As every bride knows, weddings are an expensive business. We all want our days to be filled with all the lovely things we’d like to include, but sometimes our budget just doesn’t stretch that far. And yet so many things can be hand-made to keep costs low – without losing any of the style. Here’s how you can add personality to your day by making easy DIY items which will be bespoke to you and lower the budget at the same time:
1) Every bride’s favourite DIY project: Invitations!
Yes, there’s been a recent trend towards making rather than buying the wedding stationery, particularly when it comes to invitations, but this doesn’t mean that you’ll be jumping on the band wagon by joining all the crafty brides who have gone before you in making their wedding invitations. By designing and making your own, you’ll get exactly what you want: the perfect colours, the perfect fonts and the perfect embellishments. Every piece of information you want included, can be. They can be as simple or as complicated as you want them to be, but if you’re a first time crafter, sometimes simple is more effective – and also easier for you to produce! However you decide to design them, you’ll be proud as punch when the compliments start rolling in after they’ve been sent!
Invitations are strangely satisfying to send when they have been DIY'ed!
2) Take your seats please: the table plan
Whether you’re after the traditional frame-mounted plan or something a bit different, table plans are a great way to use your DIY skills, incorporate the theme of your day and add a bit of personality at the same time. They can be made using anything that takes your fancy: old suitcases with lists of names mounted on them, hat stands with your guest lists hanging from them, vintage mirrors with the names painted on, twigs and wishing tags....the world is your oyster when it comes to DIY table plans! And don’t forget that escort cards, as an alternative to a traditional table plan, are also easy to make.
3) A gift to your guests: favours
Favours are a great way of letting your personality shine through on your big day. Fancy treating your guests to mini pots of jam at your country garden wedding? Go for it! Want to hand paint baubles for your Christmas wedding favours? What’s stopping you?! Yes, there may be a lot of work involved, but your guests will come away with a memento of your wedding which will remind them of the effort and love put into your day each time they set eyes on it!
Homemade favours are an easy DIY project for brides!
4) The little extras: sweetie buffets and photo booths
Ok, so your DIY skills probably don’t extend far enough to actually making the glass jars needed for a sweetie buffet or the camera and tripod for a photo booth (!) but you don’t need to leave these little extra aspects of your wedding day to the professionals. Sweetie buffets are so easy to prepare yourself, by collecting antique vases, recycling large storage and food jars from your kitchen and sourcing vintage cake stands. Make some pretty labels to tell people what’s what, stamp some sweetie bags with your wedding date and all you need to add are the sweets! As a twist on this, how about a cake stall for a village fete themed wedding? Photo booths are also relatively straightforward; once you’ve got your camera and tripod in place, collect large frames for guests to pose through, make moustaches and lips mounted on sticks and signs for people to hold, and raid your local fancy dress shop for cheap wigs – your guests will have hours of fun, and you’ll get some great photos!
A sweetie buffet is an easy way to add a different, but still personal touch to your day
5) The centre of attention: table centrepieces
Centrepieces really do pull the theme of the wedding together, and you can really go to town with them. Why not book a floristry course and learn how to make gorgeous displays to grace your tables? Alternatively, you could think outside the box and create beautiful focal points such as stacked vintage books, stylishly adorned birdcages or a grouping of ornate frames to really generate a talking point amongst your guests.
6) Colourful crafts: confetti cones
Whether made from intricate lace doilies stored in a gorgeous wicker basket for a rustic feel, or made from colourful cones of scrapbooking paper held in a cupcake stand, confetti cones are such a simple DIY project – and making sure your guests are provided will lots of confetti will ensure that you end up with colourful photographs too! Why not create personalised ‘newspaper’ on your home computer to make cones from, and then presenting them in a vintage suitcase? You can even make the confetti by collecting the petals from your garden and drying them – something for true DIY brides to try!
7) Bows, bunting and bouquets: venue decorations
It’s easy to dress up a bare wall with a string of colourful bunting, or a forgotten corner with giant bouquets of paper flowers. Alternatively, why not pin up lines of photos of you and your groom from years gone by, and let them tell your story of how you came to be there, together, on your wedding day? Strings of paper vines and colourful, bright paper pom-poms suspended from the ceiling can really jazz up a reception room or marquee, and create a colourful, fun atmosphere.
8) Be our guest: guest books and other ideas
Instead of having the standard shop-bought guest book to record the messages and well-wishes from friends and family, how about having a go at personalising your own? Buy a plain note book and embellish it with ribbon, bows, buttons, glitter....in fact, anything that takes your fancy! Or if you fancy something a little different, why not think about creating your own wish tree from vintage tags and spray-painted branches, or record your guests with a hand drawn finger print tree? Just leave some multi-coloured ink pads out for your guests to stamp their finger print on your hand drawn tree – simple but effective! You could even create a signing frame from a beloved photo or even a hand drawn image framed on a plan cardboard frame – just ask your guests to sign the frame!
9) Have your cake and eat it too: bake your own wedding cake!....
Your cake says a lot about your wedding: it will be in all of your photos, be a centrepiece in your reception hall and be given to all of your guests after the event. And yes, while this does put pressure on you to perform, if you or someone you know is a great cake baker, why not DIY your wedding cake too? Be it a stack of deliciously tempting cup cakes, mini iced cakes, or the traditional three tiers, a cake baked by you or someone special to you will go down a treat!
10) ....And to top it all off: cake toppers
And to go with that all-important cake, how about a homemade cake topper?! Whether you decide to go for an elegant floral display to adorn the most important cake you’ll ever eat, get busy with the polymer clay and create your own personalised figures, or even use little wooden dolls or knitted characters to top the cake off, you can add your own touch and personality to your wedding cake through your cake toppers.
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| Homemade Cake Toppers |
However you decide to DIY your wedding, being creative and crafty is a great way of adding that personal touch. And it’ll keep costs down too – bargain!
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