Charlotte Williams, 33, has returned from Thailand to her home county to set up That Photo Booth Company, a mobile photo booth, with personalized backdrops, that can offer unique, fun and novel pictures of couples’ weddings.
The photo booth enables family and friends to have pictures taken within a 2m x 2m space with hand-crafted backdrops. Thanks to state-of-the-art technology, touch dry prints are ready within a matter of seconds.
It is quickly becoming the must-have feature at wedding functions and it is highly mobile, quick to set up and extremely versatile, said Charlotte, who lives at Much Wenlock.
Charlotte, who went to school in Shifnal, set up the business earlier this year having arrived back after six years away, first volunteering as an English teacher.
Having landed a three-month posting in Thailand, that quickly led to a full-time position with Travel To Teach, a volunteer organization that links volunteers with grassroots community projects. She worked her way up from volunteer coordinator to international project manager.
However, she decided to return to her home county in April 2013 with the ambition of setting up her own business. Having gained a professional photography diploma, inspiration came knocking at a friend’s weddings, where a photo booth was being used at a prime Shropshire venue.
She said: “The couple had hired a photo booth. It was a great, fun idea and everyone loved it. But it seemed so out of keeping with the venue. I was sure there must be a better way to provide a photo booth experience and so set about researching the idea.”
Having attended a European Union funded course via Bridgnorth-based Good 2 Great, she was granted £3,500 from a government start-up loan scheme for small businesses, and set up That Photo Booth Company earlier this summer.
And such has been the demand in the short term that she is now working flat out to build up the company and extend the photo booth experience to diverse private and business functions.
She said: “The beauty of the booth is that it isn’t enclosed so absolutely anything can be used as a backdrop. One bride had her florist make a flower arch for her reception, so we set the booth up outside, in the garden in front of the arch. It was amazing and she loved the pictures.”
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