Monday, December 13, 2010

Then & Now: P to the C

Have you ever started looking through old photos with the intention of just perusing for a minute, then suddenly it's 2 hours later and photos are covering the floor in a 5 foot radius around you? Happens to me every time. This past time, I was looking for high school photos for this here post, and came found this gem:

I've been training for Weddingbee for years!

I actually did a "Now & Then" post before it became a series (right here). But this post will be a bit more egocentric and focus on . . . ME!

In high school, I was a bit of a goody goody. I don't think I skipped a single class. I got good grades. I wore suspenders and pocket protectors (okay, fibbing on the pocket protectors, but I seriously sported suspenders a lot). I didn't get a hotel room after prom. I played preppy sports. Nowadays, I'm still a goody goody, but I know how to have more fun then I did back then!

THEN: I was on the tennis and track and field teams in high school. I loved the ribbons I got to wear in my ponytail for all of my matches!

Spiffin' up the tennis court during a school match.


I ran in triathlons (does that count as preppy?). My friends ran the other legs, because let's be real, I would have fallen on my face if I had to bike ("you never forget how to ride a bike" does not apply to me) or drowned if I had to swim a mile.

NOW:

The only organized sport I play nowadays is flag football. Our team, Happy Ending Bed Baths, didn't win any games, but we definitely had the most enthusiasm.

THEN: I didn't drink a lick of alcohol in high school. I didn't go to wild parties. I didn't do drugs.

My crazy Y2K celebration involved spending the night with my best friend, donning awesome headbands and playing board games.

NOW: While I still love a good board game, I've also learned to enjoy a cocktail or two.

Who could turn down a cocktail that you get to drink with 2 foot straws?!


I'm still a lightweight and a glass of wine may or may not make me tipsy (though that wine stain was caused by a rude gentleman, and was not my own doing).

THEN: The craziest shenanigans I got into were going to a double feature but only paying for one movie (unlawful!), or hanging out in my room with Mr. PC with the door closed (shocking!). Or doing weird things with food. . .

Like putting a piece of spaghetti up my nose and coughing it out my mouth (yes, that's what's going on in the above photo [and yes, I did that on purpose]).

NOW: I'm smart enough now to not take photos of myself in crazy shenanigans (just kidding, I just figured all of you readers would have cooler shenanigans than I do).

THEN: I was super pumped to be with Mr. PC!
See? Is that one proud girlfriend or what?

NOW: Still insanely proud to be with Mr. PC! We're happier now then we were then, perhaps due to a combination of the leveling out of our hormones, and learning more awesome stuff about each other over the last 10 years.


And here are a few bonus photos from high school dances. They look so old because they have been carried in the mister's wallet for ten years. Seriously. Dorky.


If you were to stereotype your high school self, what group would you fit into? The jocks? Goody- goodies? Science nerd?

Thursday, October 28, 2010

It's Too Late for Me . . .

. . . but perhaps you can have your wedding at McDonald's!

Listening to NPR on a recent commute, I heard a news story that I just had to share with the hive--McDonald's now offers wedding packages for the Big Mac loving bride and groom!

To be honest, it seems like quite a steal. Here is what you get for the low, low price of $400:

1. Ceremony and reception space at the home of the golden arches (though they won't close the restaurant for you [the McNugget addicts need their fix, even if it is your wedding day]).

(Source)

2. Catering for up to 100 guests. Let the french (fry) kisses and then milk shake dancing commence!


(Source for both)

3. A wedding dress made of twisty balloons (extra charge for lotion caused by the inevitable chaffing).

I'm actually really smitten with the blue dress and the skirt on the red one. (Source)

4. A wedding cake tower made of warm apple pies.

That gent on the right is super pumped! (Source)

5. Plus, they'll provide all your guests with kiddie toys as wedding favors!
(Source for 1, 2, 3)

The package deal really adds up to one sweet (and salty and greasy) deal, don't you think?

Would you ever get married at a fast food joint? Where would you pick?
I think I would go with Wendy's and have a fountain that endlessly flows with chocolate frosty!

Monday, October 11, 2010

The I Dos and Me Toos

After writing our ceremony, us Pin Cushions still needed to tackle our wedding vows. But instead of a tackle, it ended up being more of a bob and weave; we avoided writing those vows for days . . . which became weeks and ::shudder:: finally months. Our vows did not get written until the night before the wedding!


