Contemplating Disposable Cameras...

[BethElena]

It seems like 95% of brides have disposable cameras on their guests tables at receptions. We were looking into this option, but it seems like alot of the pictures we've seen from these cameras end up very dark.

If you had cameras and your wedding and had them developed, would you:

1. Do this again, because the pictures were very unique
2. Ask guests to take digital pics and email them to you to pick and choose which to print
3. Not purchase cameras again because the quality was horrible

Also, if you would choose to purchase cameras again, would you choose color or black and white?

(IF somebody could turn this into a poll, that would be great. I don't know how to do it, even after doing a search to see how to :) )

We were unable to secure our photographer for the reception, b/c the reception is a different day then our wedding. We can't afford to hire another photographer for the reception, so that's some background. :)

Our wedding is coming up 8/19 and our reception is 8/28, (honeymoon inbetween) so I need to make a decision soon!!! Thanks in advance for the advice!

[laurenc]

I would definitely keep with the general idea -- our disposable camera photos are actually my favorites, we have so many funny or charming pictures and I show them off to friends and family more than my $5000 professional wedding album!!!

I'm no photographer, but I'd guess that the varying quality of photos from the disposable cameras could be mostly accounted for by the kind of light at the varied reception sites. Our disposable camera photos came out great, probably because our reception site had big windows that let in a lot of the natural light. So, if your reception site is very dimly-lit, you may not want to go the disposable camera route.

If you choose not to do disposable cameras, I would find a handful of friends or family members who you know will be bringing their digital cameras and ask them before the event to make up a photo CD for you. Usually I take loads of digital photos at weddings, but I don't always remember to post them online, send the link to the bride and groom, or make a photo CD. But I know that if I was approached before the wedding (not during, as I'm usually too distracted to remember) I would definitely be sure to send along my pictures.

Also, I just went to a wedding where the bride used "wedding cameras" -- i.e. disposable cameras repackaged in a "wedding-themed" paper box. Well, the camera at our table did not have a working flash, and the box came apart after it'd been passed around a few times. The camera underneath looked like a car had rolled over it!!! So who knows how those photos will come out, especially since the reception hall was dark. I don't know if that's a typical thing for such products, but if you do go the disposable camera route, I would play it safe and get the regular non-wedding disposable cameras that you can get at a drugstore.

ETA: also, we did color photos for everything.

[BethElena]

Thanks for responding! I'm thinking the reception site will be very dim. I will ask for the lighting to be on full blast, but even at 4pm, with no natural light, it will be dim....

[Happy1]

Even though our reception site was dim and yes, the pictures from a distance were sort of dark, guests in general would either take self portraits (hold up the camera and take a pic of themselves) or take pics of those around them at the table. All the disposable cameras had flashes so these close up pics not only turned out great but weren't dark and we had a great visual record of who was at our wedding. We never even asked our guests to do that. They just did it on their own. And even some of the further away pics that were darker, Tim and I still know what those pictures were taken of and although we wouldn't blow them up and stick them in a frame, they still are priceless additions to our album.

Nikki :D

[cr8zyforaf]

I would say go for it. We got a ton of nice pictures from our tables - stuff that we didn't see due to the fact that there was so much going on - plus some candid photos of us that were very nice.

I will say, we had an issue with people not knowing how to use the flash even though I put a cute little poem with instructions on each of the tables so we had a lot of pictures that didn't turn out...which was disappointing but the pictures we did get were great and really captured the mood of the day more so than the professional pictures.

[taragiraffe]

If I did it all over again, I don't think I would do the cameras again...or at least not get as many as I did. I wish I had taken one of the cameras for a "test drive" at our venue to see how the pictures turned out. We had a skylight in the room where our reception was held and it gave the cameras a really funky lighting.

We got a few really nice pictures but for the most part there were a lot of the same things over and over again. Then there are the ones that my DH's best friends took in their hotel room. It was such a lovely surprise to be flipping through pictures of our first dance only to see a bare white ass staring back at me. :rolleyes:

[BethElena]

Hey, thanks guys! If we go with the disposable cameras, does anybody know where there's affordable developing? I mean, is there a mail away place or something? That's another thing that's scaring me -- the cost! If each camera is $5 or less, and development is $5, and we have 15 tables, that's going to get expensive!

[Sonicstef]

We did them and got some great photos from them. You get a totally different perspective. We had copies made and send them to guests that were in the photos.

My suggestion would be to not cheap out on the cameras or the developing. Its such a small expense when you consider the wedding, its not worth getting cheap cameras or developing (which is often the reason disposable cameras dont produce good shots). If your wedding is at night, get the ones with the flash that go off automatically and put a little tag telling guests to use it!