Wedding Series: Cutting Out a Fun Photo-Op

Guest Blogger Emily Sommers is a design professional living in the Dallas-area. She loves reading and sewing and recently opened a shop on Etsy under the name Lily June.

In August 2008 my husband and I were engaged, and in November 2009 we were married. We had 15 months to do the research for the wedding, make the decisions, and second guess those decisions. Early in the process I came across a couple who had created a life-size cut-out of themselves for their guests to take photos with. Chris and I decided we must have one. It turned out wonderfully and is one of the decisions I’m glad we stuck with. 

Chris did not want to see my dress before the wedding so a few days before the ceremony we dressed in our wedding finery and his parents took each of our photos separately against a blank wall. Chris held his arm out so later it would look as if his arm was around me. Using Adobe Photoshop, I joined the two photos. I deleted the background from each image and combined them into a new file making sure to place my photo on top. I also enlarged the new image so we were life-sized. We then took a trip to the magical sign and banner department at FedEx Office and, a little while later, left with a life-sized print-out.

The construction of the cut-out was in the hands of our best man. He used spray adhesive to apply the print to a few sheets of foam core that had been taped together. Then, using an X-ACTO knife, he cut out our silhouette. Excess foam core was used to make a support so the cut-out could stand on its own. When paired with a homemade chalkboard and a camera on remote, we got some pretty memorable photos and a great way to remember the day. 

See below for some great pictures of our cut-out, courtesy of Brian James Photography.

 

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