DIY-ing your own wedding is all the rage these days. While there is still a strong market – and a strong case – for procuring elements of your wedding ready-made, the popularity of sites like Etsy and Pinterest only goes to show the growing interest in the complete personalisation of individual couples’ wedding experiences.
It’s possible that this growing boom in DIY weddings is partly attributable to the effects of the recession: according to the New York Times, sales of craft materials have been increasing year on year since around 2007. Weddings can be expensive to organise, and making things oneself rather than indirectly paying for someone else’s labour can slash costs by a considerable margin. It’s important to choose where to invest your spending: some wedding expenses, such the venue and the photographer are tricky to compromise on, but these can be offset by some tactical DIY choices.
Wedding invitations in particular are a silent budget-killer: opting for high-quality ready-made invitations sets the average couple back $300-$500 which, in comparison with the cost of the raw materials, is vast. If you’re working on a shoestring it’s worth considering making your own: while the initial bulk outlay for homemade invitations may seem large, the only significant investment overall is your time.
If you’re worried about your crafting abilities, it’s probably still cheaper to buy ready-made card parts than to pay for the whole card: neat surrounds and die-cut motifs are widely available and relatively inexpensive to buy, and lettering stencils can be used again and again. These may also be useful if you’re short on time: if scoring infinite paper hearts or writing ‘Steve and Helen’ for the thirtieth time in your best writing is sapping your will to live, it’s time to cut some corners.
Play to your creative strengths. If your fiancé is a fantastic illustrator, commission a little drawing of the pair of you and use it as your motif. If you’re a secret calligrapher, now is the time to put your skills to good use. Don’t stretch yourself to a task you aren’t comfortable with, or you’ll spend money and time feeling stressed, inadequate and dissatisfied with the end result.
Since you aren’t paying for someone else’s time, you can decide how to allocate your budget. There are some elements of invitation-making worth splashing out on: quality materials like good card-stock, printer cartridges and glue will save you a great deal of heartache and wastage. And don’t forget to send them off in style: pick unusual, high-quality envelopes (www.allcolourenvelopes.co.uk has a stunning selection) to get your guests excited the moment their mail hits the doormat.