Everything is more beautiful after the pressure of the vows is off . . .
(by the lovely Steep Street Photography

It was easy enough to let the procrastination bug get the better of us. There was so much pressure tied up with the vows! Vows are supposed to be the ultimate statement of love to one another, a promise of your life together. Each time we mentioned to each other that perhaps we should think about writing them, I would feel my chest tighten up and a cold sweat break out.

After putting it off for as long as we possibly could, we finally agreed upon a general format:
1) You're awesome because . . . 2) Thank you for . . . 3) I vow to . . .

Nice and structured. Low pressure. Breathe . . . Reading our vows to one another turned out to be one my favorite moments of our wedding day. Perhaps they weren't as scary as we had once thought.

Here they are:

Kendra,
I love that you have been my best friend for the past ten years and I still find you completely fascinating.
I love that you burst into song, even when it's just a song from a commercial.
I love that you are the most caring and compassionate person I know, that you have empathy for every person you meet.
I love that you really can't do a British accent but that you still love to.
Thank you for always being there for me, even when you were 3,000 miles away.
I love that you don't take yourself too seriously, and that you just care about having fun.
Thank you for staying by me through all our difficult times and working with me to make things work.
I promise to always be there at the end of your long days, to take care of you and rub your back.
I vow to always be open to trying new things with you.
I promise to give you the space you need to be the amazing woman that you are.
I vow to love you to the best of my ability and to always strive to improve myself and our relationship.

Chris,
Thank you for your kindness and acceptance. I fell in love with your intelligence, but have grown to love you because of your sensitivity.
I love that you tell me that I am beautiful, even when I am in less than flattering situations.
I love the sweet gestures you do for me everyday, like always offering to carry the groceries for me.
I love that you call me "quirky", instead than "crazy".
Thank you for always fighting so hard for our relationship.
As your wife, I vow to do everything I can to keep you happy and to make you laugh, sacrificing my own dignity when necessary.
I promise to love you through happy times and sad times, and I will love you even if you gain 500 pounds from all the chocolate chip cookies I feed you.
I promise to fight for your dreams as though they were my own.
I vow to work diligently to keep the passion alive in our relationship.
As your wife, I vow to accept you fully and to support and encourage you as we grow old together.

For the lovely readers who would prefer to watch, rather than read, here are our vows in video-form (I apologize for the quiet nature of our voices-not sure how to explain this, since my voice volume is normally turned up to an 11).


What wedding task have you been avoiding? Are you planning on writing your own vows? Is it scaring you as much as it did me?

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

The Case of The Cakes

Many a summer ago, I took a cake decorating class at a local community college. It sparked an interest in me, unseen since my discovery of Haribo gummies. Since that first class, I've spent time teaching myself cake decorating (mostly through a lot of trial and error), as well as gleaning tips from books and the endless supply of cake decorating shows now on TV.

My homeboy, Mr. Pin Cushion, is my sous chef, as well as my voice of reason when a cake starts to (literally or figuratively) fall apart.


Together we have created some pretty interesting and crazy fontant-covered creations (like the 2+ foot wine bottle cake above).


Gift box and cookie covered cakes. . .

1st birthday and Sweet 16 cakes . . .

Wedding and baby shower cakes . . .


Birthday cakes and a manatee themed swim team cake!

After all the cake shenanigans we've shared over the years, Mr. PC and I couldn't bring ourselves to come up with anything super-creative for our own wedding cake. We kept coming back to simple, buttercream coated concoctions. So, we went the opposite direction from most of our past cakes, and request roughed up buttercream with no border along the edges. It turned out exactly how we wanted; we spiced it up on the day of by adding sugar cookies I'd baked the day before.

Photo by the stellar Kelty of Steep Street Photography

What skills have you taught yourselves over the years? (Nunchuck skills, bowhunting skills, computer hacking skills . . . [name that awesome movie]?) Are you utilizing any of those skills in your wedding planning?

(All photos [except the obviously superior photo noted above by Kelty] are personal.)

Monday, September 20, 2010

I Sure Hope We're Married . . .

