Today, DIY weddings are all the rage. With the average wedding costing thousands of pounds, more and more brides, are choosing to go down the DIY route. From the decorations and flowers to the favours and food, many brides are choosing DIY weddings.
While going down the DIY route can be a little more stressful, the amount of money it will save you, makes it worthwhile. The best thing about going DIY with your wedding is that you don’t have to go it alone, you can get all your family and friends involved.
If you are thinking of planning a DIY wedding, it can be a little overwhelming knowing where to start. That’s why we thought we would share our amazing tips and ideas for planning the perfect DIY wedding with you.
For everything you need to know about planning a DIY wedding, have a read of our seven tips, below:
1. Allow lots of time
The one downside to planning a DIY wedding is the fact that it takes more time and effort. But, the amount of money you will save, makes the extra time and effort worthwhile. Plus, putting in the extra effort also means that your wedding will be more personal.
For DIY wedding success, ensure that you start organising your wedding at least a year in advance. This gives you enough time to learn how to do everything – such as flower arranging, without having to rush it.
2. Planning is essential
When it comes to organising a DIY wedding, the most important thing is planning. To ensure that everything gets finished in time, it’s crucial that you make a plan. This plan should include dates of when each thing needs to be finished by, such as decorations.
Create a list of everything that needs doing, from coming up with ideas to making the decorations. Make sure that everything that needs doing is on your list. Then, once you have your initial list, you can then come up with a schedule for when everything needs to be done by.
3. Get your friends and family involved
One of the best things you can do to ensure that your DIY wedding goes to plan is get as many people involved as possible. You might think that it’s a burden having to help you out, but everyone loves getting involved with wedding planning.
The people who care about you like your parents, siblings, and best friends, will want to be as involved as possible. Obviously, they don’t want to overstep the mark when it comes to getting involved, but they would love to help you out.
Get everyone together for a meeting and discuss what it is that you need help with and ask who would like to do what. Aim to assign two people to each job, so that you have enough help with each thing.
4. Don’t make your own cake
Unless you are a fantastic cake designer, don’t attempt to make your own cake. Trust us on this, making your own wedding cake will only end in disaster. It’s best to leave the cake making to someone who has the skills and experience to do a great job.
Just because you can’t make your wedding cake yourself, that doesn’t mean it has to be expensive. If you have a friend who is great at making cakes, perhaps you could ask them to design your cake? You could pay them for this, or you could ask to have it as a wedding present from them, instead of a gift.
If you don’t have anyone to ask, look for local bakers who have experience with wedding cakes. Going through a smaller company will be a lot cheaper, than hiring a larger company.
5. Choose your decoration ideas carefully
Don’t be tempted to do the easiest decorations, take the time to learn how to create amazing ones. Yes, it might take a little more effort, but it will be worth it when your venue is looking awesome on your wedding day.
If you are stuck for ideas, don’t panic. Spend some time visiting wedding fairs to get an idea of the type of decorations you would like. Once you know what you want, you can then research how to make each thing yourself. No matter how difficult the instructions look, don’t panic, it’s often much easier than it seems.
To make creating your decorations as easy as possible, get all the equipment that you need, beforehand. Things like craft scissors, a hot melt glue gun, a guillotine, and lots of different fabrics, are essentials.
6. Book the week before your wedding off of work
It might seem like a long time, but trust us on this, you will need to have a week free. This will give you time to check that everything has been done and that you have everything you need to make your day special.
Ask your chief bridesmaid to book a couple of days off too, so that she can help you to get everything sorted out. You could also ask your parents, siblings, and close relatives to lend a hand as well.
7. Keep the day before the wedding free
As you will be making all your own flower arrangements and button holes, it’s a good idea to keep the day before the wedding free. All the buttonholes and flower arrangements will need to be made the day before your wedding. So it’s important that you keep the day free, to work on these.
While you could just keep the afternoon free, you don’t want to be rushing. Start making the flower arrangements in the morning, and then once they are done, you can relax for the rest of the day.
Once you have finished each arrangement or buttonhole, store them in the fridge. Storing your flowers in the fridge will help them to stay looking fresh for longer.
While planning a DIY wedding is a lot of work, it’s definitely, worth the time and effort. Not only will you save thousands of pounds, but you will also be able to get your friends and family more involved.
