The anchors: staffed booths start around $5,000 for local Southern California weddings. Crew time runs $250 per hour. Orange County, Los Angeles, and San Diego book with no travel fee; Las Vegas and other destinations add a flat $900. Those are real quoting numbers, not bait.
What your number depends on
Guest count leads — it sets the garment order, and garments are the biggest variable line. A 100-guest party in tees is a very different order than 220 guests with hoodies in the mix. Hours live come second: a five-hour reception run carries more crew time than a two-hour after-party window. Then garment mix (tees cheapest, hoodies premium, hats in between) and design scope — one lockup across the table is efficient; multiple designs plus live personalization adds prep and press time.
The budget-friendly doors in
If the full reception booth stretches the budget, two formats get you into the trend for less. The after-party drop compresses crew hours into a short, high-energy window. The rehearsal-dinner crew run shrinks the garment order to the wedding party. Both keep the live-press moment, which is the part guests remember.
Hosted versus for-purchase
Most of our couples host: merch is budgeted per head like the bar, free to guests, and the take-home rate is near total. At larger weddings some couples run part of the table for purchase — it can offset a real share of the cost, but it changes the vibe from gift to shop, and we will tell you plainly whether your guest list supports it. There is no wrong answer; there is a wrong fit.
What the quote looks like
Line items, not a lump: booth and equipment, crew hours including setup and strike, the garment package by piece and quantity, and travel if any. Compare it against what it replaces — favors, welcome-bag filler, sometimes a photo booth — and the net cost is usually smaller than the sticker suggests. The pricing page goes deeper, or send your details for the real thing.