Wood paneling is just so....70s I guess, and always reminds me of acoustical ceiling tiles and mobile homes. But it is a fact almost all rental venues.
Zaf, photoshopping yourself out to a white background will probably give you photos for a lot of uses. Flyers, cards, etc. You can layer the cut out image over the existing background - I have an example of this here (I hope Roxxanne doesn't mind my using her).
original photo with busy background:
photoshopped out and "replanted" so text will show:
with layered in image:
