Wedding DIY and what you shouldn’t…

You want your wedding to showcase your personalities and style. A great and cost-effective way incorporate this is by DIY-ing some aspects of your event.

Perhaps you love the fact that you can potentially save some money making everything yourself. However, before going ahead with your plans for a weekly crafternoon for the next year or so, consider what you’re getting yourself into. Also, learn what’s best to leave to the professionals.

Thinking about the amount of money you could save, it may seem ideal to make everything yourself. Realistically, you need to consider how much time will actually take you. How much time do you have to plan your DIY wedding? The number of hours you will dedicate to planning your wedding will vary depending on the type of budget, style, number of guests, and whether or not you have a professional wedding planner to shoulder a bulk of the burden on your behalf.

The average wedding takes upwards of 300 hours to plan. It’s no wonder that brides span their planning over the course of 9 to 12 months. On top of wedding tasks, you need to account for your day job and any other commitments you have. A word of advice from a pro, it will take longer than you anticipate!

In addition to the time it will take, you’re going to have to be brutally honest about your talent. If you’re super crafty with endless skills then you should be able to manage. But if you’re planning on learning how to cross stitch table runners, crochet a wedding dress AND master flower arranging, before your wedding is not be the best time to learn new skills. Don’t take on more than you can do already.

Also, realistically how much help you have on hand? Are your bridesmaids, family, friends, and partner pitching in with your DIY wedding on a regular basis? You can’t craft on a scale this size solo. The workload will be too much. Plus, you won’t be enjoying the once-in-a-lifetime wedding planning process.

Finally, take into account your wedding priorities. If something is important to you to have on your wedding day, then leave it to the experts.

Things you should not DIY

There are a number of aspects of your wedding that you should always leave to the professionals. Save yourself stress, heartache, time, and even money. Seek help from the experts with aspects of your wedding that you want to be absolutely flawless. Hire a reputable vendor who has plenty of experience and can deliver amazing results. Shop around to find a vendor who understands exactly what you want, and can do it to suit your budget.

Entertainment

If you’re imagining your wedding night with everyone dancing the night away, book a professional band or DJ. Someone’s iPod randomly plugged into the venue’s sound system is simply not going to cut it. There are bands, DJ’s, singers, quartets or trios who play at weddings more often than you can imagine. They are true professionals who know how to read a crowd and steer the night the way you want it to go. Speak with them so they know what you expect for the night then leave rest up to them.

Hair and makeup

Sure, you can do this yourself – but it’s your WEDDING DAY! Allow yourself some pampering and feel even more beautiful than you normally do. Get some special attention from someone who knows how to contour flawlessly! Besides, don’t you want to pop in all your photos looking absolutely perfect?

Photography

Once your wedding is over and you’re back from the honeymoon, the only tangible things you will have left from your wedding are photos. This is the one thing that will literally outlast you. This is how your future descendants will remember you.

Photography is an absolute art, and you can’t rely on your guests to take all those shots you really want. Not to mention working with someone that understands a variety of lighting as you go from inside to outside, day to night. Invest in a good wedding photographer whose sole job is to capture the special moments and details of your big day.

Videography

If you want to have video footage of all the best bits, hire a professional videographer to ensure the key moments and fun parts are filmed, while you and your guests are too busy having fun to capture the memories!

Food

Have you ever catered for 250 of your closest friends and family? Probably not. You simply cannot prepare, serve, and coordinate food service at your own wedding without missing out the bulk of the party. Not to mention, not having a commercial kitchen or a commercial license most venues will not permit you to bring your food on the premises. If having plenty of delicious fresh food is a priority, let the caterer look after.

Extensive styling or décor set up

Some venues have restrictions. Check first before you scour the net for self made piñata instructions, vintage drip candles or trending cocktail jug recipes. They may not be able to guarantee early access to give you enough time to set everything up on your wedding day. We cannot stress enough that you do not want your wedding morning to be filled with excessive setup. It’s a time for you to enjoy, with your bridal party, pampering and a mimosa or two.

