For when it’s time to take the office socialising beyond the water cooler. We know how to put on a killer corporate event – just ask our good friends at (ahem) Nike and Gucci. We’ll get your work Christmas party started, entertain your awards night, or make sure your brand activation is a smash. By the time you’re done schmoozing with Susie from accounts in the photo booth, you’ll be employee of the year.

Corporate events are essential factors in developing great business relationships. It’s a key element in strengthening bonds between your company and clients or amongst management and employees (not to mention it’s a tax right-off!)!

If you are planning to put together a corporate party in 2022 – whether it’s a Xmas Party, Annual celebration or just an old fashioned get down and party, we have some tried and tested tips on how to make it awesome, exciting, and memorable.

Plan ahead. 

As with any event, planning early will always work to your advantage. It will give you time to scout and compare venues, catering services (we get VERY excited seeing the Fourside minivan at gigs) or any other services you’d want to acquire, and lock in a date once you’ve made your final choices. Make sure that the venue will not only be big enough to accommodate all guests, but is also well-suited for the theme of your party.

Make a list of activities.

Why not conduct a poll from your company department to get feedback as to what activities everyone likes or expects to be doing during your corporate party. Would they like to have some games or do they prefer to just chill, catch up with everyone and just enjoy the music? Are you looking at incorporating a short pep talk or a team meeting before the party starts? Be sure that these activities are all planned and clearly outlined in sequence.

Serve great food.

What’s a party without food and drinks to make hearts merry? See to it that each and every guest at your party would have something that they can actually eat from the banquet. It’s nice to serve a wide range of food choices, but if you’re on a budget, it might help to find out in advance what kinds of food your colleagues and guests prefer. You might also want to play it safe and make sure there’s at least a couple of options for people who are vegetarian, vegan, non-alcoholic, etc.

Hire a DJ to Play the Party Music.

Having a professional Disc Jockey to take care of your party music is recommended in any event, especially at corporate events! It’s the easiest way to bring entertainment and excitement to a corporate function, especially when you’re working with the right DJ.

At Heartbreak, we are super proud of our DJs and we have the reviews for proof! Based on what our previous clients have been raving about, we’re pretty confident to say that our DJs are doing a wonderful job at making party people happy.

With over 10 years of experience playing music to various crowds and age groups, there’s never a dull moment when our DJ is in the house. They know how to read a room and bring great tunes to keep your guests entertained and the dance floor partying every minute until closing. Plus, we dare say Heartbreak Hotel has the best-looking Vinyl DJ set-ups you can find in Melbourne. 

Don’t Forget the Photo Booth.

Of course, no party would be complete without the photo booth for that extra dose of fun and merriment. Let guests choose their own props, play dress up, feel like stars behind the camera lens, and create memories to their hearts’ content at the photo booth. It’s a sure-fire way to keep your guests engaged and just have a chill and delightful time with friends and new acquaintances.

Heartbreak guarantees you’ll get the most amazing unlimited instant prints from your photo booth. Our Polaroid prints are not your average blurry dim quality bois. The image quality is epic and we can customise backdrops to match your company colours and the print designs to showcase your corporate branding!

Polaroids printed from the Heartbreak photo booth make the perfect mementos for your guests to bring home and to stick on your Corporate Party Album or Guestbook (included in our Penthouse package or can be added on to any of our packages). 

One special perk that comes with our Photo Booth package is a dedicated online gallery for ALL photos captured from your photo booth. This gives guests the opportunity to see the rest of the album, save the images they like, and even print their best shots via the online print store.

And did we mention having an attendant to make sure the photo booth is never empty? Some folks might need a bit of an encouragement but after a few poses, would get super comfortable behind the cam and ends up with the best candid shots from the batch.

Make your 2022 Corporate Party the Party to Remember!

After making plans & prep, all the research, and choosing vendors to work with, you’re finally ready to book your event. Be sure to book early so as not to miss out the services from the best providers.

Heartbreak Hotel is now accepting bookings for 2022 Xmas parties and End of Year bash. We’re also open for any events and occasions for 2023. If you’re a company, we’d love to be a part of your next corporate function whether you’re from the fashion industry, hospitality, or a building corporation!

These days, no party or event will be complete without a Photo Booth on site. Some couples may choose to set up a DIY photo opportunity for their wedding while others prefer to hire an all inclusive photo booth service. If you’re planning your wedding, or hosting a birthday or Christmas party this year, would you consider a photo booth hire or would you like to DIY instead?

On this post, let’s do a comparison of these two options and consider the pros & cons of both so you can make the best decision:

DIY Photo Booth Pros & Cons

Personalised setup down to the littlest details.

The best thing about setting up a photo booth yourself is the experience of being able to create your own design from scratch, add your personal touches, and the freedom to customise every little detail according to your liking.

You can be sure all designs used – from your backdrop, to the props and prints are uniquely your own and not a copy of anybody else. If you are a creative person, take advantage of the freedom to put together something that is truly one-of-a-kind. As they say, the only limit is your imagination. It’s the perfect opportunity to exercise your creative muscles and enjoy the process at the same time.

One setback with DIY-ing a photobooth is that it can be time consuming. Apart from planning and drafting your own designs, you need to set aside time for creating your props, buying supplies and the actual setting up of the booth on the day of the event.

Another challenge in setting up a DIY photo booth is gathering all the equipment you need such as a polaroid camera or a DSLR cam, lighting, and printer. Do you have these devices on hand or are you able to borrow from family or friends? Do you know how to set up these devices? Making sure that the booth has great lighting and that the camera is configured correctly is crucial to make sure you won’t have any problems with your photos.

Budget-friendly?

Many people choose to DIY their photo booth set up with the intention of saving money. This could be a valid point if you already have the equipment needed to set up a photo booth. However, if you are planning to buy a camera or a printer just for this one-time event, DIY-ing might not be the practical solution. Even if you already have the camera, you might still need to buy additional lighting or a lighting umbrella to keep your photos from looking dull and blurry.

Also, don’t forget to consider the cost of supplies you will need such as the photo paper if you’re planning on printing the photos straight from the booth. Not to mention the hours you need to spend for all the preparations which you could very well just spend on other duties like working or running your business.

Sit down and calculate the costs. Know the details and be realistic about your expectations. Would it really save you that much amount of money, or would renting be a more practical, worthwhile investment?

Photo Booth Hire with an attendant Pros & Cons

No fuss. No stress.

The best thing about hiring a photo booth service is that everything is taken care of for you. You don’t have to worry about anything. You may sit back and relax, knowing that your photo booth will be waiting for you, all set up and ready to use on the day of your event.

When the party is done, you don’t need to think about dismantling or packing up anything from your photobooth as this will be taken care of for you by your photobooth provider.

At Heartbreak Hotel, we deliver, install, and pack up everything for you, including tidying up the props table so you can focus on your guests and just have fun! But don’t just take our word for it, take a look at what our previous clients have to say about our photo booth hire service.

Professional quality photo prints.

This is something we think is of utmost importance when choosing a photo booth rental provider. You want to make sure that your photos will actually come out of high quality and will last a lifetime.

Our team at Heartbreak ensures that our customers get only the best photo prints that they deserve. We don’t do ordinary polaroids which are often poor quality and our setup uses a flash which is important to make your photos look like they could grace the cover of a magazine. Our photobooth prints are instant-prints, like polaroids, but done better and with top quality finish.

No crappy lighting or bad photo print.

When you hire the right photo booth rental company you’ll never be concerned about crappy lighting, bad photo prints or an attendant who doesn’t WANT to be there.

This is a Heartbreak Hotel guarantee. When you book a photo booth with us, you can be assured that you only get the best of prints & people – photos with vivid colours and great lighting to preserve those precious, precious moments.

Customisable backdrop and printables.

Who says you wouldn’t have the luxury of customising details when you opt for a photo booth rental? Most photo booth hire companies do offer the option to customise. It’s just that the range of choices and flexibility might be limited, depending on your chosen provider.

How do we do it at Heartbreak? We offer a customisable photobooth backdrop and personalised printables as well. You may choose any colour or any colour combo you like, frame styles, and personalise your message too! Whatever your heart desires, just let us know. Our in-house design team is more than happy to help bring your cool ideas to life.