One of the issues with having my dad officiate the Pin Cushion ceremony was figuring out how to make the marriage legal. Before the wedding, we applied for our marriage license, and my dad applied to be a "Deputy Commissioner of Marriage" for one day.


My dad practicing his officiant duties at our rehearsal

But post-wedding, we were a bit perplexed about the next step. We didn't bring the marriage license to the wedding to sign . . . because we couldn't find it! A few weeks passed, and we kept telling each other we should really find and turn in our marriage license so we could actually be married. I asked my mom in passing if she had seen the license around their house and she nonchalantly said she and my dad had already brought it down to the courtroom for us!

How the license was signed and turned in without my or Mr. Pin Cushion's knowledge is beyond me, but I thought, "Hey, as long as it's done and we're married, I'm happy." Until two weeks later, when we received a letter in the mail telling us that, in fact, we WEREN'T married!


Our lovely letter from the county clerk

Turns out, when my dad was filling out his officiant (aka "Certification of Person Solemnizing Marriage") section, there was a bit of confusion. Here's what went down (seen below in the highlighted area):
1. My dad is not a part of the clergy, so when the form asked for his religious denomination, he put dash marks.
2. He was told he was supposed to put something in that space, so he decided to put "non denominational".
3. Then, under "Official Title", he wrote in "Father."

Not like a Catholic priest father. Since he is definitely not that. But like, my father. Father of the bride. "Dad" is an official title, right?



Mr. Pin Cushion and I filled out an Affidavit to Amend a Marriage Record (since the county didn't like the one my dad filled out) and sent it into the courthouse. It's been a month and we haven't heard anything. We hope that means we filled it out correctly and that we're actually married. Fingers crossed.

How do you find out if you are married? Call the courthouse and ask them, "Can you tell me if I'm married?" (and be prepared to be laughed at)? There must be another way, right?

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Words to Be Wed By

This post is likely to do a few things:
1. Break a record as the longest post in Weddingbee history.
2. Help insomniacs finally get some sleep, due to fact #1
3. Assist someone in writing their own ceremony (that's my hope at least [though #2 would be nice too, since everybody needs to get some good sleep]).

When Mr. Pin Cushion and I set out to write out own ceremony, we were quite miffed with how to begin. We ended up relying on a variety of sources. We frequently looked to Mrs. Cherry Pie's post on her ceremony wording. We endlessly googled for ideas. And we used this book:


Lastly, we used our own noggins (and my dad's, as he was our officiant).


It took quite a few hours-long sessions at coffee shops, and lots of revisions, but in the end, we were beyond thrilled with how the ceremony turned out. Many guests told
us that the ceremony made them cry (which we took as a compliment!).

See? I was so happy with the ceremony that I almost ate my bouquet!
[Photo by our stupendous photographer, Kelty, of Steep Street Photography]

A few comments before I lay the whole ceremony out: 1) I am keeping our real names in the post (it became too complicated when everybody's names were changed [so no stalking, okay?]); 2) To help make things clearer, I've titled different sections in bold; 3) Our vows will be in another post; 4) I did not cut out the personal comments that my dad said about us, so I apologize to everyone who finds them boring or mushy (in which case, feel free to skip ahead or make gagging noises like we did in 7th grade).

Drum roll . . .

Welcome

Welcome! Please be seated. My name is Joel. I am Kendra's father. I feel deeply honored that Chris and Kendra asked me to officiate at their wedding ceremony. I have witnessed their relationship from the beginning, when I picked Chris up from his house for their first date together. And now, ten years later, I am thrilled to be a part of their wedding.

On behalf of me, my wife Lorrie, Chris' parents' Rebecca and Michael, I would like to thank you all for coming to affirm and celebrate the bond of love between Chris and Kendra. They both feel that your presence here today makes this occasion extraordinarily special and that the
love and support from each of you has provided the stepping stones to this moment.

Chris and Kendra, on this, one of the most important days of your lives, you stand within a wondrous circle of love. You are surrounded by your dearest friends and family who are here to witness and participate in your marriage, as well as by the thoughts of those who cannot be here and would have greatly loved to share this experience with you.


We are gathered here today to witness and to celebrate the coming together of two lives. We have come to join this man, Chris, and this woman, Kendra, in marriage. This is a beautiful and joyous occasion because it acknowledges their commitment to each other in deep friendship and love. This union is the result of a ten-year relationship that has been tested, matured and evolved over time.


