photo here via Your Best Wedding

Enter the photo booth!! It’s a little station you set up to entice your guests to pose for their very own photo session! You can put your photographer in charge, ask a friend to man the booth, or just hand out disposable cameras and ask everyone to be sure to stop by the booth and snap a few shots.  You can get as fun and creative as you like with backdrops, props, and costumes, and leave the smiling and posing to your friends!

More ideas and inspiration for your Photo Booth:

To ensure that they would have unique keepsake photographs of their guests, the couple set up an outdoor portrait studio made up of lengths of bright floral fabric draped over a clothesline. The photographer chose the background best suited to each subject’s outfit, mixing unlike but complementary patterns to create a jubilant, richly textured collection of pictures. (Martha Stewart Weddings)

Create your own photo booth with an oversize canvas backdrop. You can dowload the design below and take it to a copy center (like FedEx) that can print the large file. Then hang it up at your reception and have your photographer or friends capture candid moments that you can add to your guest book.  Get the Photo Booth Backdrop Clip Art

You can rent an actual photobooth and have invite your guests to use it. The added privacy may help encouraged spontaneity!

If renting one is beyond your budget, try this makeshift DIY photo booth tutorial from the things we think but do not say via Manolo. You’ll get awesome shots like these (via cosentino):

Take your photo booth to the next level with an interactive family photo wall (via Manolo) featuring snapshots of family members and family members’ weddings. Guests can pose in empty frames, becoming “part of the family history.”

More creative backdrops… a wood pile sculpture (photo credit here via Green Wedding Shoes):

… and some more fun fabric backdrops from Green Wedding Shoes:

The poses are only as fun as your guests choose make them… here are a few people having a grand old time! Photographer Dennis Drenner set up this mini photo studio against the wall of the beautiful old Tuscan villa where the guests were staying. Sometimes Dennis took the photos, sometimes the wedding guests took the photos themselves using a cable release.

A couch, some hats, and sunglasses make for great pictures too! (Poof Photobooth on flickr)

Sometimes, you don’t need much of a background or props to get people to act goofy… (MugShots photo booth from wdphoto)

Face: “Know your face,” says Michael Waring, who photographed this story. “Look at celeb photos for reference. They all know their angles and whether they look best smiling with or without their teeth showing.” There’s nothing wrong with taking a few shots in the weeks before your wedding for practice.

Hair: “Add a little bit of wave to your hair. It adds softness and always looks good in pictures,” says NYC stylist Ted Gibson. “And the simpler the style, the better.”

Arms: “Don’t press your arms against your body—even slim arms will appear heavy in pictures,” says Waring. Placing a hand on your hip helps define your arm and the shape of your body in a flattering way.

Legs: Putting your weight more on one leg than the other will keep you from looking too stiff.

Posture: “You don’t have to be standing in every picture,” Waring reminds us. “Sit, lounge, dance…Just be aware of your posture throughout—you don’t want to look schlumpy.”

Lips: Beware of the blah factor, and ditch your beige lipstick. Yes, it looks fab for everyday, but it will wash you out in photos. (Drinking through a straw helps keep lipstick on longer!)

Nails: A soft, close-to-skin-toned nail polish shade will make fingers look longer; a touch of shimmer adds a festive appeal. Bonus points: Shimmer or sparkle-shot formulas are tougher and longer lasting than creams.

Chin up: Pushing your tongue against the roof of your mouth helps make the area under your chin firm up and your neck look longer, says Waring: “It’s a classic model trick.”