Weddingbee Blog

Photo by Eric Dos Santos

We had a photobooth at our reception. It’s not the type that you’re used to seeing around the hive, though. It was a more formal and more traditional style backdrop. At many Asian wedding receptions, it is typical to have a combination photobooth/receiving line/meet & greet at the front entrance of the reception. These photos were printed during dinner and doubled as our favors. Here’s how we made it happen:

• Mr HW and I stood at the door and greeted our guests as they arrived for the reception
• We said our hellos
• They said their congratulations
• We all turned to take a photo
• They went in to get seated

Before this could happen, we needed to have a backdrop.

Around the hive, there are so many great minds. And great minds tend to think alike, don’t they? I’m definitely not the first one to come up with this concept. Mrs Sprinkles and Mrs. Pin Cushion gave great tutorials on making the booths, so I’m not going to replicate them here. I’m going to just give you a glimpse into our process. Alternative PVC frames can also be found here, here, here, here, and here.

This DIY project belonged to Mr Hot Wings and Papa Hot Wings. It was a great bonding activity for them.

Warning: In the photos ahead, you’ll notice that Papa Hot Wings is not wearing shoes. Dangerous right? Yeah, but that’s just the way he rolls. He comes from a world where you just be careful. I’ve tried to change his mind, to which he reminds me, “I taught you that. I’m your dad. I’ve got it.” Stubborn! Be safe and wear shoes. Don’t do as Papa does.

First, buy all PVC pipes (six 4″ pieces & four  1.5″ pieces) and connectors (two T’s, two elbows, and seven connectors). Instead of using “stoppers” at the ends as most guides will tell you to, they used connector pieces for simplicity. They went to Home Depot for these products. They even cut all the pieces there so they  would fit in the car.

They made the T-stands first, followed by the top piece. Notice that they are putting petroleum jelly in all the connectors. This is Papa Hot Wings’ suggestion. If you want to be able to remove the pieces relatively easily, you need to put some jelly between the joints. Don’t worry, it will still be snug and secure.

Then connect the top and the bottom sections.

Stand it up and admire your work.

And then the bride (moi) realized it was much too big and requested for it to be made shorter by a foot on each side. (Oops.)

Aww, this was much better proportioned for humans.

It ended up being a pretty fun project for my two favorite men. My brothers don’t normally do handiwork like this with my very handy papa. So I think it was a lot of fun for Papa Hot Wings to get to see his new son be the son he never had.

Next up, my overly fussy backdrop for this frame.

Do you have activities that are helping people bond before the big day?

*all personal photos unless noted*