Beyond Crafty Backdrop & Props

Sure, DIY backdrops and props can look great but sometimes they might also look too crafty and too obviously DIYed. At Heartbreak, we offer fabulous backdrop options that you can choose from. And you can be sure these backdrops have been tried and tested to look great in photos. We also provide you with a nice set of props to add that funk and glam to your pics!

A dedicated photo booth attendant.

Another great thing about a photo booth rental is that the service often includes a dedicated attendant who will make sure the photos are turning out well, and who will encourage guests to actually use the booth and make the most out of the props, and have a fun time at the booth.

On The Spot Printing

We love the fact that you can make fun faces in a photo booth and leave with your actual polaroids on hand in real time! As a guest, you get to bring home a souvenir from the event that you can treasure for all time. If you are the celebrant, it’s the perfect way to ensure that you have a tangible memory from everyone who attended your party. Our booth isn’t limited to 2 print like most others either. Each session can print as many as needed.

Unlimited Prints.

This may not always be an option offered by photo booth hire companies but at Heartbreak Hotel, it is included in all our photo booth rental packages. That’s right! It is a basic offering when you book with us!

Extra Perks

When you choose a photo booth rental service, you’ll be happy to know that you can enjoy additional perks. When you book with us for instance, we provide you with your own online gallery which you and your guests can access from anywhere and any devices. You can even email and text photos straight from the booth to your phone and post to social media.

Add-ons can also make your photo booth extra, extra glam. At Heartbreak, we have a smoke machine and a bubble machine available for hire. Or you can add a guestbook for your guests to sign and stick their polaroids in. It would make the perfect keepsake for a wedding or any special occasion.

The Cons of Photo Booth Hire

Can we think of any cons of hiring a photo booth? There can be a few such as the design not meeting up to your expectations, paying for more than the service you get, poor quality prints, issues with getting the booth ready on time for the event, among other possible problems. However, it ultimately boils down to choosing the right company.

How can you be sure that you will not be making a mistake with choosing a photo booth rental provider? Do your research. Make sure that company is known in the business for their reliable service. It would help to get to know what previous clients say about a certain provider.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions! Find out what exactly you can expect from the package they offer. Do not make assumptions. Communicate your expectations openly. When you do find the right photo booth rental service, then you can enjoy all of the above advantages without the cons.

Have you tried a photo booth rental service before? Would you recommend it over DIY? Or have you tried DIY-ing a photo booth before? If so, what tips can you share for those who are considering this option?

It goes without saying, Australia knows how to throw a good party. Australian-based brides and grooms seem to take a more relaxed, fun approach to wedding traditions, making every ceremony and reception their own unique, less formal vibe.

Take it from us that guest books aren’t any different. More often these days, our wedding hosts want fun, interactive ways for friends and family to get involved with their guest books. Incorporating photo-ops with polaroid cameras or photo booths is usually hot on their priorities.

Introducing: The Polaroid Guest Book 

Adding a bit of pizazz to a reception with a polaroid-style guestbook is a great way to get everyone snapping shots of the day. Combining their candid photos with messages is the perfect update to what was in the past, just a boring book!

Here at Heartbreak Hotel, we offer a touch more glam and funk to our polaroid guestbooks.

And like everything we do, we add our own top-quality finishes. Here’s why so many wedding hosts in Australia say Heartbreak Hotel Guest Books are the best in the biz:

Our polaroids are better than polaroids

We don’t do poor-quality polaroids for our guest books. Technically, our photos aren’t polaroids. They are instant-prints, which are basically polaroids, but done better. Our guest book pictures go hand-in-hand with hiring our HeartBreak Hotel Photobooth, meaning that every picture is printed directly from the booth in epic quality.

There’s no chance of crappy lighting or a bad print with Heartbreak. Plus, as our bonafide wedding hosts, you can customise the style of your printables to whatever colour, frame style, and message you like. Talk about #on-brand #weddinggoals.

It’s the perfect Guest Book alternative 

Pictures tell a thousand words. A book filled with photos of memories is a much more meaningful keepsake. Why try to decipher your cousin’s well-wishes in fancy scribble when you can see what a great night he had?

