A Woodside Wedding: Fauxtobooth Fun

From the time dinner ended, there wasn’t a moment all night long that our fauxtobooth wasn’t packed. So I’ll give my tip early in this post: if you’re considering renting a photobooth, or making a quick and easy fauxtobooth, just do it!

Ours was the quick and easy fauxtobooth version, which I detailed constructing here. Basically I just wanted to use stuff I already had, so I used three garment racks from my closet, and sewed a few snaps on sheets that were draped over the top for the sides and background. We used my sister’s Mac, which has a photobooth program on it, and webcam, and just instructed our guests to download their photos from our wedding website the next day (we also printed out one of their photos and included them in our thank you cards).

And I must say, the fact that our booth wasn’t fancy at all (in fact, the garment racks got bumped all night, messing up the sheet background repeatedly, and the lights I provided weren't quite set up right, giving a weird glare to the photos), or that we didn’t have the photos printed out on site, didn’t matter one bit to our guests. So if the logistics of a DIY photobooth are concerning you, don’t let it! Playing with the many props (that we got for cheap after Halloween last year) and getting to see the silly pictures they were taking on the 21 inch monitor we provided was plenty of entertainment for our guests. They couldn’t get enough of it, as evidenced by the couple hundred photos they took, and I’m so glad we decided to include this little project. Plus, getting to see all the hilarious photos the Sunday night after our wedding was just icing on the cake for us, since they were the first photos we saw from our wedding.

But enough gushing about how much fun everyone had in our fauxtobooth, let’s see some pictures!

First, some photos taken outside the fauxtobooth, by our photogs and guests--we all loved playing with the props!

(by Shoot Me Now Photography)

(by Shoot Me Now Photography)

(by Shoot Me Now Photography)

Now for some photo collages from the fauxtobooth!

(You can see our lovely DOC straightening the background sheets in the bottom right above photo, people were so eager to take their photo that they kept messing up the background!)

(Surprisingly a ton of the older people at our wedding loved the fauxtobooth action, including my dad! I think he has more pictures in the booth than anyone because he didn't want to move, haha!)

I made the above collages in Picasa, which has a lot of neat features to arrange large numbers of photos. I think doing a large collage like these below might be fun, printed out poster size to hang in our spare bedroom!

Are you planning to rent a photobooth, or build a DIY fauxtobooth for your wedding?

Miss any wedding week details? Catch up here:

- I packed an emergency bag that saved my dress
- We had a crazy 4 days prepping for house guests and stuffing favors
- Shopping for a ton of wedding flowers to arrange ourselves
- Mr. Cola drinks a 40 and I have a night out on the town for our low-key bach parties
- A day of DIY'ing flower arrangements
- I kicked off our official recaps with my #1 wedding tip
- We began the weekend festivities with a sunset cruise for our wedding party
- We rehearsed our quick and easy ceremony
- I panicked, but we got our rehearsal dinner decorations set up just in time
- Our families met for the first time at our rehearsal dinner under the trees
- What went wrong on our wedding day, and my tips for future brides
- My bridesmaids and I got our hair and makeup done in the hotel suite
- I put on my wedding dress and became a bride
- The guys watched the World Cup, then got ready in 10 minutes
- Traffic delayed our decorations getting to the venue, and I almost ruined our first look
- We got to see each other for the first time on our wedding day at our first look
- We took some time for bride and groom pictures in the park
- I gave you a behind the scenes look at our family, friends and DOC setting up our venue
- Arriving at our venue and getting ready for the ceremony to start
- Everyone walked down the aisle
- Excerpts from our ceremony, and reading the vows we wrote for each other
- I interrupted our officiant, we exchanged rings, and with a kiss we were officially married!
- Wedding party and family portraits, and my thoughts on missing pictures
- Our guests enjoyed cocktail hour while we took a few more photos
- Everyone ate a delicious dinner, and our siblings gave beautiful toasts
- We didn't practice, but we had a very special and wonderful first dance as husband and wife
- I showed you some disposable camera pictures, which were totally worth it to include on our tables!
- I found a target and tossed my bouquet at her
- Mr. Cola finally managed to find my garter under my dress and tossed it
- We fed each other cupcakes, and our guests swarmed our 6ft tall cupcake tower
- We stole some private moments together that our photographers documented

(Unless otherwise noted, the photos in this post are personal, taken by guests or in our fauxtobooth)

A Woodside Wedding: Stolen Moments

Several times throughout our wedding reception, our photographers asked us if they could steal us away for a few minutes, to get in some additional photos of the two of us.

