Four different machines end up hiding behind the same phrase on the Costa del Sol. One couple asks for a photo booth and pictures a box that prints strips of four. Another has seen a rotating platform at a wedding in Marbella and wants exactly that clip. A third saw a tall mirror at a corporate party in Malaga and has been searching for the wrong words ever since.
They are not the same evening. Each format produces a different souvenir, holds a queue differently and asks for a different amount of room. This guide compares the four we rent across Malaga province, so you can decide before you ask for a quote rather than after.
The classic photo booth prints. Guests leave with paper in their hand and you get the full set of files afterwards. The magic mirror shoots vertically, so the photo is full length, and the whole interaction happens on the mirror surface itself. The 360 video booth produces no print at all: a camera arm turns around a small platform and hands back a slow-motion video clip. The AI photo booth takes a normal photo and returns something that is not quite a photo any more.
Prints, full-length prints, video, or a transformed portrait. That single choice matters more than any spec sheet.
This is the format most people mean and the one that has never stopped working. Guests see themselves on the screen, count themselves in, and the strip comes out of the printer while they are still laughing at the last frame. Two print sizes are available: the 10 x 15 cm standard, which suits albums, frames and guest books, and the 5 x 15 cm strip of consecutive shots, which is the format everyone recognises from a booth.
Its strength is that the souvenir is physical. A phone gallery gets buried by Monday; a strip stuck to a fridge does not. If you are running a guest book, the classic booth is the only format that feeds it directly. It is also the easiest to leave running for three hours without anyone getting bored of it, which is why it is the backbone of most of our wedding bookings in Marbella.
The mirror is a taller, newer idea. The camera sits vertically, so the frame covers the whole outfit rather than heads and shoulders. At a wedding, at a christening, at any event where people have dressed for the occasion, that difference is the entire point. Shoes, dresses, the full suit: all of it is in the shot.
Controls are built directly into the mirror surface, so there is no separate screen or tablet to explain. Guests walk up, the mirror talks them through it with animations, and they are done. Groups tend to be bigger in front of a mirror than inside a booth, because nobody has to squeeze into a frame. It prints the same two sizes as the classic booth.
The 360 is the one people film with their own phones while they wait for a turn. Guests step onto a small platform, the camera arm rotates around them and records the moment in slow motion, catching the venue, the lights and the crowd behind them in one sweep. The clip is processed automatically and sent straight to the guest by email, ready to share.
What it does not do is print. If you want something in hand at the end of the night, the 360 is an addition to a booth rather than a replacement for one. It also works differently as a queue: turns are shorter, the audience around it is larger, and it tends to peak right after dinner when the room is already warm. For a party that lives on social media, it is the format that travels furthest.
The AI booth takes a normal shot and transforms it into a styled image before printing. Guests do not know in advance what is coming back, and that surprise is the whole appeal. It still prints the 10 x 15 cm standard and the 5 x 15 cm strip, so the souvenir is physical, but what is on the paper is a long way from a snapshot.
It is the format that reads as modern at a brand activation or a corporate party, where the point is to give people something worth showing a colleague. At a traditional wedding it works better as a second station than as the only one.
Do guests need something to take home? If yes, the answer is a booth, a mirror or the AI booth. The 360 alone will leave them with a video and nothing to hold.
Will people be dressed up? A black-tie wedding wastes a head-and-shoulders crop. Choose the mirror.
Is this event meant to be seen online? Launches, openings and brand parties are usually judged by what gets posted. The 360 and the AI booth are built for that; the classic booth is not.
How many guests, and how long? Over roughly a hundred people, a single station will have a queue at its peak. That is when a second format earns its place rather than doubling up on the same one. If you are still weighing whether a booth is worth it at all, we set out the case in five reasons a photo booth belongs at any event.
Whichever format you choose, the booking is not just equipment left in a corner:
The number to give your venue is 3 x 3 metres. That covers the equipment, the backdrop and enough room for a group to stand back and move. Nothing we bring stands taller than 1.8 metres, and the backdrop measures 2.5 x 2.5 metres, which matters in rooms with low beams or a marquee lining.
We need a normal power socket within reach and about an hour to set up before the first guest sees it. Indoors or out, on a terrace, in a marquee or in a function room, the requirement is the same. Tell us the spot when you book and we will tell you honestly whether it works, because a photo zone squeezed into a corridor never gets used.
Rental starts at 400 euros for three hours, and that price is the same anywhere in Malaga province. Marbella, Malaga city, Estepona, Fuengirola, Benalmadena, Torremolinos, Mijas, Nerja, Sotogrande: there is no travel surcharge, which is not how most of the market on the Costa del Sol prices a booking outside its own town.
The shimmer wall backdrop is 150 euros on top. For the exact price of a 360 or magic mirror setup, an extra hour, or a combination of two stations at the same event, send us the date and the venue and we will quote it. We also rent sound equipment, heavy smoke for the first dance and a multilingual host, which can be added to the same booking. Our full breakdown of photo booth hire costs on the Costa del Sol explains what moves a quote up or down.
We are a local team on the Costa del Sol with more than five years of events behind us and a 5.0 rating on Google.
Tell us the date, the venue and roughly how many guests, and we will tell you which of the four fits, including when the honest answer is that you only need one. Call or message +34 610 816 283, write to info@picmeevents.es, or use the form on our contact page. Dates around weddings in high season go early.
Yes, and at larger events it is often the better choice: a booth or mirror for the prints and a 360 for the video. Send us the guest count and the venue and we will quote the combination.
No. It produces a slow-motion video clip, processed automatically and sent to the guest by email so they can share it immediately. If you want prints as well, pair it with a booth or mirror.
The camera orientation and the interface. The mirror shoots vertically for full-length photos and the controls are built into the mirror itself; the classic booth frames tighter and guests use the screen in front of them. Both print the same two sizes.
Not within Malaga province. The price is the same in Marbella, Malaga, Estepona, Fuengirola, Nerja and everywhere in between.
About an hour before guests arrive, in a 3 x 3 metre space with a power socket nearby.
Yes. Someone from our team stays with the equipment for the whole session, helps guests, keeps the props in order and reloads the printer.
Yes, you receive the full set of files from the event, not only the frames that were printed on the night.
As early as you can for May to September and for Saturdays year round. Ask anyway if your date is close, because gaps do appear.
Photo booth, magic mirror, 360 video booth or AI booth, anywhere in Malaga province, from 400 euros for three hours. Call +34 610 816 283, email info@picmeevents.es or send the form on our contact page, and we will confirm availability for your date. If you are planning a wedding, our 2026 wedding trends guide is a good next read.
