48 Hour Wedding Arch

My sister got married on New Year's Eve 2023, and asked me around November if I'd build an arch to go over the sweetheart table where the bride and groom sit at dinner. She sent the following picture from pinterest as inspiration.

Of course I agreed! And promptly forgot until two days before the wedding, when she asked to see it. Suddenly, I was on a time crunch.

That evening I planned out the design and grabbed some 2x4s from Lowes.

Took them into workshop, eventually cut them all to length.

The next day, I started mocking up the design.

I kept the arch split into three pieces so we could transport it to the venue.

The complete mock-up, held with clamps.

We left for the wedding and that evening I painted the arch on my sister’s porch.

On the wedding day I got the pieces into the venue, assembled the arch, and attached the lights.

The final product! My sister loved it. Bonus points for the heterogenous bulb placement (the brightest one illuminates the bride) and the hidden wiring in the fake foilage.