Tauranga Archive

Because people do the funniest things when they think no one's watching...

How Long Did That Take?

0 Comments

Posted by , in Events, Hamilton, Photo Booth, School Balls


We’ve had an amazing summer witnessing marriages, people celebrating their age, Balloons Over Waikato, expos and School Balls. We’ve been all through the Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Taranaki. We’ve set up the booth in barns, in tents, on a boat, in gardens and under trees. We’ve looked up to mountains, across lakes, over hills and out to the ocean. Now as the leaves take on their autumnal colours, and winter looms around the seasonal corner, one starts to feel like slowing down.

So on a rainy day; snuggled up and watching the original Karate Kid, we were amused to see a Photo Booth (circa 1980’s). Then we were horrified to see it took 4 1/2 whole minutes for the photo strips to print!
All I can say is thank goodness we’ve shaved a good 3+ minutes off that! A reduction of 1 minute every decade is certainly not the greatest feat in technology but it sure means a lot to us here at Photobooth Fun.

So here’s the shot to prove how patient we were back in the 80’s and a reminder of why Ralph Macchio was such a babe in his day…

We deliver – New Zealand wide!

0 Comments

Posted by , in Auckland, Christchurch, Events, Hamilton


Wedding season is in full swing, and the Waikato must be popular, as this month the Waikato and Bay of Plenty PBF team had the honour of attending our Auckland and Tauranga wedding expo prize winner’s receptions.

Firstly a great night with Chris & Gemma, our Tauranga wedding expo winners, at their Blonde Restaurant reception in Whitianga.

And the next day we had a fun, boisterous (and did I mention FUN) bunch of Aucklanders and South Africans for Royden and Louise’s pre wedding reception drinks at the amazing Ag Heritage Village at Mystery Creek.

 

Remember that the Waikato and Bay of Plenty team are part of a national group of fun and zany photo booth professionals. Our booth will be shipped to Queenstown for a weekend of bookings later this month, and next month we’ll be on the road for an event in Hawera.  So no matter where you are in New Zealand, as long as there is power supply and trolley access, if you want to book a booth for your event we can be there!

FUNdraising in the Waikato and BOP

0 Comments

Posted by , in Auckland, Corporate, Events, Hamilton


 The Waikato and The Bay Of Plenty have been full on with more expo’s and training up new staff for a super busy wedding season…

Firstly our new kid on the block Mustafa helped the Bay of Plenty Polytech create a huge buzz at the Bay of Plenty Careers Expo (TECT Arena, Baypark) and then our other newbie, Joe in Hamilton, showed the kids how it’s done with Waikato Institute of Technology Open Day at the Atrium, Wintec.  Throw in some mid-winter weddings and corporate events and wowwee!

Sunday saw the Photo Booth Fun team supporting the Bride’s Tea Party at Sarnia Park Botique Lodge – a fantastic afternoon showing off our booth to more Waikato brides while fundraising for Endometriosis New Zealand. Really stoked that our $590 donated photo booth hire raised $220 in the silent auction. And if you’re in Auckland and think you’ve missed out, make sure you and your girlfriends reserve the night of Wednesday, 3rd October, for an Evening of Glitz & Glamour and another fantastic fundraiser at Orakei Bay.

 

Corey & Carmen – Team Waikato & Bay Of Plenty

 

Winter’s wedding season?!

0 Comments

Posted by , in Auckland, Events, Hamilton, Packages


Winter must be wedding season in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty – we’ve had back to back wedding events with the Tauranga Wedding Show in May, the Waikato Wedding Expo in June and a really cool wedding event coming up in August.

A quick reminder that our Waikato Wedding Expo special offers expire on the 31st July - remember it’s only a $100 deposit to book your date!

Now, from 2pm to 4:30pm Sunday the 12th August Photo Booth Fun are supporting the Brides Tea Party at Sarnia Park Botique Lodge,  Cambridge.  Come along and enjoy bubbles and canapes, fashion parades, prize draws, mystery prizes, wedding tips, styling and inspiration.  This event was heaps of fun last year and tickets are limited.  Grab your girlfriends and get some tickets for a fun girl’s day out!  100% of your ticket price is donated to Endometriosis New Zealand.

