Photo Booth Hire in North London

Weddings, bar mitzvahs and big birthdays north of the river

North London weddings often run large. Greek Cypriot and Turkish celebrations around Wood Green, Palmers Green and Enfield, Jewish weddings and bar mitzvahs in Hendon, Finchley and Golders Green, and Asian weddings in banqueting suites along the A406 regularly pass 300 guests, which is where a booth that takes eight people per shot and prints for everyone really pays off. For smaller civil ceremonies in Islington or Camden, a slim pod in the corner of a pub function room keeps things relaxed.

Corporate bookings cluster around the offices and tech firms of King's Cross and Islington, while Christmas parties fill hotel suites along the A1 and A406 through December. Proms for schools across Barnet, Enfield and Haringey mostly happen in late June, so if you are a prom committee, get your date in by Easter. Milestone birthdays, from 18ths to 60ths, are the other staple, usually in community halls, sports clubs or hired pub rooms.

Where we cover: Barnet, Enfield, Haringey, Islington and Camden

Our North London area takes in the boroughs of Barnet, Enfield, Haringey, Islington and Camden. On the ground that means Finchley, Hendon, High Barnet and Totteridge in the west, Enfield, Edmonton, Southgate and Palmers Green in the north, Wood Green, Tottenham, Muswell Hill, Crouch End and Highgate in the middle, and Hampstead, Camden Town and Islington closer to the centre.

Venues just over the border in Hertfordshire, around Potters Bar, Borehamwood and Cheshunt, are covered just as easily, and the same goes for Walthamstow and the Lea Valley on the East London side. Venues in Harrow and Wembley on the western side sit on our West London page, though the same team visits them.

North London's venues, from banqueting suites to golf clubs

The area has more large banqueting suites than almost anywhere else in the capital, many of them purpose-built for community weddings with their own stages, dance floors and catering. Alongside them sit hotels on the main arterial roads, golf clubs on the Hertfordshire fringe around Barnet and Enfield, synagogue and church halls, community centres and a long list of pubs with upstairs or garden function rooms in Islington, Highgate and Crouch End.

Banqueting suites generally have excellent access, with ground-floor loading and wide doors, so the showpiece booths work well. Pub function rooms are the opposite: often upstairs, often with a narrow staircase, which is where the slim pods come into their own.

Booths that earn their keep at a North London party

The Magic Mirror is the first choice for large weddings in the area. It stands 1.8m tall with on-screen animations and games, handles up to eight guests per shot and prints for every one of them, and it photographs beautifully against the decor of a banqueting suite. For really big guest lists, the Inflatable Booth is the showpiece: a 2.5m LED-lit enclosure that fits ten people and glows in whatever colour matches the theme.

Pub and hall parties usually go for the LCD SlimPod, which is the most affordable option and squeezes into 1.5m by 2m, or the Party Booth, an enclosed curtained booth that teenagers at proms and guests at 18ths tend to love because of the privacy.

• Magic Mirror: large community weddings in banqueting suites
• Inflatable Booth: showpiece for 300-plus guest lists
• LCD SlimPod: pub function rooms and community halls
• Party Booth: proms, 18ths and anyone who likes a curtain

Parking, the North Circular and getting the booth indoors

Driving around North London is mostly about the North Circular, the A1 and the A10, and we plan arrival times around the evening peak on all three. The M25 at Potters Bar gives quick access to the Hertfordshire edge. Banqueting suites and hotels nearly always have a car park or service yard for unloading; pubs and community halls usually have on-street parking nearby, and the kit travels on trolleys from the van to the room.

ULEZ covers the whole area and we deal with it ourselves. Upstairs rooms without a lift are fine for the LCD SlimPod, GIF Booth, Retro Pod and Selfie Mirror Pod, but the Magic Mirror, Party Booth and Inflatable need a lift or a ground-floor room. Allow 45 to 60 minutes for setup before the hire starts; that time is not charged. One ordinary socket is all we need, or two for the Inflatable.