High-Resolution Stock Images
High-res stock images that are ready to download and use across your website, social media, and marketing materials means no more staring at a blank screen wondering what to post during your busiest weeks – the content is already waiting for you!
✔️ Themed Content To Suit the Season & The Latest Trends
We loveeee a theme here at TPE and since photobooth businesses are naturally seasonally aligned, we make sure our stock photos reflect that. You’ll find holiday packs in the fall, fun and floral in the spring, and whatever’s trending in the wedding and event world throughout the whole year.
When your content is already aligned with the season, batching your marketing becomes so much faster and a whole lot more fun!
✔️ Bonus Content + Templates
Beyond the photos themselves, we want to make sure you feel totally confident actually using them, so inside the membership you’ll get bonus content like mini training videos that show you how to execute certain installs IRL, Instagram Story templates, and other ready-to-use assets that make showing up for your business feel less like a chore and more like a vibe.
Less time creating from scratch = less burnout.
✔️ Member-Only Group
Let’s be honest, navigating busy season as a photobooth owner is a lot more fun (and a lot less lonely) when you’ve got a group of party people in your corner cheering you on. And that’s exactly what you get with the Booth Stock Member-Only Group!
Inside you’ll find additional content from outside guests, Q&A support, and a community of fellow photobooth owners who get it.