For more updates and information visit the charity facebook page or contact the Astra Bridal Hamilton store on 07-8395449.

Corey & Carmen – Waikato & Bay Of Plenty

Teens, brides and happy mummies!

1 Comment

Posted by , in Events, Hamilton, Packages, Photo Booth


So what have the Hamilton and Tauranga crews been up to in the past few weeks?

As well as weddings and birthdays across the Waikato and Bay of Plenty, we had a fun afternoon showcasing our booth at the Hamilton School Ball Expo.

Paeroa College, Waihi College, Hamilton Christian School, St John’s, Putaruru High School, Hamilton Girls High School, Sacred Heart and St Peters were some of the schools in attendance.  We’ve already confirmed a few school ball bookings and have a special School Ball deal on our 3hr package – save some money and get some FREE extras.  We’ve now got booths New Zealand wide, so if you’re planning your school ball (anywhere in New Zealand) and you’re interested in hiring a photo booth contact us and we can offer you our school ball special too.

Did you know that if you’re expecting 500+ guests to your school ball, it’s less than $3.00 per ticket to hire two Photo Booth Fun booths for the night?  That’s 3 hrs of unlimited photo booth photos and fun in 2 booths!!

We also had a great night helping Bellyful Hamilton fundraise with their 5 year engagement movie event recently – check out their photo booth photos here.

And this Sunday we’re at the Tauranga Wedding Show, TECT Arena, Baypark from 10am-4pm.  We’ll be offering FREE snaps in our photo booth and awesome Wedding Show deals – so if you’re attending the show make sure you pop in and see us at site 126.

Corey & Carmen – Waikato & Bay of Plenty Region

Zombies, Big Balloons and Helicopters

0 Comments

Posted by , in Auckland, Corporate, Events, Hamilton


So what have Carmen, Corey and Justin been up to in the Waikato and BOP since our last Blog? We had a great week as the official photo booth for Balloons Over Waikato, we survived Zombie attacks at Armageddon this weekend, and helped the Westpac Waikato Air Ambulance fund raise at their open day too – mix in birthdays and weddings and wowwee!

But it’s not only the last few weeks that we’ve been super busy, with wedding season nearing an end, we made a list of the places we’ve visited. In the past few months we’ve had events in Hamilton, Ohaupo, Cambridge, Karapiro, Raglan, Te Awamutu, Otorohanga, Matamata, Morrinsville, Whitianga, Tauranga, Waihi (and Waihi Beach) Mt Mounganui, Pyes Pa, KatiKati, Rotorua, Whakatane and New Plymouth – we’ve even crossed the Bombay’s to help our Auckland crews with events in Western Springs, Howick and Queen St too!

Helping to end child slavery and BIG balloons!

0 Comments

Posted by , in Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Events


The Photo Booth Fun team have been busy in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty helping to celebrate heaps of Weddings and Birthdays.  Nationally we’ve been getting out and about supporting some awesome charities too…

Ecpat – Child Alert
While we have lots of fun at Photo Booth Fun we also like to support worthwhile causes like Star Ship and the Child Cancer Foundation. Over the past few weeks our national network of photo booth operators have helped www.ecpat.org.nz and their ‘Don’t Sweep it Under the Rug’ uni tour, to spread their message of ending the commercial sexual exploitation of children in New Zealand and around the world. The tour passed through Auckland’s AUT, Wellington’s Victoria University, Palmerston North’s Massey University, Canterbury University in Christchurch and Dunedin’s Otago University, and finished up at Waikato University; we were stoked with the response from our uni students. You can check out Waikato and other university photo albums on Ecpat’s Facebook page.

Balloons Over Waikato 2012
We love Balloons, especially giant ones with tiny baskets hanging below them – and we’re pleased to be sponsors and the official photo booth suppliers of Balloons Over Waikato 2012 Wednesday 28 March – Sunday 1 April 2012.

