Said It Here

Live music vs. photobooth for a short wedding lunch

Deciding between hiring a live musician and setting up a photobooth for a brief seated meal comes with unique tradeoffs. A photobooth offers guests a fun keepsake to take home, but can feel awkward to use during a short event, while finding affordable live bands or violinists is challenging.

What people tried

Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.

  1. 1
    setting up a polaroid station and having film cameras set up instead of a professional photobooth
  2. 2
    using a playlist for light dancing instead of hiring a DJ
  3. 3
    Searching for independent performers on gig marketplace platforms like Gigsalad

In their words

Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.

r/weddingplanning2 people · September 2026

“I can either hire a string duo for ceremony and cocktail hour.”source ↗

“Or I am wondering if it’s better to do a photobooth from 12-4 for $850 total.”source ↗

“I think photobooth will be fun and it’s nice to have a little pic for people to take home, but I am hesitant because it might feel awkward for people to go use it when it’s a short event and a seated meal.”source ↗

sparkling_grapefruit · r/weddingplanning · 2 upvotes

“wondering if anyone can recommend live bands or more specifically violinist in the New England area that won’t cost an arm and a leg”source ↗

Glittering_Peace2505 · r/weddingplanning · 1 upvotes

Where this came up

People with this problem also raised