You’ve made the decision to be your own wedding planner, with the help of friends and family of course. You’ve set your date, made your budget and guest list, and set your timeline. The venue and band are booked and the themes are chosen. Now for everything else. Here are 10 tips for the DIY bride.
- Find the beauty in simplicity. Use the season to your advantage. Autumn leaves make beautiful centerpieces and wild spring flowers are great in simple bouquets.
- Mix professional services with DIY. For example, have your artsy cousin design the invitation, but have them professional printed.
- Who says bouquets have to be fresh flowers? You can use dried flowers, artificial flowers, or no flowers at all like at this beautiful ceremony.
- Your catering options will depend on the size of your wedding. For smaller weddings, you may want to use a family member or friend who is an aspiring home chef. Get with them and toss around some ideas. Have them create a tasting menu for you and your groom to approve.
- Center pieces can be beautiful and simple enough to put together quickly. A flower under an upside down wine glass makes a great tea candle holder, and adds a pop of color wherever you need it.
- No need to hire a wedding photographer. A freelance photographer will work just as well. Better yet, buy a bunch of disposable cameras and leave them lying around. Let the guests be the photographers.
- Wedding favors can be tricky. You want something the guest will be able to enjoy after the wedding is over, but also fits your theme. Monogrammed soap is elegant and useful. Also instead of giving out rice to throw, use colored birdseed. Cut a square of colored mesh, put a small scoop of the birdseed in the middle and tie up the corners with ribbon.
- Communicate clearly to everyone how you want things done, and how you want them to look. For things like flower arrangements and place settings, it is helpful to have a picture to show exactly how you want it to look.
- Enjoy your day. You’ve worked so hard to get to this point, don’t forget to sit back and revel in your accomplishments.
- Bridesmaid dresses do not have to be dreaded. Give your bridesmaids a few simple guidelines like this bride did and let them pick their own dress:
“The bridesmaids dresses were all from different places, including thrift stores, vintage stores, Etsy, designed with seamstresses, hand-me-down dresses and department stores… They did have some guidelines for choosing a dress: tea length, pastel, vintage or vintage inspired. Most of the girls paid $10 to $20 for their dress and no more.”
We know how important your special day is and how much you’ve planned for it. Contact us to see how we can help make your DIY wedding a success story you will be telling for years to come.
