So many of our real brides and grooms are choosing DIY weddings, creating the stationery, decorations and cake themselves or with the help of family and friends. Doing some of your big day preparations yourselves can save you money and is a great way to introduce your own personalities and memories. When your weekends are full of w-day planning, it’s also the perfect opportunity to spend time with family and friends crafting together.
All of this comes with one word of caution, as per the Wedding Ideas mantra. Your dress, venue and photographer are all elements that are vital to your wedding and, as such, we recommend that you get the best you can. So unless you’re a sewing superwoman, leave the dress making to the professionals and get stuck in with these DIY wedding ideas instead!
Stationery
Invite a few crafty friends over to create your wedding stationery. Use our real weddings for inspiration and then get making! Whether you design your save the date cards, invitations and seating plan on the computer or hand make each one, you can create the exact design you’ve imagined and make the stationery truly personal to you as a couple.
Food
There are several DIY wedding ideas when it comes to the food. If you know a brilliant baker or are one yourself, why not bake your own cake? Allow plenty of time beforehand for baking and creating all the decorations to avoid last minute stress and leave a list of set up instructions for the big day when you’ll be busy getting ready yourself.
Depending on your venue, you can also do some of the wedding food yourself. The most popular option for this is to leave the wedding breakfast to the pros and just supply the evening food yourself. Ask friends and family to each bring an item to effortlessly create a buffet your guests will be drooling over. Think cheeseboards, quiches, pies, cold meats, salads and desserts.
Flowers
If you’re a dab hand at flower arranging or willing to learn, buying your blooms at a local flower market and arranging them yourself can save money in your big day budget. You’ll need vases, a stash of oasis and pretty ribbons to pull it off.
Another option is to grow some of your flowers yourself. This will mean choosing from flowers that are in season at the time of your wedding, so if you have your heart set on a specific bloom, a florist is probably the way to go.
Favours
Another very popular way to DIY your wedding is to create your own favours. Options abound with brides and grooms choosing to collect and fill sweetie jars, bake their own edible gifts, make their own candles and even brew their own alcoholic beverages. Wherever your skills or passions lie, there’s bound to be a way you can turn it into a fantastic favour for your guests.
Decorations
The easiest of DIY wedding ideas are the decorations because there are so many options and step-by-step tutorials available. Whether you sew your own bunting, collect jars and candles, pick up some fairy lights or get creative with your centrepieces, the possibilities are endless and definitely not limited to rustic weddings. Add photo frames in your colour palette around the room or create an accent decoration to highlight your theme like metallics, sparkles and feathers for 1920’s opulence.
Film it yourself!
If you’ve followed our advice and hired a brilliant photographer to capture the day you become husband and wife, you might not have the budget left to hire a videographer too. Among the top of the list of newlywed’s regrets is not videoing their wedding. Don’t let it be one of yours! Enlist the help of a few good friends to take it in turns filming parts of your big day. Just imagine how wonderful it will feel to relive the ‘I dos’, the speeches, the first dance…
