Do It Yourself Wedding ideas

Since wedding season is right around the corner, I thought I'd post some fun DIY ideas brides can do to help save money and stick to a budget, based off some of what we did for my own wedding.

DIY Save the Dates

These are actually something I hear only my generation does, as my mom hadn't heard of them prior to when myself and a lot of my friends got married. I really wanted to have Save the Date magnets but we didn't want to spend a ton of money on them so I decided to make them myself. A friend of my sister's took the photo and I did all the graphic design work on them. I had them printed on glossy paper at Office Max and ordered business card magnets from Dick Blick and applied them myself. I think they turned out pretty nice!

DIY Favors and Placecard Holders

Hubby and I thought personalized candy tins would be really for our guests and found out that it was affordable so we got the supplies and I got crackin' on em.

 

Wilton Favor Tins purchased at Party City (sticker included and created/printed via Word template)

Red Ribbon purchased at Michael's, applied via hot glue gun

Colored M&Ms (red and ivory) purchased at Party City

We also included take home placecard favors, as we had a sit-down dinner at our reception where guests were assigned to a table and I wanted a personalized feel to each one. We also wanted to incorporate a bell to ring for when people wanted us to kiss. My mom found these 3-in-1 bells that worked perfect (hearts played a big part in our theme).

 

Black cardstock purchased online, Red Ribbon from Michael's, labels made on the computer and printed off, put together via rubber cement, hot glue gun and Xacto knife. Bell/placecard holder purchased from Koyal Wholesale online.

DIY Wedding Programs

So I do a lot of graphic design stuff so it was only natural for me to make these myself, however I wasn't sure where to get them printed at that didn't cost a fortune! A friend of mine had a template for hers that she had printed off at a printer so I got the name from them and had them printed ours as well - I highly recommend Spinn Print for large print quantities. While their site may look a bit crazy, they have great pricing and a quick turnaround, plus they fold them for you too! You just upload to their site, wait 24-48 hours to hear from them (if you haven't give them a call, as they sometimes get busy with orders and it might not have gotten to their attention yet) and you'll have your programs in just a few days. I ordered ours about 10 days before the wedding and they were there with more than 5 days to spare.

DIY Flowers

When we started planning we looked at several different florist vendors and were kind of surprised that some of the lower packages were $500-1000 and included some things that we didn't really feel we needed. My aunt used to do floral arrangements at one point in her life and has experience and my mom's pretty crafty too so between the 2 of them they figured the could do all the flowers and decorations themselves for a fraction of the cost - if I recall, it only cost a few hundred and turned out just as nice!

I wanted roses since our colors were red and black and silver but since so many people in our family have allergies and real roses can get expensive we opted for silk which is a great money saver as well and looks just as real. My mom and aunt collected 40% off coupons weekly from people for places like Hobby Lobby and Michael's and the day after Valentine's Day my mom went to Michael's and cleared out their roses, as they were all on clearance after the holiday.

Also, pick venues that are already beautiful and don't require a ton of decorations - this will help save on cost.

My bouquet (mostly red) and Bridesmaid bouqets (mostly white) made by my aunt

Bouquet holders purchased at Michael's

One of many pew bows and our Unity Candle holder (ignore stuff in the background) made by my mom

Unity Candle set purchased at Hobby Lobby

Candelabras provided by our church, Ivory and flowers done by my mom and my aunt

The end results of the chapel

Aisle runner purchased at a craft store (Joann's Fabric if I recall correctly)

Part of our reception table centerpieces by my mom and aunt

We had little square mirrors (provided by our reception hall) with rose petals and votives that these sat on

Vases and stones purchased at Walmart

So remember, if you have a wedding on a budget - don't forget that you can DIY a lot of the time for a fraction of the cost and don't forget to check places like Hobby Lobby and Michael's and other craft stores as they have a ton of wedding stuff for great prices!