It started in a doctor's waiting room.
I was flipping through an issue of the Air Force Times in 2014 when I came across an article about starting a photo booth business — something I'd honestly never once thought about. By the time I left that appointment, the idea had its hooks in me. On January 13, 2015, I signed on with the TapSnap franchise, bought three photo booths, and started working weekends with my kids by my side. That was the whole crew: a dad, his children, and three booths.
Before any of that, I'd already spent my life in service. I served 20 years in the United States Air Force, retiring in 2005, and then served another 18.5 years as a civil servant for the Air Force, retiring again in 2023. Discipline, showing up, and taking care of the people counting on you — the military taught me all of it, and it's still how I run this business every single day.
Those early years grew faster than I expected. We went from three booths to ten and started serving events not just across St. Louis but nationwide. In 2018, a new technology caught my eye — the roaming photographer booth we'd come to call the Party Roamer. It took off the moment we launched it, and we built a whole new brand, Party Roamer St. Louis, around it.
When the pandemic hit in 2020, everything changed. My relationship with TapSnap came to an end, and I made the decision to step out on my own and build something that was fully mine. That's when St. Louis Photo Party was born.
Starting over during COVID wasn't easy. We had to regroup, rethink, and rebuild. But going independent gave us room to grow in ways we never could before — to innovate, to invest in more equipment than we'd ever owned, and to dream bigger. Today we serve hundreds of events a year, and we've done it consistently for the past three years running. From premium photo booths and 360 video booths to AI experiences, portrait studios, the Sketch Robot, and live print, there's almost no event we can't bring to life.
None of it happens alone. I work in this business full-time alongside a team of three full-time staff and more than 20 part-timers who pour their energy into every event we touch. They are the reason a client's day goes off without a hitch, and I'm grateful for every one of them.
I'm just as grateful for the clients who've trusted us over the years — the weddings, the corporate galas, the graduations, the family celebrations. You let us into some of the most meaningful moments of your lives, and we've never taken that lightly.
In 2025, we launched our sister brand, Ink and Patch — custom hat bars, patch bars, and tees — the next evolution of everything we've built. After more than eleven years of growing and innovating, we're still just getting started.
We're a veteran-owned St. Louis company, proud of our city, proud of our team, and honored every time you choose us to help tell your story.
— Tony Williams Sr., Founder
At St. Louis Photo Party, our work is guided by three enduring principles. We are committed to exceeding every expectation; excellence is our standard, and we consistently strive to surpass what our clients anticipate while holding our entire team to that same measure. We believe in being built on trust, which we earn through honesty, sustain through loyalty, and uphold in every relationship we form. Above all, we are dedicated to always being great, recognizing that adequacy is never our aim — we go above and beyond to deliver an exceptional experience for every client and guest we serve.
Exceptional is our baseline — we push past what clients expect and hold our entire team to the same high bar.
We earn it with honesty, keep it with loyalty, and protect it in every relationship we build.
Good enough is never the goal — we go above and beyond to wow every client and guest, every time.
We're different because we never stand still.
Every day, we look for ways to grow, to innovate, and to improve the way we work. We evaluate what we do and we sharpen it — not because someone makes us, but because the people who hire us deserve our best every single time. Good enough has never been good enough for us.
We built this business with our own hands. We didn't hand it off to a bot, and we won't crown ourselves “the best” — that's a lofty claim, and honestly, it's an impossible one to prove. What we will tell you is that we work hard to be the best. That work is the reason we've grown into a company that serves over five hundred events a year. It's our team's commitment to our core values that got us here, and it's the reason we've built long, lasting relationships with our clients and our partners. If all of that makes us the best in someone's eyes, we're grateful — but we'll let them be the judge of that.
We're different because of what we're after. We want to earn your trust. We want to deliver an experience that goes beyond what you expected when you first reached out to us.
And we'll be straight with you: we're not perfect. We're people, and sometimes we make mistakes. Sometimes we fall short of what a client was hoping for, or equipment malfunctions. When that happens, we don't hide from it — we find a way to make it right. Every time.
That's who we are. That's the difference.
Trusted event teams, venues, and planner relationships
We're proud to work alongside the planners, venues, and organizations who trust us to bring the fun to their events. Click any logo to visit their site or click here for a full list of planners and venues we work with.
To every client who has trusted us with their wedding, celebration, or company event — thank you. You're the reason we do this, and we're grateful for every party and event we've been part of.
And to our partners who help us bring it all to life — thank you for growing alongside us. Here's to the next event, and the next thousand smiles.