socal Archives | koibooth

January 30, 2020 — No Comments

Valentine’s Day 2020

It’s that time of year again. Romance is in the air, over 36 million boxes of chocolate are being gifted and an estimated amount of $3.3 billion worth of flowers are being sent and received by loved ones all over the nation. It’s Valentine’s Day.

Don’t get us wrong! We love chocolates, flowers, nice dinners and cute stuffed animals. But as a husband and wife team here at koibooth we’ve been taking some time to reflect back on the little things that happen throughout the year that give our hearts all the feels.

Rewind just a month or so ago...

...to a review we were doing of all of our past koibooth events in 2019. After sorting through all of the images we realized that we had captured TONS of images of couples kissing each other and we thought: “this is just the best thing!" How romantic is it to find yourselves in front of a photo booth capturing your love, kisses and just overall cuteness in a matter of seconds?? It actually brought us back to our dating days before we even ventured into the photo booth business. If we happened to be somewhere with a photo booth we ALWAYS took photos. The best part was receiving a print right away that we could display anywhere and look at every day.

Hey! That's us! Even before koibooth we LOVED taking pictures at photo booths. This was in Portland, Oregon at the famous Voodoo Doughnut shop :) — *Hey! That's us! Even before koibooth we **LOVED** taking pictures at photo booths. This was in Portland, Oregon at the famous Voodoo Doughnut shop 🙂*

TALK ABOUT WARM FUZZIES <3

We’ve talked before about why prints are so special and if you didn’t believe us then, check out this adorable video of all of our koibooth couples below. We're confident that they would tell you how much those prints mean to them even long after the event:

Share many kisses with your loved one this Valentine's Day XOXO

San Diego Valentine's Day Date Ideas

In the spirit of pictures and treasuring moments and experiences to celebrate with your boo thang this love day, we’ve put together a list of great spots in San Diego to go and spend the day or the weekend at. We even suggest bringing a camera with you so you can have highlights of your special day. If you REALLY want to go for it - stop by a Walgreens or CVS and pick up a disposable film camera (yes, they still make them). The beauty of disposable cameras are that you'll have no idea what you've captured until you develop the film! You never know, you might just capture something really unique.

Have a picnic in Balboa Park
Indulge your inner artist the San Diego Art Institute or Museum of Contemporary Art
Hop aboard a Hornblower Cruise
Take a stroll around the La Jolla seaside
Release your inner child at the San Diego Zoo
Treat your sweet tooth to delicious & beautiful desserts at Extraordinary Desserts (our personal favorite for sweets in San Diego)

Whether you’re newly dating or partners of many years, next time you pass by a photo booth, give it a try! Or if you happen to be located in the San Diego area, feel free to contact us directly to book us for your next event. We promise to capture the timeless gift of super warm fuzzies for all your guests.

Happy Partying and Happy Valentine’s Day <3

Published by Kelli in Uncategorized

May 31, 2019 — No Comments

What should be included in a standard photo booth hire?

A standard photo booth hire can range a bit here and there. But there are some things over here at koibooth that we consider to be must haves for any event.

When it comes down to it, booking your photo booth should be a very easy and straightforward process. Mostly because everything is already sorted out and included. You just have to make a few decisions regarding the backdrop, photo strip designs, props, you know - the fun stuff!

There are always add ons and customizations you can make here and there. But if you were to just book the standard package without all the extras you should have everything you could possibly need to make your booth hire a hit at your party.

Here’s what any standard photo booth hire should include:

Unlimited sessions with prints
Props
Backdrop
Print design
Photo booth attendee(s)
Instant social media sharing
Gifs
Link to digital library after event (sent to the host)
Delivery, set up & breakdown (30 min. prior and 30 min. post booking time)

If any of those items are not included when you go to book your photo booth I would say that you’re not getting the best deal. Even the instant social media sharing and gifs are standard these days because we photo booth folks know how important those things are to our guests. It wouldn’t be right to charge extra for something that everyone will absolutely want!

I should mention that this information is also based off of the most common type of photo booth hire. Should you chose to go another route such as something like a photo booth camper type of set up or a ring light selfie booth set up, there may be other standards for those that I cannot speak to.

