Do It Yourself Photo Decorations: Wedding and Engagement Photography

 So much planning and preparation goes into making sure that everything is picture perfect for that once in a lifetime wedding day. Budgets are often stretched to the limit and little thought goes into things like decorations for the rehearsal dinner. It’s probably one of the last things you think of. Let’s face it the menu and venue are much more important than decoration. While most venues will not really need any extra décor here’s a simple and inexpensive way to add a little love to any occasion.

Last year I photographed an outdoor rehearsal dinner being held at a brewery. It was a nice location but there wasn’t much in the way of decoration other than some lights that were strung around the venue. So the mother of the groom found a way to creatively add a personal touch and share a glimpse of the couple’s love with family and friends. She had large black and white engineering prints made from some of the photos from the engagement session. Engineering prints are inexpensive prints available at many of the big chain office supply stores and are intended for line drawings and photo reproduction. They are also printed on thin paper so you will probably want to mount them to a backing board or foam board with some spray adhesive to protect them from getting torn. Once she had the prints she purchased yardsticks from the dollar store and painted them black. When they were dry she fastened them together around the print to create a rustic looking frame. A piece of fabric was then tied on and used to hang the lightweight prints along a fence at the venue. The final result was a gallery wall experience that allowed family members to browse the photos and even fight over who was going to be carrying one home at the end of the night.