Polaroid guestbooks show a more candid, carefree version of your classic photobook – with unedited fun!

They’re instant guestbooks, meaning that by the end of the day (or boozy night), your guests have filled a book for you with fun moments, and you get to take your book home, the night of your wedding. Imagine waking up the morning after your wedding, your new husband or wife brings you a coffee in bed and you get to flick through your guestbook right THEN.

Instant memories of your special day

Brides and grooms often don’t know until they have booked a wedding photographer that their pictures won’t be ready for sometimes months after their special day! Good photographers can take thousands of pictures to get the right moments. Selecting the photos and editing them takes a solid amount of time. 

Having a photo booth and a polaroid guestbook for your wedding means you can have an instant keepsake of memories from your day. It’s also a chance to see a more casual, unedited version of you and your guests’ special moments. You might even get a few more shots of friends and family that were a bit camera shy (before the open bar started). Imagine your Aunt or Uncle escaping those ceremony photos but after a few drinks, was convinced to join the booth, and voila; you have at least one photograph of them.

Polaroid guestbooks are a bit more personalised & DIY

We make sure that our booths and books are more fun and creative than your average. Every booth event comes with our unique props and pen selections for your guests, so they can give you a specially-made memento. Our Heartbreak Booth Polaroids are printed straight from our customisable photo booth, equipped with photographer-quality cameras and next-level lighting. This means you can be sure each printout is a high-quality image. No chance of wasted polaroids at your soiree! We also offer as many prints as your guests need. No matter how small or large your group is, they can keep their own favourite prints and share them, too. No fighting over the 1 good polaroid.

Make the most of your photo booth hire

If you’re going to do a photobooth – do it well. And if you are going to invest in good photo booth hire (AKA your HBH crew) – don’t let it go to waste. We can’t count the number of times we’ve seen wedding hosts go without a guest book and cried about it later. Seeing those epic memories bunched on a table brings a tear to our eyes. Let’s be honest, keeping a box with your photo booth prints just isn’t the same. Adding a guest book fixes everything, and encourages your guests to stick their pictures and a cute note in there for you!

Your own high-quality coffee table book

Spoken like true millennial, but seriously, what’s the point of a book if it doesn’t look nice on your coffee table? We say no to ugly, crappy quality, and yes to inspo-worthy polaroid guestbooks. Our aim is to get your next dinner guests flicking through those pages (with a touch of envy).

Our Heartbreak Polaroid Guestbooks are custom designed by industry-approved photo bookmakers, Vision Art. Basically, they are used by the highest photographers in the industry for photo books. Our books are designed with hard covers, and high GSM pages. Yes, thick enough to draw on with pen, and a marker won’t bleed through. You can choose between either our classic cloth black finish or go a little funkier with our iconic Crushed Pink Velvet.

No more asking to “please sign our guest book”

The last thing you’d want to do on your big night is to be “that host” asking everyone to sign your guest book. Lucky for you, our photo booth attendees manage it all for you. We are proudly one of the only photo booth hire businesses that bring our own party-starting attendees. They come along to get your guests grooving, your photo booth pumping, and your guestbook filled with memories. Our booth attendant provides all the pens, bits and bobs you need at the photo booth station. And will prompt your guests through the night to attach their favourite pics and a note for you.

Have any cool ideas or custom questions for your big day? We’re more than just pretty faces. Give our team a shout here to get your dream party started.

With any fabulous wedding,  sometimes you need a little icebreaker to get your guests out of their comfort zone.
You need Heartbreak Hotel Photo Booth.
Let me explain why a photo booth is the best ice-breaker for your wedding!

Weddings are the perfect excuse for the most kick-ass party of your life!
If someone didn’t pull out the dance moves from Saturday Night Fever did ya even have a wedding??

Photo booths are one of the best ways to break the ice and get your guests to have fun and interacting with each other. It keeps the young ones entertained (seriously it’s free day care for you). It get’s your different groups of friends to meet and laugh with each other. And personally, my fave, seeing how much the oldies enjoy putting silly wigs and sunglasses on to take a modern day selfie.

This is all an added bonus to the personalised photo strips that instantly print out.
Your loved ones get to take home a memento from this incredible day.