This was a fantastic idea, and I really recommend it to everyone. Not only did it give us a chance for a few minutes alone-ish with each other periodically through the night, it also got us some great shots in different locations. Plus, it was a wonderful way to regroup, because the rest of our reception time was spent being pulled from person to person in non-stop conversation. Taking a few minutes out for just ourselves was just what we needed, and seemed to slow down the evening for those few stolen moments together.

The first stolen moment that was captured was one I didn’t even realize was being photographed! Our photogs suggested we meet them by the flower petal covered aisle, and as we were walking over to the aisle, they captured these lovely hand in hand photos. Something about these really tugs at my heartstrings, so simple, yet so lovely.

When we reached the petal aisle, we still had no idea anyone was taking pictures. We were just lost in the moment, enjoying our quiet time.

This resulted in these kissing photos, which are some of my favorite of the day, and I’d like to frame one of them, but can’t decide which. We’re probably only going to frame 4 or 5 of our wedding photos, and I really want one to be a full length kissing photo, but not from our ceremony.

Which of these do you like best?

Photo 1:

Photo 2:

Photo 3:

Photo 4:

After our photographers slyly took the kissing photos of us, we realized that they’d arrived next to the petal aisle, and it was time for some playing with the petals. We had almost all of our 260 cups of rose petals sprinkled on the aisle, we’d might as well do something with them other than just walk on them!

First we laid on top of them.

Another gratuitous shoe shot! :)

Then we sat up, with our reception in the background.

But our photogs decided that the trees would be a better background, so we turned around.

Next, the kids at our wedding were nominated to throw petals on us, which they did with abandon.

I thought it was hilarious, and the petals in my hair and going down my cleavage were really tickling me!

Seriously, I was having way too much fun getting pelted by the kids with petals!

That was the end of our first stolen moment photo shoot, but the kids stuck around and made us a heart out of petals, which they showed us later in the evening. So sweet of them!

(above two photos taken by Bridesmaid H--and just look at that hint of sunset above the bay view through the trees, great shot!)

Even later, after the bouquet and garter toss, and the cupcake “cutting” we stole another few moments by ourselves out on the deck. Just a couple minutes to ground ourselves, connect, and soak in being husband and wife.

These stolen moments pictures are so special to me, as were the minutes with my new husband during our reception. I love the fact that the majority of them aren’t posed, they’re just a natural representation of the love we were (and still are!) feeling for each other on our wedding night. I highly recommend taking time on your own wedding night for some stolen moments, they are very centering experiences at the time, and wonderful memories to look back on.

Now, back to the kissing photos from above, which one do you think should we pick to frame in our house, photo #1, #2, #3 or #4?

Or there's also this one other full length kissing photo to consider, photo #5:

Miss any wedding week details? Catch up here:

- I packed an emergency bag that saved my dress
- We had a crazy 4 days prepping for house guests and stuffing favors
- Shopping for a ton of wedding flowers to arrange ourselves
- Mr. Cola drinks a 40 and I have a night out on the town for our low-key bach parties
- A day of DIY'ing flower arrangements
- I kicked off our official recaps with my #1 wedding tip
- We began the weekend festivities with a sunset cruise for our wedding party
- We rehearsed our quick and easy ceremony
- I panicked, but we got our rehearsal dinner decorations set up just in time
- Our families met for the first time at our rehearsal dinner under the trees
- What went wrong on our wedding day, and my tips for future brides
- My bridesmaids and I got our hair and makeup done in the hotel suite
- I put on my wedding dress and became a bride
- The guys watched the World Cup, then got ready in 10 minutes
- Traffic delayed our decorations getting to the venue, and I almost ruined our first look
- We got to see each other for the first time on our wedding day at our first look
- We took some time for bride and groom pictures in the park
- I gave you a behind the scenes look at our family, friends and DOC setting up our venue
- Arriving at our venue and getting ready for the ceremony to start
- Everyone walked down the aisle
- Excerpts from our ceremony, and reading the vows we wrote for each other
- I interrupted our officiant, we exchanged rings, and with a kiss we were officially married!
- Wedding party and family portraits, and my thoughts on missing pictures
- Our guests enjoyed cocktail hour while we took a few more photos
- Everyone ate a delicious dinner, and our siblings gave beautiful toasts
- We didn't practice, but we had a very special and wonderful first dance as husband and wife
- I showed you some disposable camera pictures, which were totally worth it to include on our tables!
- I found a target and tossed my bouquet at her
- Mr. Cola finally managed to find my garter under my dress and tossed it
- We fed each other cupcakes, and our guests swarmed our 6ft tall cupcake tower

(Unless otherwise noted, all photos in this post were taken by the very talented photographers of Shoot Me Now Photography)

A Woodside Wedding: Tower Of Cupcakes!