Family Thanking
Today represents not only the joining of Chris and Kendra, but also the joining of their families. They would like to say a few words of gratitude to their families.
Kendra: Rebecca, Michael, thank you for raising Chris to be the kind, inquisitive and passionate man that I have fallen in love with. Lauren and Alexis, thank you for protecting Chris and for being the other two peas in the pod.
Chris: Lorrie and Joel, thank you for the wonderful job you did raising Kendra. She i
s the most caring, loving and supportive person I know and she means the world to me. Kevin, thank you for looking after her and helping mold her into the woman she is today.

Prayer
I would like to invite Chris' grandfather, Felton, to say a prayer for this occasion.

{Chris' grandfather
gives a prayer he wrote in advance}

Thank you for those beautiful words.

Words on Marriage
Marriage symbolizes the intimate sharing of two lives. This sharing must not diminish, but enhance the individuality of each partner. You do not shed your individuality, for that is what brought you together in the first place. Marriage is the loving declaration that you should be no other than yourself.

A lasting marriage is not stagnant. The relationship and each individual are continually growing and developing. Your understanding of each other deepens and evolves. It is not this ceremony or the state of being married that will truly join and hold you together, but your ongoing commitment to your relationship and to the kind of life you wish to make togeth
er. In this way, your marriage will not be just a symbol; it will be more than that. It will be an action, something you work actively on every day.

In marriage, we give ourselves freely and generously into the hands of the one we love, and in doing so, each of us receives the love and trust of the other as our most precious gift. But even as that gift is shared by two people who are in love, it also touches the friends and family members, who, in various ways, support and contribute to the relationship.

All of you are Chris and Kendra's community, and each of you has played some part in bringing them to this moment. The gathering together of this community is an important part of a wedding ceremony. Chris and Kendra are now taking a new form as a married couple, becoming part of their community in a new way.

Family & Friend Vows
Chris and Kendra, you do not enter into this marriage alone or without support. I have a special request of all those gathered here today. I call on everyone here to make a promise to support Chris and Kendra as they enter into marriage, to supply them wise council and words of encouragement if called upon by this beautiful couple.

As I ask the following questions, if you can make the promise to the couple, please respond with words, "We will."

Will you, gathered here today, support and aid in any way asked, t
o the best of your ability?
Will you guide them, the best way you can, using your accumulated wisdom?
If asked, will you supply them with words of encouragement and affirm your belief to them that they can overcome any and all obstacles that might come in their path?

Thank you all for your vows of commitment to this couple.

Words of Love
As a first demonstration of this commitment, Chris and Kendra have asked a few members of their friends and family to share their thoughts on
love and marriage. These people have helped shape and mold this couple's ideas of love.

{Chris' sister, Kendra's best friend's mom and Kendra's mom read pieces they had each previously written about love.}

Words about The Couple
The couple that stand before you today are mat
ure beyond their years. Perhaps they knew that ten years ago, as they spied each other out on the track field. Kendra thought to herself, "Hey, that geeky, gawky person is kinda cute." Chris must have thought the same thing. A small spark was present that day. Who could have predicted it would turn into the hot fire we witness today?

When Lorrie and I first met Chris, he was very quiet. We would talk with each other at night wondering what was going on in that young, intelligent brain of his. Lorrie, through experimentation relied on the age old adage that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. She discovered Chris' passion for sour cream potato chips. Whenever Chris would come visit, Lorrie made sure there was a fresh bag in the pantry.

Over time, while on numerous family outings, we discovered that Kendra had found a diamond in the rough. He as proven himself to be a gentle, generous, helpful and caring individual. His stamina is legendary-able to walk the streets of Washington DC for miles. One other interesting thing about him is he never gets cold. Even in snowy conditions he has no need for jackets of any kind. Strange. A father could ask for no better suitor for his daughter. Thanks Chris.

Kendra is our only daughter. In fact, she was the first girl born into the Kirkpatrick family in 23 years, breaking a run of 10 boys. When she was born, I was a little anxious. Coming from a family of 4 boys, I had no clue as to how to go about raising a girl. My fears turned out to be unfounded. Kendra has always been a delight to be around. She was socially
introverted as a child, but she has evolved into a confident, brilliant adult with a great sense of humor. She is extremely expressive and creative.

