Start a photo-booth business
Run a photo-booth business — no camera skills needed.
You don't need to be a photographer — no camera, no editing skills, no experience. Set up an iPad and Best Memories does the rest: cull, retouch, style, deliver. A business in a box — your brand, your prices, keep 100%.
Already a photographer? See Best Memories for photographers →
You could keep about
$4,361/mo
≈ $47,971 a year
- Booth revenue$4,500/mo
- − Software (Pro)−$49/mo
- − Supplies (~$15/event)−$90/mo
Software is free to start (with our mark) — the math above assumes the white-label Pro plan.
Typical ranges for illustration — not a guarantee. Figures are gross before taxes, travel, and marketing, and assume ~11 active months; real income varies by location, season, and how much you book.
The whole booth is an iPad
You don't need a van of gear. An iPad, a stand, and a backdrop is a working photo booth — a small one-time investment that a single weekend of bookings can cover.
An iPad on a stand
A tablet, a tripod or stand, and a carrying case. Lock the iPad in booth mode and guests run it themselves all night.
A light (or a phone rig)
A ring light keeps faces flattering in dim venues — or a phone-on-a-grip rig turns into a roaming booth you carry.
…and the software, free
Drop our app on the iPad and you're a booth. Free to start — you only pay to white-label the AI shots or scale volume.
What it costs to start
- iPad (used or refurbished)$700
- Floor stand + ring light + case$400
- Adjustable backdrop stand$35
- Total to start$1,135
Pays for itself in about
2events
≈ $735 kept per event after supplies
The software is free to start — so after a weekend or two of bookings, the gear is paid off and the rest is yours.
Gear prices are typical examples and change — this is an estimate, not a guarantee. You can start for less with a tablet you already own; payback depends on what you charge and how often you book.
See the gear we've tested — the full equipment list → and the 10-minute booth setup.
The opportunity
A weekend gig that pays — and makes people happy.
Weddings, birthdays, holiday parties — they happen on weekends. Show up with a booth, give everyone a moment they love, and get paid for it. Keep your weekdays; build something real on your Saturdays.
Work the weekends you choose
Most events land Friday to Sunday. Take the bookings that fit your life — one a weekend or a packed wedding season. It works around a day job, school, or kids, and scales when you want it to.
You're the reason the night is fun
The booth is where the laughing happens. Guests pile in, pull faces, and walk away with photos they actually keep. You're not a vendor in the corner — you're the part of the party people remember.
Real money for a few hours' work
Operators charge hundreds per event, and a busy weekend can stack two or three. Set your own rates and keep every dollar — no cut, no royalty, no revenue share.
Getting clients
New to this? Here's how the bookings come in.
You don't need a following or years in the business. Three ways events find you — starting from zero.
Share your free page
One link with your booth, your prices, and an enquiry form. Post it on social, text it to a venue, drop it in your bio — every enquiry lands in your inbox.
We send you local leads
When event hosts come to bestmemories.ai looking for a booth in your city, we pass those requests to operators in the area — free leads, no ad spend.
Every gallery books the next one
Guests get a branded gallery they share all week. That's free advertising in front of exactly the people who throw events — and it books your next booking.
Your storefront, included
A free website that takes bookings
Every operator gets a free page at bestmemories.ai/yourname — pick a template, add your photos, your prices, and your story. It comes with a built-in enquiry form: when someone wants to book, the request drops straight into your inbox and your dashboard. Share one link and you look established on day one.
- A polished public page + enquiry form — free, no setup.
- On Pro, put it on your own domain (book.yourstudio.com) and send gallery emails from your own address (gallery@yourstudio.com) — no Best Memories branding.
Free retouch
Every face, gently finished.
Every booth shot is retouched before it reaches a phone — bumps and blemishes cleared, shine and redness gone, skin tone evened, color balanced — while keeping real texture and the person intact. No filter to tap, nothing overdone. It runs on every capture automatically, and it's free.
Styles · live gallery
AI looks the big names can't touch.
Offer guests a deep catalog of curated looks — editorial, film, fashion, festive — applied per guest automatically and streaming into the gallery in seconds. One consistent style across the whole night, not a one-frame party filter. Free to try with our mark; put your own brand on it when you upgrade.
