Details with a personalized touch make a wedding more your own. Creating a backdrop for your cake display helps to define its space and makes cake photos even more special. There are lots of materials you can use to create a backdrop – photos, flowers, wood, ribbon. One of the easiest and most impactful is an elegant pipe and drape backdrop.

A pipe and drape wall is simply fabric with a pocket sewn into the top hung from a pole like a drapery to create a fabric wall. They are simple and light weight to construct from PVC pipe. To construct your frame, decide on the height and length dimensions you will need. To serve as a backdrop for a cake table, you will most likely want it to be 6′-8′ high and 6′-8′ wide. For your PVC pipe frame, you will need 2 sides of the same height, one top bar the length you desire, 4 shorter pieces of PVC pipe – each about 1 foot long, 2 “T” shaped connectors and 2 elbow connectors. Any home improvement store can cut PVC pipe in the length you need.

I order to construct your frame, use the elbow connectors to connect the long pieces of your PVC pipe into a “U” shape. To create the base for your frame, insert the shorter PVC pieces into the opposite sides of the T shaped connectors and attached those to the sides of your U frame.

Select your fabric and cut the length to be 4″ longer than the height of your frame. Fold the top of the fabric to create a 2″ pocket for the PVC pipe along the entire length of the fabric and pin or sew the pocket closed.

To construct the pipe and drape, simply insert the top part of your frame into the fabric pocket. The fabric will hang like a drapery. You can then attach flowers, photos or any décor you like to fabric or leave it plain for a simple backdrop. For the wedding pictured, we pinned paper puff balls in the wedding colors to the backdrop.

Photo by Melissa McClure. Cake by VG Donut & Bakery.

Submitted from our guest blogger-Kristin of Stephanie Rose Events, Fine Wedding Planning & Design, 858-461-8423. We appreciate the contribution to our San Diego Style Weddings Blog. Follow us for her weekly new craft or insight on ways to personalize your wedding!