How Our Vintage Photo Booth Evolved From an Oversized Camera to Its Signature Oval Design
Our Vintage Booth did not always look the way it does today.
The original version looked like an oversized large-format camera, complete with a wood finish, leather bellows and a brass circle around the camera lens. It was distinctive, completely handmade and inspired by the earliest days of photography. It was also large, heavy, delicate and increasingly difficult for a growing team to handle.
By June 2016, we knew we needed to rethink it. We wanted to preserve the warmth and character of the original booth while creating something sleeker, more modern and much easier to operate. The result was our oval Vintage Booth, a design that is still working at events ten years later.
The short answer
Snaptique's Vintage Photo Booth is a handcrafted, furniture-inspired wooden booth we designed and built ourselves. It began in 2014 as an oversized large-format camera, complete with leather bellows and a brass lens ring, and evolved in June 2016 into the signature oval design still in our collection today. The oval booth is lighter, has a guest-facing touchscreen, and suits weddings, corporate events, and celebrations across Toronto and the GTA. It looks like a chosen piece of decor rather than event equipment, which is why the design has lasted a decade.
The wedding show that started it
The idea for our first photo booth began when Dominic and I attended a wedding show while planning our own wedding. We tried a photo booth there and loved the experience. It was fun, interactive and gave guests something personal to take home. We immediately preferred the idea of giving our wedding guests photographs rather than leaving candies or another small favour on the table.
But we did not love the way the booth itself looked. It was essentially a large black box that resembled a road case. The experience was memorable, but the equipment was not something we imagined fitting beautifully into our wedding. We began thinking about what a photo booth could look like if its design mattered just as much as the photographs it produced.
Building a photo booth that looked like a camera
We completed our first photo booth in early spring 2014. Instead of trying to hide a plain equipment box, we designed the entire booth to look like an oversized vintage large-format camera.
It had a rich wood finish, soft leather bellows and a brass circle surrounding the camera lens. The booth sat on a heavy-duty speaker-stand tripod, which gave it the height and silhouette of an antique studio camera. Guests started the photo sequence using a button attached to a long cord, almost like an old-fashioned shutter release.
There was a screen at the back for operating the system, but no guest-facing screen. People could not see themselves or preview their position before the photograph was taken. We occasionally tried placing a computer monitor on top of the printer so guests could see themselves, but it spoiled the appearance we had worked so hard to create. The modern screen looked awkward beside the wood, leather and brass. The booth had plenty of personality, but the technology and the design were not yet working together as seamlessly as we wanted.
When a handmade booth meets a growing team
The original booth worked reasonably well when Dominic and I were the ones moving and setting it up. We could lift it ourselves, and our height helped when raising it onto the tall tripod. For most other people, however, it was a two-person carry.
It was not only heavy, it also had to be handled very carefully. The soft leather bellows could be crushed or torn if someone held the booth incorrectly. As Snaptique grew and we began relying on more team members to transport and set up equipment, that became a recurring problem. A booth designed for two founders to operate personally was not necessarily a booth that could move through multiple events every weekend with a larger team.
We kept encountering the same roadblocks: it was too heavy for many people to lift safely, its delicate details were vulnerable to damage, and the setup was more complicated than it needed to be. The original booth had helped us begin, but Snaptique was outgrowing it.
The long engagement that changed the booth
The funny part is that we had originally built the large-format-camera booth with our own wedding in mind. But Dominic and I had a long engagement.
By the time our wedding was approaching in 2016, Snaptique had grown, our team had grown, and we had learned a tremendous amount from operating the first booth at real events. We also knew that we did not want to spend our wedding day lifting a heavy, delicate photo booth onto a tripod. There were already more than enough other things to manage.
So, shortly before our wedding, we decided to build a new version. The booth we had created partly for our own wedding would be retired before our wedding actually happened. Apparently, that is one of the charms of having a long engagement while building a photo booth company.
Designing Vintage V2
Dominic designed the second Vintage Booth in June 2016. We still wanted it to feel warm, handcrafted and connected to vintage photography. At the same time, we wanted a cleaner shape that could work in a historic venue, a modern ballroom, a corporate event or a contemporary wedding without feeling overly themed.
Dominic developed the oval body and bent the wood to create its rounded corners. Instead of sitting on a heavy speaker tripod, the new booth stood on wooden legs that felt like part of the design. The finished shape reminded us of mid-century modern furniture: simple and functional, but still full of warmth and character. At that time, there were very few comparable photo booths available. We could not simply order the booth we imagined, so we created it ourselves.
A better experience for guests
The new design was not only lighter and easier for our team to manage. It also solved several limitations of the original booth.
Vintage V2 had a guest-facing touchscreen built directly into the front. For the first time, guests could see themselves, adjust their position and operate the booth without using a separate button on a long cord. We also moved to a smaller professional printer and built a wooden cover for it. Instead of having a modern piece of equipment sitting awkwardly beside the booth, the printer became a coordinated part of the setup.
The camera, screen and technology were integrated into the design rather than added around it. That balance became an important part of the Vintage Booth: it could look like a carefully chosen piece of furniture while still providing the speed, image quality and reliability expected from a professional photo booth.
Introducing the new design to clients
Changing the appearance of an established booth always creates some uncertainty. One of the first brides interested in Vintage V2 had originally contacted us after seeing the large-format-camera version. We showed her the new oval design before she booked, but I still worried that she might not like it as much as the booth that initially caught her attention.