So, this couple here today presents a study in contrasts-Kendra, the vulnerable, sensitive female, and Chris, the quiet, dependable, grounded personality. Like all successful relationships, theirs contains a healthy balanced mixture of contrasts and similarities. The two of them are, in my opinion, perfectly matched.

Reading

We will now be joined by Chris' mother, Rebecca, reading from Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet.

Rebecca:
You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days.
Aye, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness, and let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another, but make not a bond of love.
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup, but drink not from one cup.

Give one another of your bread, but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each of you be alone.
Even as the strings of a lute are alone, they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together, yet not too near together.
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
and the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.

Vows
Chris and Kendra will now state the vows that they have written for one another.
{Vows to be discussed in another post . . .}

Exchange of the Rings
The ring is an outward and physical sign of the vows you have made today and of the inward bond that you share. Let these rings be a sign that love has a past, a present and a future, through you and within you.

Chris, take Kendra's ring. Place it on her finger and repeat after me:
As a ring has no end, neither shall my love for you. With this ring, I thee wed, and bestow upon thee all the treasures of my mind, heart and hands.

Kendra, take Chris' ring. Place it on his finger and repeat after me:
As a ring has no end, neither shall my love for you. With this ring, I thee wed, and bestow upon thee all the treasures of my mind, heart and
hands.


[Guest photo]

We will commemorate this union with an Apache Wedding Blessing:
"Now you will feel no rain,
For each of you will be the shelter to the other.
Now you will feel no cold,
For each of you will be warmth to the other.
Now there is no loneliness for you,
For each of you will be companion for the other.
Now you are two persons,
But there is one life before you.
Go now to your dwelling place to enter into the days of your togetherness.
And may your days be good and long upon this earth."

Closure
If anyone knows any reason why these two should not be joined in marriage, speak now and risk being thrown in the pond, or forever hold your peace. And now, Chris and Kendra, by the authority vested in me by the state of California, but more importantly, by the authority vested in me by the fact that I believe in the power of your agreement this day and the seriousness with which you make this commitment, it is my honor to pronounce you husband and wife.

Chris, you may now kiss your bride.
Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you the happy couple, Chris and Kendra!

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Heart Strings? Officially Pulled.

Perhaps a few of you have seen this video already. But if you haven't, pull up a wagon full of kleenex and have a watch. Don't let the cartoon aspect of it lull you into a false sense of security. This video is about love. Love that will make you cross all of your fingers and toes and wish that 27 years after your own wedding, your marriage will be as strong as the couple's in the video.


Danny & Annie from StoryCorps on Vimeo.

I feel lucky to work as an oncology nurse where I get to see the amazing strength of marriage everyday. The love and compassion that is shared between our patients and their spouses is inspiring. I wish that every couple could have their story told like Danny and Annie, because I am certain that there are amazing love stories going on all around us everyday.

Where in your life do you see true love?

Friday, August 27, 2010

Stars of the PVC Faux-to Booth

It took less time to build our PVC faux-to booth than it takes to watch an episode of Project Runway. And considering the hours our guests spent having fun and hamming it up in the booth, and then the many more hours Mr. PC and I have spent falling off the couch laughing at the resulting photos, I'd say our time was more than recouped.

Our friends and family were true top models, and wowed us with variety when it came to their poses . . . we saw tiger growls (perhaps that was just my pose), couples kissing, Blue Steel gazes . . .


I was happy to see my expensive props put to good use (a spray painted Ikea frame I already owned, fake flowers [note how many people put that flower in their mouth, including me], handmade felt mustaches).

Even Stewie Griffin made an appearance. Though, come to think of it, he didn't even send back his RSVP card, so I should have kicked him out . . .

My maid of honor was attacked by a flower-prop by her suave boyfriend.
Photobucket

I thought I'd save this next one for the end of the post, to allow you guys to warm up a bit. I present to you, my uncle and aunt . . . and my uncle's tongue.

In addition to finding out which friends could make it as supermodels, we also found a guest who we could use as a cookie spokesperson, if we ever decide to sell our homemade cookies on the market . . .

Are you hoping to be able to look back at any parts of your wedding and laugh? What parts?