We’ve got a DOUBLE PASS to the night glow sponsor’s tent to give away to one of our awesome Facebook FANS!  Night glowing balloons, nibbles and drinks! How cool is that? To be in to win simply comment on our Balloons over Waikato Facebook post before this Thursday nights draw.

Lego Photobooth

2 Comments

Posted by , in Auckland, Awards, Christchurch, Corporate


I suppose I should be doing my first Hawkes Bay blog entry about how Photo Booth Fun now has a Photo Booth based here in the beautiful sunny Hawke’s Bay ready to serve all the wonderful weddings and events that happen here but I just had to share this…

I was getting everything ready to go out to Justine & Jamie’s wedding at Craggy Range Winery in Havelock North, when my 11 year old son turned up with this… a Lego Photo Booth, complete with operator, client, camera box and photo strip, and even the trolley to transport to the venue. Awesome stuff! Gotta love kids creativity.

Lego Photobooth Fun operator

Lego Photo Booth Fun operator

Trolley

Transport trolley

Camera

Camera set up

Print strip

Print Strip (in yellow) coming out of the unit

Happy customer

Lego Photo Booth

Lego Photo Booth, new from Photo Booth Fun. Now in Hawkes Bay lol

Well I can’t promise a Lego Photo Booth for your event but I can promise you’ll have fun.

Happy Birthday Photo Booth Fun – 2 years On

1 Comment

Posted by , in Auckland, Awards, Christchurch, Corporate


Wow, just looked at the calendar and it’s our birthday! Two years on and we are just getting better and having more fun everyday!

So how did we get here? What started it all?

We get that question a lot and I thought I might post the story of Photo Booth Fun and some cool things we’ve done previously.

The Beginning

It’s mid 2009 and I was happily working as a commercial photographer in Wellington. My girlfriend (and constant source of support) JL was just about to turn 30 and we had planned a nice big party in my new studio. I’m not even sure where the idea came from but she really wanted a photo booth set up for the party, and being the crafty type decided to give it a go. I’d almost made one for a wedding earlier in the year but it never happened due to it being outside and the weather not playing nice.

So I built one for JL and it was a total hit. Having loads of friends from the film industry didn’t hurt either, bloody show ponies!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After seeing how much fun the booth was, I decided it was a great addition to my Wedding photography and set about making a more robust system and so we ended up with our very first commercial version: Big Bertha!

 

Bertha did us proud and after a few months (and almost too many gigs to handle) we realised we were on to a good thing and out of Brett Stanley Photography was born Photo Booth Fun!

The business took on a life of it’s own and we headed in to the workshop to manufacture more booths, making them smaller and easier to move around as we were getting bookings all over the country.

 

Version 2 was a huge step forward in portability and looks, and we had great feedback about her. She (yes, our booths are female) even went on planes due to it’s small size and weight which opened up a whole new market for us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the help of Eden And Suze in Auckland we set up a branch there and started New Zealand’s first intercity Photo Booth company.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a year, some awards, and some very valuable experience we further refined the booth design and came out with Version 3, our most attractive number yet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two of these models debuted at the Parachute Music Festival in Hamilton with the World Vision stand and what a weekend they had! Over 3000 people had their shots take despite the rain and wind, and with the instant upload to World Vision’s Facebook page their fan base tripled in the space of 3 days.

That was the start of our Hamilton photo booth branch as well, as Carmen and Corey took the photobooth-lovin’ Waikato and Bay Of Plenty regions by storm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since then we’ve been at events such as:

  • Outrageous Fortune at Auckland Museum
  • The Pacifika Festival
  • The Big Gay Out
  • Red Bull Events
  • Tattoo Festivals
  • Homegrown Music Festival for The Rock FM
  • Rhythm and Vines for Cleo Magazine
  • Weddings on Waiheke
  • School Balls
  • Birthdays all over the country

We now cover the whole country, from Auckland and Wellington on the North Island to Christchurch and Dunedin on the South (and everywhere in between), and it’s all down to our wonderful clients, our awesome staff and booth addicts all over New Zealand. Thank you so much for your support and we’re looking forward to the next year!