Essentially all of my decor was made by myself with the help of friends and family. Most of these ideas came from Pinterest. Overall, every project I started was easily accomplished without much difficulty or time. Some things I knew would be tedious, but I scheduled myself enough time to take care of it without stress. This is part of why it is so important to stay organized for your wedding. If you have a lot of DIY ideas, you need to be planning out your time specifically so you can get it done (not the week of or night before the wedding). My book can really help you get organized.
See? Even now I am getting distracted. This is why I was ultra organized with my DIY projects. Putting them off to clean the house or go out to dinner would have put me severely behind and cause a great deal of unnecessary stress.
Even though I love DIY projects, the ones I can actually accomplish anyway, there are some parts of my DIY wedding planning I would love to go back and redo. As an experienced DIY who was planning on a budget, I am here to give you my DIY opinion.
Invitations - Buy Professional
I tried to add a personal touch to my invitation envelopes based on an idea I found on Pinterest. All you had to do was put a lace doily on the corner of the invitation, spray paint the envelope your desired colors, let it dry for a moment and Voila! Beautiful and handmade envelopes.
This was my first wedding planning DIY experiment and it went horribly, horribly wrong. First, if you have more than 30 invitations it is a terrible idea. Second, you need high quality cardstock envelopes to endure the weight of the spray paint. Third, you better plan on coming back to the envelope and spraying the back so you don't have weird overspray around the edges. Fourth, you have to wait at least 15 minutes before peeling the doily off. Fifth, the doily will rip apart within six sprays. Sixth, Krylon will NOT spray evenly and leave a horrible, horrible envelope mess.
Just don't do it.
Centerpieces - DIY
I believe making your own centerpieces is much better than buying predone centerpieces, expensive floral arrangements, or basic candles and vases. You get to customize a look that is unique to your wedding and save money at the same time. If you want floral centerpieces, it is a lot of fun to get together with your bridesmaids the day before the wedding with flowers you purchased in bulk and create the arrangements.
Wedding Favors - Buy Professional
If you choose to have wedding favors, buy them completed or choose a vendor who will customize the favors for you. Trying to make the favors yourself will slowly drive you insane. The pain of creating your own favors is especially harsh when your guests don't take the favors with them.
Signs and Miscellaneous Decor - DIY
It is difficult to buy any signs or other miscellaneous decor for your wedding professionally. Usually this decor is highly customized and extremely expensive to get from a vendor. It can also be hard to find the specific vendor that came make any misc decor. This is the perfect time to browse Pinterest and get inspiration or how-to's for your misc decor.
Guest Book - Buy Professional
If you have some digital media skills, like I did, feel free to build your own guest book. Otherwise, look at Amazon to find a pretty guest book for the ceremony and reception. You can also see if your photographer can make a photo book with spaces for signatures. They might even add some fun questions for your guests to answer.
Wedding Album - DIY
This is not specifically for the wedding, but rather a result. Your photographer will probably offer to build your wedding book for you. Usually this is expensive and they do not put all of the pictures you want in the album. Go to a photo book creator website, such as Shutterfly, to build your own album. If you choose this route, you can make the building process as easy or as difficult as you like, so don't worry if you have no experience making a photo book.
What is your DIY opinion? Is Pinterst your best friend, unimportant, or your worst enemy? Let me know in the comments!
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