Monday, August 23, 2010

Faux-to Booth: How-to Continued

The faux-to booth posts live on! Due to overwhelming demand (hundreds of requests [or perhaps just a few commenters] on the last how-to post), I'm back to explain a bit more about how we set up the DIY photo booth.


Our best man, Virat, can hardly contain his excitement about the faux-to booth!

Total cost: about $46.
1. Fabric: $16 for 2 yards (which you could get for cheaper, but I liked my Ikea fabric)
2. PVC Pipe: $10 for the long pieces
3. Small PVC Pipe Fittings: $5 for the caps, t-pieces and elbows
4. Props (bought from a party supply store and made with crafty leftovers): $15

Other items we used:
1. Our own point and shoot camera
2. A camera tri-pod (our photographer lent us one of hers--ask yours if they have one you can use, or ask your family or amigos if they have one)
3. Instruction sheet with very very basic directions for our guests

Here are a few photos to help explain our set-up:

Our (ikea) frame containing the embarrassingly simple directions.


The camera was set on the tripod about 6 feet back from the fabric. We played around with the height and distance of the camera to try to get the most out of the backdrop. We also had to consider our guests, who ranged in height from 4'11" to 6'8"!


Check out the smoothness of that fabric. Nice. My bridesmaid came up with the idea of ironing the fabric, then wrapping it around a wrapping paper tube in order to transport it to the venue (Genius! [I hope some of her smarts rub off on me]).


Running (wo)man! You can see the base of the stand here.

View from the backdrop-side: the camera on the tripod, with props and instructions set up on the railing (a table would work just dandy).

So there you have it. Any questions? I promise I don't bite (well, unless you have some dessert in your hand, and I try to bite that and then bite your finger in the process [but who could blame me for that?!]).

(All photos in this post are guest photographs [thanks friends!])

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Faux-to Booth: PVC Style

Oh, I wanted one.

I wanted one like Aladdin wants Jasmine, like a marathoner wants a gallon of Gatorade and like Hugh Grant wants to make another romantic comedy.

Pre-wedding, I knew, in my heart of hearts, that I wanted a photobooth. But my heart of hearts was also telling me I couldn't spend a grand on a photo-strip spitting, old fashioned booth. And my heart of hearts wasn't crazy enough to spend $464 from an online store ($97 for the backdrop, $367 for the support system [yikes!]) to build my own.

So, my (cheap, rational) heart of hearts led me to Home Depot to create a stand for our DIY faux-to booth backdrop. I had searched online for tutorials, but could only find extremely complicated versions involving power tools (and I preferred to keep all of my phalanges attached). Thus, we developed our own method which 1) ended up working out quite well 2) was cheap and 3) was easy to build.

For those wishing to build there own cheap, easy, fun photobooth, here is what we used:

(A) 2 of these (PVC pipe "elbows")

(from Home Depot)

(B) 4 of these (PVC pipe caps)
(from Home Depot)

(C) 4 of these (PVC pipe "T pieces")

(from Home Depot)

(D) 4 of these (really long PVC pipes)

(from Home Depot)

(E) Some fabric (we bought 2 yards of fabric from Ikea [Ikea's fabric is great because it's extra wide; 59" instead of a typical bolt of fabric which is 44"]).

(from Ikea)

Once we had all of components together, we put it together in less than an hour in our backyard. We used a PVC pipe cutter that my dad already owned, like the one below (but you could probably just use gardening shears, or a butter knife [though the latter might take a bit longer . . .]).

(from here)

To help explain how we put it together, Mr. Pin Cushion whipped some files up in Illustrator.


On the left, you can see the backdrop stand all put together.
And on the right, is the "exploded" version, to see all of the individual components (the PVC elbows, the caps on the bottom, etc).

You can cut the PVC pipe however long you want, to make the stand as wide and as tall as you need (do remember when cutting it, that the t-pieces and elbow pieces will each add a few inches, so take that into account).

Then just snap the pieces into place, attach your fabric (we used clear packing tape) and stand back and admire your handy work.

Up next, I'll show you a some fab shots we got with our photo booth. Here's one gem for you:

Chip chip cheerio! What dignified guests we have at our wedding!

Are you planning to have a photo booth at your shindig? Are you renting, buying or building?