Immediately after the bouquet and garter tosses, it was time for CUPCAKES!

Our wedding cupcakes deserve their very own recap post, since Mr. Cola and I worked so hard to design and build the stand together, choose the flavors and frosting designs, and specify the precise layout of the cupcakes on our stand.

And here is our over-6-foot-tall beauty, in all it's yummy glory, on our wedding day!

And you know you want to see some detailed shots, so bring on the cupcake close ups! (Warning, try not to drool on your keyboard!)

(guest photo)

Our cupcakes were one of the biggest hits of the evening. Nobody could stop talking about them, and during dinner our guests were making bets, trying to guess how many there actually were (the highest guess I heard was 350, and the actual total was 385, counting the jumbo one at the top).

Guests even had a little too much fun posing with the cupcake tower, as you can see in the below 3 guest photos.

(Pretending to steal cupcakes, in blatant disregard of the signs, LOL!)

Now that you've seen the cupcakes and the stand, it's time for a play-by-play of our cupcake "cutting."

First, it's very important to weigh your options, which of the 5 flavors to try first?

I might be a little too excited about this!

I picked a vanilla cupcake with latte flavored frosting, and Mr. C went for the carrot cake.

Instead of an actual cutting, we had decided to just feed each other a bite of a mini cupcake. So taking the wrapper off first was an important step!

"Ready for this? Remember, the deal was no smashing, unless you wanted to pay for my makeup artist to stay the whole night!"

Getting the cupcake in Mr. C's mouth AND trying to watch the cupcake coming toward my mouth was a lot harder than it looks!

Nom nom nom!

I then gave Mr. Cola a frosting flavored kiss.

And as I brought my arm down, I bumped his cupcake with my elbow.

So I made him lick the frosting off, natch!

I must say, I was pretty pleased with myself for that sly move!

Then, we took a step back, and the cupcake stand was SWARMED! Mr. Cola said it was the only part of the night that he didn't feel like the center of attention, and so he took the opportunity to duck away. I ended up standing there for a while, repeating the cupcake flavors, all the while just trying to finish my half cupcake still in my hand from our "cutting."

(Nobody could take just one!)

We only had a couple kids at our wedding, and they begged for the giant cupcake at the top, so we let them have it. We weren't planning on saving it anyway, not when we can get fresh, not freezer burned cupcakes from the same bakery on our anniversary!

At the end of the night we still had plenty of cupcakes left over for the Sunday luncheon (which we had planned on), and our DOC even sent a small box of cupcakes with us back to the hotel that night, which I munched on for breakfast the next day.

What are you serving your guests for dessert? Any other cupcake fans out there?

Miss any wedding week details? Catch up here:

- I packed an emergency bag that saved my dress
- We had a crazy 4 days prepping for house guests and stuffing favors
- Shopping for a ton of wedding flowers to arrange ourselves
- Mr. Cola drinks a 40 and I have a night out on the town for our low-key bach parties
- A day of DIY'ing flower arrangements
- I kicked off our official recaps with my #1 wedding tip
- We began the weekend festivities with a sunset cruise for our wedding party
- We rehearsed our quick and easy ceremony
- I panicked, but we got our rehearsal dinner decorations set up just in time
- Our families met for the first time at our rehearsal dinner under the trees
- What went wrong on our wedding day, and my tips for future brides
- My bridesmaids and I got our hair and makeup done in the hotel suite
- I put on my wedding dress and became a bride
- The guys watched the World Cup, then got ready in 10 minutes
- Traffic delayed our decorations getting to the venue, and I almost ruined our first look
- We got to see each other for the first time on our wedding day at our first look
- We took some time for bride and groom pictures in the park
- I gave you a behind the scenes look at our family, friends and DOC setting up our venue
- Arriving at our venue and getting ready for the ceremony to start
- Everyone walked down the aisle
- Excerpts from our ceremony, and reading the vows we wrote for each other
- I interrupted our officiant, we exchanged rings, and with a kiss we were officially married!
- Wedding party and family portraits, and my thoughts on missing pictures
- Our guests enjoyed cocktail hour while we took a few more photos
- Everyone ate a delicious dinner, and our siblings gave beautiful toasts
- We didn't practice, but we had a very special and wonderful first dance as husband and wife
- I showed you some disposable camera pictures, which were totally worth it to include on our tables!
- I found a target and tossed my bouquet at her
- Mr. Cola finally managed to find my garter under my dress and tossed it

(Unless otherwise noted, all photos in this post were taken by the very talented photographers of Shoot Me Now Photography)