But I cannot stress enough how important it is to go over this with the rental company that you choose. Make sure that there are no hidden fees for things... like extra prints. If there are, just make sure that you’ve considered that into your budget as I promise, it will come up. At koibooth for example, it happens frequently (as I’m sure it does with many open-air booth styles) that you have a large group of guests hop in for a session and they all want their own print when it’s done. Our printer automatically prints out two prints. But if we need to print, say six more, we’ll happily do it right there on the spot. And we don’t charge extra because...well that would suck for our host.

Some companies may have it in their policy that they must charge more if they need to print more on the spot but hey, to each his own. I can't say that it’s an “industry standard” that they must print more if guests ask for it but it’s just something to be aware of. For us here at koibooth, we just want every guest to walk away with that special memento from your party.

Something else to note...

One last thing I will touch on is travel costs. Now, I wouldn’t say this is hidden because it should be the companies right to charge a little extra for travel if they have to travel a pretty significant distance. But it shouldn’t be much! Maybe it’s an extra $1/per or so. Honestly if the company is transparent, they will tell you if you need to pay extra for travel as soon as you give them your event location.

And that’s everything, folks! I hope this helps clear the air for what should be expected when booking your photo booth. Just make sure that you remember to ask questions if something isn’t noted or it’s even a little unclear. The more you know, the more you can be positive that it’s the right photo booth for you.

"...gifs are standard these days because we photo booth folks know how important those things are to our guests. It wouldn’t be right to charge extra for something that everyone will absolutely want!"

Happy Partying!

Published by Kelli in Bookings, Photo Booth, Uncategorized

May 2, 2019 — No Comments

Why Photo Booth Prints Are So Special

It used to be that the only thing you got from a photo booth were the traditional photo booth prints. The option for sharing, downloading, tweeting, snapping, or doing whatever it is the kids do these days, wasn’t around “back in the day.”

But if you ask us, those prints are what have kept photo booths alive.

Think about prints like this:

NO ONE EVER PRINTS THEIR PICTURES ANYMORE (BECAUSE IT’S NOT INSTANT)

That’s right, the average amount of people that print their photos has decreased massively over the years and what’s worse is that even when people do print, it’s usually at a place that will give you a good price but won’t give you good quality photos. With photo booths, not only do you get a whole experience out of the print but you get an instant picture of good quality. We can’t speak for the other guys but here at koibooth we use a high quality sub dye printer that prints in as little as 15 seconds after each session. That’s still pretty instant!

PRINTS CAN’T BE ALTERED (THAT’S OKAY – THAT’S WHAT PHONES ARE FOR!)

Of course you can take pictures on your phone and it’s fun to add the filters and emojis and such but what we love about prints is that they capture you without the distraction of the right angles and the right filters and the right lighting. The job of the the photo booth is to have all of that taken care of for you so that you can be captured in your truest self. Plus if you really think about it, the cameras in a photo booth are amazing quality! koibooth for example, uses a high resolution DSLR camera and top of the line flash for the absolute best quality photos. So save the altering for your insta pics and save your prints for your desk at work. They will always make you smile, guaranteed.

PHOTO BOOTHS CAPTURE THE CANDID MOMENTS (WHICH ALWAYS MAKE FOR THE BEST PRINTS)

There is something so magical about the photo booth. As soon as people walk up and they they see the props and they start taking pictures, all of a sudden, their inner child comes out. And they get so silly! They just can’t stop laughing and finding more fun props and all the while, the camera is going off. Normally resulting in a very special keepsake that they can look back at all throughout the night and forever after that. If I was going to want to print anything myself, it would be all the goofy pictures I ever had with my family and friends 🙂

See? Prints are great! And to top it all off, they are simply timeless.

We were going through some old photos and Kelli found a photo booth strip of her when she was young, with her mom and aunt. It instantly made us smile so we wanted to share with you too:

*Photo booth prints withstand the test of time proving to be a lifetime keepsake for you and your guests!*

Prints are the heart and soul of any type of photography session and photo booths just wouldn’t be the same without them. We highly recommend making sure your photo booth rental includes free prints.

Happy Partying!

Published by Kelli in Photo Booth, Prints

Tags: california, events, keepsake, memories, photo booth, photo booth rental, photo booth rental san diego, prints, san diego, socal