We were happily surprised when she loved the new style. Her wedding became the first wedding for the redesigned booth. Our own wedding was the second. That early response helped confirm that we had preserved the right things. The new booth looked different, but it still had the warmth, craftsmanship and sense of character people had liked about the original.
Two photo booths at our own wedding
By the time our wedding arrived, we had a trusted team who could handle the equipment without Dominic and me personally managing every part of the setup. We still towed our Airstream into position outside, but one of our team members set up the new Vintage Booth inside. I also made a flower wall to use as its backdrop.
The Airstream was mainly available outside during cocktail hour, while the Vintage Booth was used indoors after dinner. Both received plenty of attention throughout the celebration. Having two photo booths at our own wedding may have been slightly excessive, but it was also very us.
More importantly, the day demonstrated exactly why we had redesigned the Vintage Booth. Our team could transport and prepare it independently, our guests could operate it easily, and the booth looked like it belonged in the room rather than like a piece of event equipment that needed to be hidden.
The original oval booth is still working today
The handmade oval booth Dominic completed in June 2016 is still part of our working collection today. Over the years, we have made smaller improvements to its technology and reorganized the equipment inside. Cameras, computers, software and printing systems continue to evolve, and the way we prepare booths for busy event schedules has become much more refined.
But the exterior design has not needed a dramatic reinvention. The technology continues to improve, but the shape has endured.
Why the design has lasted
We think the Vintage Booth has aged well for the same reason mid-century modern furniture continues to work in so many different spaces. The wood gives it warmth. The curved shape gives it personality. The clean front keeps the equipment from becoming a distraction. It feels vintage without looking like a historical prop, and modern without becoming cold or overly minimal.
That allows it to work equally well with a floral wedding backdrop, a clean corporate design, a branded activation or a simple studio background. The booth has enough character to be noticed, but it does not dictate the style of the entire event.
Wooden photo booths with clean, furniture-inspired designs are more recognizable today than they were in 2016, although they are still far from being the industry standard. When we built ours, there were very few comparable options available to us. We knew what we wanted the booth to look like, so we made it ourselves.
From a wedding favour to a ten-year design
The Vintage Booth began with a simple idea: photographs would be a more meaningful gift for our wedding guests than candies left on a table. That idea became an oversized handmade camera. The camera became a working rental booth. And as Snaptique grew, the challenges of operating it led us to create something lighter, sleeker and better suited to both our guests and our team.
Ten years after Dominic bent the wood around those first oval corners, the original Vintage Booth is still working at events. The booth has changed on the inside as technology has improved, but the design itself continues to do exactly what we hoped it would: bring the warmth and charm of vintage photography into almost any space without feeling dated. And somewhere along the way, the replacement booth we built so we would not have to struggle with setup at our own wedding became one of the most enduring designs in our collection.
FAQ
What is a vintage photo booth?
It is a handcrafted, furniture-inspired wooden photo booth designed to look like a piece of decor rather than event equipment. Ours has a signature oval body on wooden legs, with a guest-facing touchscreen and a professional camera and printer built in.
Is Snaptique's Vintage Booth handmade?
Yes. We designed and built it ourselves. It started in 2014 as an oversized large-format camera and was redesigned by Dominic in June 2016 into the oval design we still run today.
What events does the Vintage Booth suit?
It works beautifully at weddings, corporate events, and celebrations. Its warm, neutral design fits historic venues, modern ballrooms, and branded activations equally well.
Does the Vintage Booth print photos?
Yes. It uses a professional camera and printer to produce studio-quality prints in seconds, and guests can also share their photos digitally.
Where can I rent the Vintage Booth?
We offer the Vintage Photo Booth for weddings and events across Toronto and the GTA. Send us your date and venue and we will confirm availability.
See the Vintage Booth
Our Vintage Booth is available for weddings, corporate events, and celebrations in Toronto and across the GTA. Visit our Vintage Photo Booth rental page to see its current features, backdrop options, inclusions, and availability.
About the author
Chantalle Gallego
Co-Founder, Snaptique Photo Booths
Chantalle co-founded Snaptique in 2014 with her husband Dominic, after the two of them built their first photo booth for their own wedding. Since then, Snaptique has grown to a collection of 25 booths across 12 styles and has produced more than 1,600 events across Toronto and the GTA, from weddings to brand activations for Google, Meta, TIFF, Lamborghini, and Sephora. Chantalle leads the creative direction of Snaptique's booths and writes about photo booth experiences, event design, and helping clients choose the right booth for their event.
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Reviewed by
Dominic Gallego
Co-Founder, Snaptique Photo Booths
Dominic co-founded Snaptique in 2014 and leads its production side, designing and building the company's booths in-house. He designed both versions of the Vintage Booth, and reviewed this article for technical and factual accuracy.
Our editorial standards
Every Snaptique article is written from our own firsthand experience running real events since 2014, reviewed by a Snaptique co-founder for accuracy, and kept current. We only publish details we can stand behind from booths we operate and events we have actually worked.
First published: August 4, 2026
Last reviewed: August 4, 2026
Experience note: Based on Chantalle, Dominic, and the Snaptique team's firsthand experience designing, building, and operating Snaptique's Vintage Booths at real events since 2014.
