Dongtan self-photo studio for a friend's bridal shower shoot: U&I

Why I shot my friend's bridal shower at U&I Dongtan Branch

U&I Dongtan Branch (유앤이 동탄점) is a self-photo studio and party room in Dongtan where you can shoot bridal showers and self-wedding photos. I wanted to take bridal shower photos for my friend, so I headed to U&I Dongtan Branch! I wanted to make a special memory with my bride-to-be friend, and it was such a good choice!

U&I Dongtan Branch opening hours and parking

U&I Dongtan Branch is open from 11:00 to 19:00! If you drive, park in the basement of the Dongtan IT Valley 2 building and head to Room 231.

A studio where you get the whole room to yourselves

At U&I Dongtan Branch, an entire room is set up as the studio. Since you use the big space privately, you can shoot comfortably, just the two of us, without worrying about anyone else. That's a huge plus, I think!! The space is roomy and pleasant, so it's easy to put your bags down too. Totally won me over, haha

A vanity with a Dyson and even safety pins

One side of U&I Dongtan Branch has a spacious vanity, and it even has a Dyson!! There were small things like hair ties and safety pins too. When you're putting on dresses you need pins to get the fit right, so I thought the owner was seriously thoughtful. The big vanity was great for checking how we looked before and during the shoot, haha

Balloons and artificial flowers, by type and by color

The props like balloons and artificial flowers were super varied too~ When props are skimpy, the set looks empty and photos come out boring, but here they were stocked by type and by color. Thanks to that, even casual shots came out with all kinds of moods!!

Is the dress rental free?

The dresses and outfits at U&I Dongtan Branch can be rented for free if you take part in the review event!! They had not only white dresses but black dresses too.

Maybe because they hadn't been open long, the dresses were clean and the designs varied, so it was perfect for my friend and me to pick what suited our body types and tastes. They also had cute baby outfits, so I thought it'd be good for family photos too, haha

Shoe sizes and styling tips for footwear

Shoes are provided too, and size 240 (Korean sizing) fit perfectly. The dresses were shorter in length (Gijang) than I expected, so your feet often show. I recommend thinking carefully about the shoes as part of your styling!

What to watch out for in the changing room

U&I Dongtan Branch has a changing room too. There's a CCTV camera right in front of it, so be sure to draw the curtain when you change!!

My friend and I each picked ones we liked and tried them on, haha The dresses were clean and fit beautifully, so we got excited the moment we put them on and took a storm of mirror selfies, lol

Lighting and the white flower centerpiece setup

Inside the studio at U&I Dongtan Branch, a lighting panel is set up right in front of the camera. With proper lighting, even casual shots came out bright, and you could see it right away.

When you book, you can choose the initial color of the flower centerpiece. We chose white, so they set it up like this in advance. It gave us total bridal shower vibes. It felt clean and elegant, so it was perfect for styling my bride-to-be friend, haha

Can you check the shots right away?

At U&I Dongtan Branch, you can check your shots in real time on the big screen right in front of you!! The left side is the live shooting view and the right side shows the photos taken. You can't always tell whether the pose or expression of the shot you just took came out well, but with the monitor you can see right away, so correcting your posture is easy and comparing results was so good, haha You get all the originals, so we took lots of photos, mostly with the white centerpiece first

When we first stood in front of the camera, it had been so long since we'd posed properly that we were both awkward and stiff, lol We burst out laughing watching each other pose, it was chaos, but as we adjusted our poses little by little while looking at the monitor, we got more and more natural, haha

For the bride-to-be's solo shots, press the remote for each other

We took solo shots of my bride-to-be friend too~ When you press the remote yourself while shooting alone, it's really obvious because of your hand shape and the timing. So for solo shots we pressed the button for each other from the side, lol That made the hand shape far more natural and let her focus only on her expression, so we got lots and lots of pretty solo shots!

Second concept: red centerpiece and a "bride has arrived" sash

For the second concept we went with a red centerpiece with a totally different mood! If white feels pure and calm, red is a bold statement, intense and glamorous, haha What's charming is that you can shoot such different looks in one place at U&I Dongtan Branch.

My friend also put on a "bride has arrived" sash and played the star properly, haha Just one sash and the bridal shower feeling came alive several times over?! As time went on, the stiffness definitely faded and we got lots of pretty shots, haha

What we got with the photo package

U&I Dongtan Branch emails you the originals right after the shoot. We booked the photo package, so we received the following.

• All original files sent by email
• 2 retouched (Bojeong) shots
• 6 prints at 4x6 inches (including 2 standard paper frames and 1 standing frame)

If you want to make an unforgettable, special memory, I'd really recommend giving U&I Dongtan Branch a visit, the Dongtan bridal shower, self-wedding studio, photo studio and party room!!