Weddingbee boards

For our June wedding, we want to have a photo area with some fun "dress up" props (feather boas, fun hats, things like that--similar to what was described in Martha Stewart Weddings for the Breakfast at Tiffany's Wedding).

We'll be taking the photos with a digital camera, we would like to PRINT them on-the-spot to give one copy to guests and have one in a guest book.

Has anyone tried this before or seen it done? Any ideas for how to get an on-site printer setup that can print approx. 150 color photos? Any cautions for doing it this way?

Any suggestions would be helpful!

We did this at our wedding. It was great because it didn't require a computer. Only it was photos for us...and not us giving our guests photos.  We used the Epson PictureMates.

All it required was everyone's memory sticks from their digital cameras. They insert it in, and printed what they wanted to leave for us, as we used a basket for them to put the pictures they printed out for us.  

It's very easy to use and wasn't complicated at all. We set up a table for it, as we used two of them, so it didn't create a long line at all.

Take a look at their site:

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/PictureMate/pmWhy.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes 

As a photographer it is something that I offer in my packages.  I use an HP PhotoSmart 8250, because I have found it to be the best ratio of quality and speed.  It prints an 8x10 in just under a minute, and the quality is amazing.

I also include a person to man the printer, and even though you're doing this on your own and not through your photographer, I would highly recommend you have someone overseeing the process.  It sounds simple enough, but there are plenty of things that might need fixing - from a paper jam to paper running out to even ink running out - that you don't want your guests to have to deal with.

If you are tech savvy, one thing you might want to do is have your camera connected to a laptop and the laptop connected to the printer (instead of the camera directly connected to the printer) so you can keep a digital copy of each photo.  That way you don't have to print your copy right then and there, so there would be 1/2 as much ink and paper to buy up front.

Good luck and have fun!  It's an option my clients always love!