Jugs of cocktails

OK for a home ceremony, but otherwise most venues won’t allow it. Plus that ice is time-sensitive!

Anything on chair backs (especially if you’re having a large reception)

This one definitely takes a lot more time than you think. Also, if they’re not all identical (for example when 5 of your friends are pitching in to tie them), then the overall look of the event will not be cohesive.

Transportation

Do not drive yourself ANYWHERE or your wedding day. At the end of the night, you want to be able to relax, fall into someone else’s car, and be taken to your hotel. Keep the stress levels to a minimum and give yourself permission to have that extra cocktail.

Flowers

Floral arrangements, bouquets and boutonnieres are far more complicated than you think. It’s not nearly as simple as throwing a few flowers in a vase or pinning together a bunch for a bouquet. There is construction and design behind each and every piece.

Wedding cake

If you love cake, then you’ll want your wedding cake to be both beautiful and delicious. It also has to be big enough to feed all of your guests. Making a big, beautiful cake may be doable, but remember you’ll have to do it as close to the wedding as possible. This is simply not feasible when you’ve got a thousand other things to plan. Leave this one to a pro. Not to mention, similar to your florals, there is serious interior construction involved to support those tiers and keep them from sliding around. You want someone who knows what they are doing and not just someone who makes tasty birthday cakes.

Planning and Coordinating

Some couples enlist the help of a friend who offers their services in lieu of a wedding gift. However, take into consideration that this friend will not be able to experience the wedding as a guest. They will be working the whole night, so it’s not always the best choice.

Trust us. Hire a professional wedding planner. We’ve all visited or joined those various wedding groups on Facebook. We’ve all seen, at least once a day, when someone asks what the point of a wedding planner is. If you’ve asked this question to yourself or even posted it in one of these groups, you need to really ask yourself, do you want to be the bride or do you want to work on your wedding day?

Because it’s work, trust us. It’s work just to get ready and put your dress on. The one day of your life you are pulling out all the beauty stops you don’t want to be sweating while setting tables. Next time you set a table, time yourself and then multiply that by 20-30 all while having 1000 questions thrown at you in an environment you’ve only been in for at a maximum of 48 hours.

Some venues include a coordinator. Be sure to learn the difference so you know how much they will actually be assisting you with before choosing not to hire a professional wedding planner.

Venue Coordinator vs. Wedding Planner

If even having a wedding planner is a question in your mind then you are over thinking it. Yes, you need a Wedding Planner!

Why You Need a Wedding Planner

Things you can DIY

Items that are totally do-able for a DIY wedding include anything you can drop at the venue and go, or drop and the venue can easily set up for you. Things like…

Ceremony decor, send-off cones, and programs

Ceremonies are usually short and simple. It’s just you, your officiant, your family and friends. Use the existing space as is if it is already beautiful, with just a few added touches. You won’t be there for long, and you can move the decor to the reception afterwards.

Following your ceremony, have your guests throw birdseed in lieu of rice. These items are easy for a DIY wedding project. Simply fold up some card stock into a cone, tape on the inside, and fill it with your choice of tossables. Dried lavender, birdseed, rose petals, even sprinkles.

Where programs are concerned, we usually recommend that unless you are doing something non-traditional or unusual during your ceremony to skip it. There is no real need for a program. Just save the money. The fact is, guests will look at your program momentarily and then leave them on their seats or on the ground following the ceremony. If you do want to have programs, however, this is something simple enough to print yourself at home!

Save-the-dates, invitations, place cards, menus, seating plans, guest book, thank you cards… stationery in general!

You can do some or all of these yourself, there are hundreds of free resources online that allow you to design your own DIY wedding stationery and print it off yourself.