Nobody put’s baby in the corner.
Seriously, don’t put us in the corner, we’ll cry!!

Our Photo Booth works it’s best magic if it’s in a high traffic area.
Next to the bar or the dance floor is great.
This lures quieter people into the action and means you get plenty of party atmosphere spilling over into the booth!

Our booths are open- not your old fashioned closed design, so they allow everyone to watch and get in on the party.

Plus an open booth allows for infinite creativity with custom backdrops and positioning at the venue.
It gives a tonne more room for people to have fun with crazy masks and props, and means you can squeeze more people into shots!

We also offer our beautifully crafted Heartbreak Guestbooks where people can stick one of their prints alongside a message to the loved up couple.  People really love sharing and comparing their photographic efforts and failures.

All of the images are able to be emailed straight away to anyone using the booth via our social media station.
But wait there’s more! (I’m sorry I couldn’t help myself).
The week after your event you receive a Pic-time online album with every shot taken in the booth available for download and sharing with all your guests. These are priceless teaser images while your wait for your professional photographers work and can make sweet thank you’s.

These are just a few of the reasons why a photo booth is the best ice-breaker for your wedding.
Don’t take my word for it- have a look at some of these thoroughly icebreaker-ed party people.

Heartbreak
xx

    

F*ck COVID-19.
It has been a true pain in the butt for just about everyone across the planet.

Perhaps a few eskimo’s or people who enjoy zero human contact were left unscathed. But, for the rest of us who enjoy our over-priced smashed avo, hugs and freedom – this has been one Big. Fat. Low-point.

 

Here’s a few brief Q&A’s so you too can sit back with your homemade beverage and relax, knowing we’ve got your back.

 

The Melbourne wedding industry’s venues, photographers, videographers, florists, entertainers and most importantly!! Our loved up couples! Have been hit somewhat harder than most.

Every week I receive countless emails from clients asking us ‘Can we change our date if the restrictions remain in place?’ – To which I throw my head back in an evil cackle, continue counting my pile of gold and make myself another homemade cocktail in my lockdown loungewear.

I’m kidding. (maybe not about the cocktail and loungewear part.) Every date change or cancelation causes us just as much Heartbreak (pun intended) as it does you.

 

Can I change my date because of COVID-19?

Yes, you can change your date.

We don’t charge a fee for changing the date, and we won’t charge a fee for holding a tentative date (just incase!) either.

Wedding co-ordinators all over Melbourne are doing everything within their power to work within government restrictions to pull off the most amazing days for our beloved clients.

If it looks like your event will need to be postponed, we ask that you reach out to us with some tentative dates.
That way we can work together and have a better chance of ensuring your dream day goes ahead as planned.

 

What if We Need to Cancel Our Wedding due to COVID-19?

We understand that for some people, the void of the “Covid Unknown” is too much of a stress to overlook or postpone. For some, the best option is to cancel your original plans. Maybe you’re moving on to bigger more exotic things and you’ve decided to elope on a cliffs edge as soon as borders open! Or perhaps you and yours have decided that a simple registry is all you need to make your special day perfect.
Whatever your circumstances, again, we’re with you.

 

Will I get a refund if I cancel due to COVID-19?

Short answer – yes!
Long answer – we need to cover our butts too.
If you wish to cancel, you will receive a refund minus a 20% booking fee.

The booking fee simply covers costs we won’t get back on our end for staffing and credit card fees.

 

 

 

Let’s End On a High

You chose your wedding vendors because you love what they have to offer, to give you the most memorable celebration possible.
We love you (our clients) because you allow us to run a business we’re proud of, full of fun, excitement and continual good times.

Let’s everyone, keep doing what we’re doing.

Loving each other.
Staying positive (and sane?).

Heartbreak Hotel are here for you every step of this crazy journey.

To help with suggestions for your wedding, to commiserate the loses we’re all experiencing, to share home made cocktails and what’s bingeworthy on Netflix.

Without sounding too ‘Dan Andrews’

We’re all in this together.
& F*ck COVID-19.

Heartbreak
x

 

Why should you have a photobooth at your wedding??

