Meet Jason Ward of Little Green Booth

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jason Ward. They and their team shared their story with us below:

Little Green Booth is owned by husband and wife and Wilmington natives Jason and Rita Ward. Started with the love and passion of photography and Volkswagens. Jason studied Business at Cape Fear Community College and took every photography class they had to offer, which fed the fascination on how photography equipment and photo booths worked, and I loved the instant in-your-hand prints. 

A few years after graduating from CFCC, I worked part-time doing weddings and family photo shoots, but I just did not have the love and passion I thought I would have. I enjoyed taking photos of bands, abandoned buildings, classic cars, and shooting old Polaroids. The fascination of Polaroids is where the photo booth idea clicked. I always loved classic Volkswagens and owned an old VW bus I named Lilith. I was in the process of renovating it. One day I was reading a Hot VW’s Magazine, and there was an article about how in the 60’s airports used to use old VW Buses as a photo booth to shoot and make passports onsite for passengers. The idea clicked! I wanted to make a photo booth in a VW Bus. So, I started to do research on photo booth equipment and if the idea had been done. 

I found that there were other VW Bus Photo Buses in California and then found one in Raleigh. There were none in Wilmington, and I was driven to bring that to the wedding market. While working full-time at my old job, I quit family and wedding photography and focused my downtime into building a VW photobus. I reached out to the now-retired Raleigh company, Sweet Carolina Photobus, and the owners were nice enough to invite me up to their house and to a wedding convention to see it in action. I learned all the ropes, took notes on how to build, and learned how to operate the software. It was definitely a learning curve and not like shooting a wedding! I literally felt like I was building a robot to operate the camera for me. After about 6 months of renovating the bus and fitting the inside out to a photo booth, we finally took it out for its first gig. 

The gig was an instant attraction, and people flocked to the VW Bus, wondering what was inside. Guests were so shocked that there was a photo booth inside! Everyone loved that you could hop inside with props, take photos, print, and email them to themselves. We were a hit at our first event, and from that, we booked our first wedding. That was in 2017, and Little Green Booth has been going strong since! Rita’s background with marketing helped us launch our first rendition of our website and social media pages, which allowed for word-of-mouth to grow our business. We now offer lawn game rentals called Little Green Lawn Games, and we also have a new mobile camper photo booth and lounge coming soon! 

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Our business has been smooth sailing for the most part. In the beginning, Little Green Booth had a long road of building the photo booth, finding the right camera equipment, renovating the rusty bus that sat for years, and turning it into something completely out of left field! During the Covid shutdown, we struggled with wedding and party cancelations and postponements. We pivoted a bit during the time and wound up driving couples around for photoshoots and as a sendoff vehicle after their wedding. In 2021, we found ourselves overwhelmed by the amount of bookings we had, and, on top of our day jobs, had to work 2-3 weddings every weekend for several months. 

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Little Green Booth?
Lilith is a 1969 Bay Window VW Bus with a handcrafted photo booth inside! Because we are mobile and a registered LLC, we are able to travel to any event anywhere in Eastern North Carolina with a busload of props to choose from! With a 21″ touch screen, a high-quality camera, and a dye sublimation printer, we are able to print your photos on-site almost immediately. Little Green Booth also offers lawn game rentals such as corn hole, giant jenga, giant connect four, and many more. 

Any big plans?
We are looking forward to the 2024 wedding season! We hope to offer new lawn games and to debut our new camper photo booth named Stevie! We also plan to renovate and update the original VW Photobus, Lilith, for a sleeker, cleaned-up look! 

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.littlegreenbooth.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/littlegreenbooth?igsh=eWxxYzJwOHU3YmRk
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/littlegreenbooth