Memorial Table/Advise for the Newlyweds

There are plenty of lovely ideas you can create to honor those who will only be at your wedding in spirit. There are also many creative ideas for your guests to share their wisdom and love for the happy newlyweds.

Candy Bar

A table full of sweets can be done easily and affordably.

All you need is a few large bowls or vases, some DIY wedding signage, and you can buy bulk amounts of your favorite sweet treats. Keep it simple. You don’t need 20 different varieties of chocolate. You can sometimes get a discount when buying large amounts from wholesalers or online.

Polaroid Photo Booth

Photo booths are still insanely popular. Why wouldn’t they be!

Instead of spending hundreds on a photo booth and attendant, it’s very easy to make a bunch of props, place them on a table, add a camera or two, set up a backdrop and voila! Instant photo booth! For an even lower cost option, have your guests download the popular wedding app The Guest. Guests can share all the photos they take in a central location for all in attendance to enjoy. It’s incredibly easy to set up in advance. It sends a link to your guests and is available to them for the duration of your wedding weekend.

Simple Table Centerpieces

You really can do anything for your centerpieces! Candles are always lovely. Just check with your venue to determine whether you can have open flames or electric only. Candles come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and styles and provide a beautiful glow. Also easy options for a DIY wedding are lanterns, candelabras, book stacks, table runners or any items that represent you, your interests and your relationship.

It’s best to leave flowers to a professional florist, but it is doable yourself if you are really laid back. You can pick up a bunch of discounted potted plants rather cheaply at Costco or Sam’s Club at the last minute to decorate your tables.

Table Numbers

You can get creative with your table numbers and tie them in with your color palate or theme.

Bonus: there’s only one per table, so you don’t have to make TOO many and you can really make them stand out!

Wedding Favors

Another aspect with endless choices. You really can make anything that you think represents you as a couple and that your guests will enjoy. We highly recommend edible treats. We find that anything else is often left behind and you will be find yourself with a large box of stranded favors at the end of the evening. If you’re looking to save money, however, similar to programs, we usually recommend skipping it. Nine times out of ten guests don’t take the favors home with them. Especially if it is a personalized item.

Dance Lessons

One word: YouTube. You can make this entirely your own style. Maybe just learn a few moves, then invite everyone onto the dance floor to join in. Get your bridal party to join once you’re ready, or enlist them to get others up and dancing.

Decor

All your personal touches can be done by you. Just keep it simple. It’s easy to get carried away, after all. Check if there are any restrictions with your venue in regards to hanging things or other limitations. You will also want to confirm how early you will have access for setup. Have a backup plan just incase your setup time is minimal since you also need to get dressed and ready to walk down the aisle as well!

Writing Your Own Vows

Give yourselves plenty of time to write your vows. It is rare that these words come quickly, easily or perfectly. Do some research online for inspiration, read books, watch movies…most of all, keep it simple. Just be true to yourself and your partner.

Think about what you love about your partner. Write down the promises you want to make to each other. Express commitment to your bond and your desire to be a team.

The key things to keep in mind for anything DIY is to keep everything simple, realistic and doable. Allow yourself more time than you think. Don’t overextend yourself, your budget, and your friendships by trying to do too much. You also want to enjoy your entire wedding day and not stress halfway down the aisle about something left undone.

There are always exceptions. If you want to make a playlist and set it on Auto Play on you iPod, go ahead! Happy with a simple no-fuss one-tier cake, then enlist a friend to make it and deliver it. If you are planning the most laid-back backyard wedding ever, then do everything yourself. Just remember not to get excited and go overboard with more, more and more. Just remember, when you are having a DIY wedding, always always always delegate.

It’s important to note that if anything goes “wrong” with your DIY wedding ventures. Things like the flowers being kind of droopy or you didn’t print enough menus or nobody used the photo booth…it doesn’t matter. Anything that happens on your wedding day will pale in comparison to the fact that you are there to celebrate your love with your friends and family. Just enjoy and and have a fabulous DIY wedding day.