We love Rupert on Rupert and it is definitely our favourite wedding venue in Melbourne. Tricia & Hieu had an extra special wedding and we were so lucky to be part of it. No detail was overlooked and we got to work with many of our favourite vendors in the industry, including wedding photographer Cassandra from Blossom Daisy Creative. She was so kind as to forward some amazing images on to us and now we get to share them with you!

The venue itself never needs much, it speaks for itself with the styling and details in each room, but this couple really worked with what was really there and just gave it the little extra WOW factor. The florals were out of this world, wrapping around the room and adding so much colour.

Tricia & Hieu got married at Rupert on Rupert wedding Collingwood and we were there to bring the party!

Pictured above in the far right corner, is our Gold sign we have for hire. We designed the seating chart and matched the wedding perfectly. We have two different sizes available and our in-house designer is on hand to make something AMAZING!

We chose the Gold Mermaid backdrop for this wedding because it really worked well with their theme of extra colour and gold accents throughout the venue. It also just looks great in photos!

And we had Jai as the booth attendant, also matching the wedding with his brightly floral tie.

We always love working with Tobi Tobi. You will find them on our “friends” page because they are just that good. Nothing is better than live music at a wedding! (Except for our photo-booth of course 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vendor Credit:

Venue: RUPERT ON RUPERT
Photographer: BLOSSOM DAISY CREATIVE
Live Music: TOBI TOBI
Photobooth: HEARTBREAK HOTEL
Sign Hire: HEARTBREAK HOTEL
Illustrations: JEFF THE PEFF

 

We had our friend Em Jensen do a lookbook style shoot with our props. I guess when we first started the photo-booth, we didn’t know much about them, but we did know that there were so many tacky photo-booths out there with terrible props and we didn’t want that for us. We are always looking long and hard to find props that are good enough to actually wear and make you look DAMN GOOD! Not just a paper moustache on a stick, but real vintage and eclectic pieces found from all corners of the globe. We are always changing and adding different pieces as we go so there is always a good selection for young and old.

The Photobooth Props seriously make the whole photobooth experience and it’s so important to LOVE the props! Espeically because they will be in your images for ever. We are serious about this stuff and want you to look as good as you can on your wedding day, with a hint of silliness of course.

Photobooth Props have Never Looked so Gooood!

These are just a few pieces we handed over to Em for the shoot and she made some magic. Check ’em out…

 

 

All images by: Em Jensen

You will often find us at Stones Of The Yarra Valley, one of our favourite venues and defiantly our favourite winery.
For this wedding, the couple opted to have no backdrop so you could see the beautiful winery in the background of the images. It worked really well, especially at sunset.

It’s so cool to see how creative people get with the photobooth. Even just keeping it simple like this with no backdrop gave it such a summer vibe with the sunset in the background and the rolling hills of the yarra valley. It was always the perfect backdrop for the images as most of the guests came from overseas. So it was a perfect little opportunity to show their friends and family how amazing the Stones Of The Yarra Valley really is!

Weddings at Stones Of The Yarra Valley need a Photo Booth!

The lego theme of the wedding went right through from the design of the prints to the favours on the table. It is always nice to tie in our designs with what the wedding has gone for.

Heartbreak Hotel is a genuine party machine! We have been FLAT-OUT over the wedding season and we don’t want it to stop! That’s why we are stoked that not only do we get down at rad weddings in Melbourne every weekend, but we also get to attend the happening corporate functions as well! Where we collaborate with teams and stylists to create all things epic.

Last month we were pumped to be working beside Fourside Events and at Babes Supporting Babes, which is a brand new community-driven organisation supporting female entrepreneurs. The event was covered in colour and class, take a look for yourself.

 

Panama Dining Room, one of our favourite wedding venues in Melbourne was where Sara & Matthew celebrated their wedding day. Such a beautiful old building, looking over Smith Street in Collingwood, full of character and old world charm, perfect for Heartbreak Hotel Photo Booth!

Sara & Matthew got a guest book from us as well and it looked incredible when it was full of nice comments and the photo strips designed by Leelou.

Here are a few sneaky pics by our booth attendant Morgan!
Enjoy x

To Check out The Panama Dining Room, hit this link >> PANAMA DINING ROOM<<