Every booth I ever rented out had a line. Only one kind of booth had a line all night. That was the enclosed one, the cabinet with the curtain, and it is the reason SmileMore only builds that design. If you are weighing an enclosed photo booth rental against an open-air setup for a wedding or a party, this is the honest comparison I wish someone had given me before I bought my first booth.
What “enclosed” actually means
An enclosed booth is a cabinet you step into. There is a bench, a curtain, a camera behind a light, and a printer that drops the strip into a slot on the outside. It is the design from the arcades and train stations of the last century, rebuilt with a real camera and a dye-sub printer.
An open-air booth is a camera on a stand facing a backdrop. Guests stand in front of it in the open room. It is lighter, cheaper to move, and everyone can see everything.
Why the curtain changes the photos
Watch a group approach an open-air booth. They check who is looking, they arrange themselves, they do the smile they use for LinkedIn. Now watch the same group behind a curtain. Someone climbs on someone else. Somebody does the face they have done since fourth grade. The second frame is always the good one, because by then they have forgotten the camera.
That is not a design opinion. It is the difference between the strips people leave on the table and the strips people put on the fridge for a decade.
Where an enclosed booth wins, and where it loses
Wins: weddings, birthdays, quinces, bar and bat mitzvahs, campus events. Anything where the point is the guests having a good time with each other. No props needed, less mess on the floor, and it works in a corner of a busy room because the noise stays outside.
Loses: brand activations and trade shows. If the job is to get your logo backdrop into five hundred Instagram posts, open-air does that better. The photos are the marketing, not the memory.
Loses on very tight access. The cabinet rolls through a standard door and fits a normal elevator, but a spiral staircase or a beach with no cart path is a real problem. Ask us before you book a venue like that, and we will tell you straight.
Renting for an event between Miami and Palm Beach?
Unlimited prints, custom strip, attendant, digital gallery, delivery. One quote, nothing added later. running before your first guest arrives or you do not pay for it.
What to ask any enclosed photo booth rental company
How many people fit? Two comfortably, four happily, six if they like each other is the honest answer for ours. Does it print two strips per session? It should. What paper does it print on? The answer is dye-sub photo paper or you should keep shopping. Is there an attendant? For an enclosed booth there has to be, because someone needs to reload paper without stopping the party. What happens if it breaks? A booth company that has a real answer to that question has thought about your night.
The thing rentals taught me
A party happens once. I ran events for years with no bad reviews, and that only worked because I was personally standing next to the booth every time. If a machine fails at a wedding, you can refund the money but you cannot give the night back. That is why the guarantee on our rentals is written the way it is, and it is why the same enclosed booth now lives permanently at Nova Southeastern University, where a failure costs one guest a few dollars instead of costing a couple their wedding.
Questions people ask
How big is an enclosed photo booth?
The SmileMore Classic needs about a 5 by 5 foot footprint and one standard outlet within 15 feet. It rolls through a standard door and fits in a normal elevator.
How many people fit in an enclosed photo booth?
Two comfortably, four happily, six if they like each other.
Is an enclosed photo booth rental more expensive than open-air?
Usually 10 to 20 percent more, because it is a cabinet that has to be delivered and built rather than a camera on a stand. Read our full photo booth rental cost guide for real ranges.
Can an enclosed photo booth go outside?
Under cover, yes: tents, patios and lanais are fine. Direct sun or rain, no.
If you are still deciding, come sit in ours. The NSU booth is open to the public and costs less than a coffee. That is the cheapest way to know whether a curtain matters to you.