What changes after the shutter
The booth experience is table-stakes — everyone has one. The difference is what the guest holds the next morning, and whether it brings you the next booking.
| After the event | Typical booth software | Best Memories |
|---|---|---|
| The deliverable | Raw album, link expires (~3 months) | Finished gallery, stays put (~a year) |
| The photos | Straight off the booth, blinks and all | Culled + retouched, free and clean |
| AI styling | By the credit (Snappic-style) | Free to try; white-label on upgrade |
| Your branding | Their logo on the gallery | White-label: your brand, domain & emails |
| To get started | Monthly bill before event #1 | $0 — no monthly floor |
Honest about the overlap: Snappic and friends run a great booth with real-time AI-FX (face swap, outfit swap). We're not selling a flashier filter — we're selling the finished, delivered gallery and what it does for your bookings. Their AI is a one-frame party trick metered in credits from event one; ours is free clean retouch plus a styled look across the whole set, with no monthly floor to begin.
See the full head-to-head: I tested 5 AI photo tools for my event business →
Operators are booking — and rebooking.
“I'd never shot a wedding in my life. I set up the iPad, the AI does the rest, and the photos come out better than what some couples get from their actual photographer. I'm booking two events a weekend now.”
“Guests get their gallery before they even leave the reception. Half my bookings come from someone at the last event who saw their photos hit their phone that night. It sells itself.”
“I cleared the cost of my whole setup on my first weekend. No monthly bill, no revenue share — every dollar I book is mine. The white-label AI styles are pure upsell on top.”
Simple pricing
Start for $0. Upgrade when you want your brand on the AI shots and more volume. Or see the full pricing page.
Starter
Free
No card required
- Free retouch on every photo
- Free AI styles too — unlimited, with a “Powered by Best Memories” watermark on each photo
- Standardized public profile page
- Take client bookings — clients pick a package and pay the deposit on your page, into your own Stripe account (no commission)
- 15.0 GB gallery storage
- Go watermark-free any time — pay per photo, or upgrade to Pro
Pro
7-day free trial
$49/mo
For active photographers
- Everything in Starter — AI styling stays free
- White-label galleries — your logo, no Best Memories watermark
- 1000 watermark-free AI photos included every month
- Watermark-free overage from $0.03 / photo (varies by AI model)
- 500.0 GB gallery storage
- Connect multiple custom domains — a different branded domain per event
- Guests get their gallery email from your own address (gallery@yourstudio.com), not Best Memories
- Public profile page on your own domain
- Priority email support
Studio
$149/mo
For agencies and multi-brand operators
- Everything in Pro
- 3,000 watermark-free AI photos included every month
- Watermark-free overage from $0.03 / photo (varies by AI model)
- 3.0 TB gallery storage
- Run multiple brand domains on one account
- Team accounts — invite the photographers and event ops who run your shoots
- Cross-brand analytics — bookings, gallery activity, and AI spend rolled up by domain
- Hands-on onboarding + concierge support
AI styling is free with our watermark. Pay only to go white-label.
Every photo can be AI-styled for free with a “Powered by Best Memories” watermark — no subscription, no card. Want white-label galleries (your branding, no watermark) for just one event? Top up a prepaid balance and pay per photo only for the watermark-free versions (from $0.03 each). Turn on auto-refill and a busy night never stops mid-event — when your balance runs low we top it up from your saved card, capped at a daily limit you set.
7-day free trial on Pro — we collect your card at checkout, but you're not charged until the trial ends. Cancel any time during the trial. Studio is on a waitlist while we onboard the first cohort.
Start in three steps
From idea to booked in a weekend.
Get the gear
An iPad, a stand, and a light. See the tested kit on our equipment page— often well under a single weekend's bookings.
Set up the booth
Install the app, connect your event, lock the iPad in booth mode. About ten minutes, no guesswork.
Book events & deliver
Guests tap and snap; we cull, retouch, style and deliver a branded gallery to every phone in minutes. You keep what you book.
You're never on your own — we're with you at every step. Real help is one message away in the chat inside your portal, from your first setup to your hundredth event.
Your first booth is an iPad away.
Start free, set up in minutes, and deliver galleries guests actually share.
Start freeRun the booth on your iPad