The Do's and Don'ts of a DIY Wedding

Written By: Cassidy Will 

The Do’s and Don’ts of DIY (DO IT YOURSELF) Weddings

Let’s face it we all want to save a few bucks wherever we can! Lucky for us and our wallets the rapidly growing trend of DIY (do it yourself) weddings is a great way to keep some green in our wallets! But….. it can also lead to some major hair loss, feet stomping, and downpour of tears! Who really wants to be that bride.... While being crafty can be relaxing, rewarding, and a jolly good time, doing everything for your own wedding can lead to stress, aggregation, and downright disappointment. Let’s try and remember this is YOUR big day, YOU should enjoy every step along the way!

The Do’s:

Printed Material – Wedding day material

This is where you can let your creativeness take over! All those little cute details that you have been pinning, or ripping out of the doctor’s office magazines can really come to life here! Making wedding day printed material can really make your wedding pop, and add that extra “wow” factor that everyone strives for! While this can be time consuming work, it is also well worth the pennies saved, and not only that, but it can been a good time for you and your bridesmaids or fiancée to sit down, enjoy a glass of wine, and a favorite TV show, while putting your hands to work!  So head down to your local craft store, get some ideas, and get your creative on!

** A few printed material things you can do yourself - programs, place cards, menus, signage, menus, favor tags

Invites and Save the Dates

Similar to the printed material, invites and save the dates are great way to save some money that you’d probably much rather be spending on the honeymoon! Here are two ways to go about this:

Creative – artsy direction:  Again this may be a smidge time consuming, but well worth the outcome! Save the dates are the first things your guests are going to see that show cases your wedding followed by the invites. This is where you can let your creative flag fly, take a trip down to the local craft store, and make your invites and save the dates POP!

Click of the button – Get online (your laptop is probably in your lap anyways) and create your own printable save the date and invitation. YES, this may seem lame, or like you’re not putting much thought into things, but real life takes over sometimes, and simple, elegant, and speed take priority. My suggestion - go online, choose your favorite engagement photos, and create your own masterpiece. This saves so much time and energy, and not to mention $$$$$$

When choosing how and what to do for your save the dates and invites, keep in mind, you have to write all the address, lick all the seals, and slap on all the stamps!

Guest book

Keep it simple, keep it classy, and keep it cute! Come on, let’s be honest you’ve been on Pinterest since he’s popped the question. You have loads of ideas for guest books!  And if not, you’ll find some now that you’ve read this post! This will save you time and money, and also give you something personal that you can later use as décor in your newlywed home! Hop on Pinterest or ImgFav and start gathering some ideas!

** A few ideas for a guest book: having guest sign – a large wine/Champaign bottle, a finished or unfinished bench, a decorated booklet, photo guest book, finger print on a canvas.

Hair & Makeup – DEPENDING ON THE TYPE OF PERSON YOU ARE!!!!!

Some of us want to be pampered, and some of us would prefer do our own hair and makeup rather than spending that extra couple hundred dollars. Either way is totally acceptable. But here are a few things to think about before making that big of a decision about your big day!

**PROS of doing your own makeup and hair – some of us (NOT ALL) know best how to do our own hair and makeup. If you’re that type, you know how you like your hair, and what type of makeup looks best on you. So if you’re that type this is a great way to cut out that little extra expense!

** CONS of doing your own hair and makeup – If you are that type of person that loves to be pampered, doing your own hair and makeup is a quick way to stress yourself out! If you’re like me, I want my wedding day to be care free and even more important worry free!  Another thing to think about if you’re leaning towards doing the makeup aspect yourself – that even if you think you know what makeup looks best on you for your day to day life - remember that professionals have been trained and have done wedding makeup dozens of times. They have all sorts of tricks up their sleeves to make you look your absolute best on that very special day!

The Don’ts:

DO NOT DO YOUR OWN CAKE! I REPEAT DO NOT DO YOUR OWN CAKE!

As fun as it may sound to stand in the kitchen for HOURS the night before your wedding with grandma baking a cake for one of the most important days of your life, for a hundred people or more, that fun time, can turn into a thunder storm in a really short amount of time. Let’s take a second to think about this…..

Who will deliver the cake?

Do you really have that kind of baking experience?

Can you 1000000% rely on grandma to pull this off?

These are just a few thoughts that should be crossing your mind when pondering if you should bake your own cake or not! Realistically you should be doing everything possible to make your life as stress free and worry free on the day of your wedding. This is your day to enjoy marrying your best friend, not worrying about if the cake will make it out of the back of grandpas van okay…

PHOTOS!!!!!! NO – NO – NO

As scary as the pricing can be on photographers sometimes, I know it is tempting to want to skimp on your wedding photos. Thinking “Well, my memory is pretty good, I don’t need THAT many photos to remember my special day” Let me just tell you, that is crazy talk!! As good of an idea as it may sound to have good old Bobby from college take your wedding photos, because he took a photography class back in freshmen year, it’s a awful idea!!

After your wedding day is over, all the guest have gone home, and you’ve come back from your honeymoon, all you have left of this incredibly special and important day is your wedding photos. And how sad will it be if Bobby had a few too many glasses of wine, and half your photos are of people’s feet, or he forgot to take the lens cap off……

In all seriousness, your photos are something you don’t want to be stingy with. These are your memories, something you’re going to want to show your kids and grandkids. You want a photographer that is going to be clicking that snap button more times than you can count, catching every moment that you may not even realize you’re having. 

COORDINATING!!

Yes, this may sound like I’m saying this because I’m a planner, and I want as much business as possible. But really, truly, this is your day. YOU should enjoy every aspect of it. And how are you going to do that if you’re constantly worrying about where the chairs should go, how the napkins should be folded, and why there are so many people standing around not seeming to do much of anything.

Hiring a coordinator, even if for just the day of, relieves so much unneeded stress. Let your planner deal with all the vendors, and making your appointments. Keep your hands clean, and let the professionals do all the hard work. This is your day, you deserve to be 100% happy throughout the whole day, wake up to sleep!

MUSIC

This may seem like a task your best friend can do, because she owns a mac, and knows what kind of music you like. But….. don’t you want your BFF out on the dance floor with you, enjoying every beat! You can hire a DJ that best suits you, and knows how to get a tired crowd up and going, and when to play the right type of music. DJ’s know best how to get a crowd involved, and having a boring wedding because the music wasn’t playing half the time, the equipment wasn’t working, is a quick way to turn a fun wedding into a dull wedding. Here are a few things to think about, the DJ will have his whole table set up ready to go, he knows the technology of it, and there is less likely of a chance that things will go wrong. Ultimately do you really want the Mic to go out during your maid of honor’s speech?

There are so many things that you can nitpick and dissect about the do’s and don’ts of a DIY wedding. These are just a few pointers from my experience! I hope you enjoyed reading, and I hope I’ve talked you out of doing some of the DON’TS!