What Are The Best And Worst Things To DIY For a Wedding?

View Quoted Comment This is really cool!! I think the flowers inside would be a perfect addition to the centerpiece. I can see how they might be tricky to assemble, but I'm sure they'll turn out beautifully once everything is all completed! Thank you for sharing!

View Quoted Comment I, not surprisingly, have been having the same issue as well. What I’ve decided to do is wait until closer to the date when I have a close head count and order less of them than I would have to do right now. I might try looking at some gem shops in the area too, but I doubt I’ll get lucky in finding them any cheaper.

View Quoted Comment But I plan on buying the agates separately and using a Cricut to handmake everyone’s so you don’t have to pay for someone else to do it. It’ll be time consuming but will probably save me a lot of money in the end

People think that DIY saves money but they do not factor in their time at minimum wage per hour spent and sanity. If you don't have a crafty bone in your body, your wedding isn't the time to start. Buy crafts from Etsy already made.

Catering is a huge no. Unless it's in your backyard, even the parks department requires a licensed caterer (even a restaurant). There is so much that can go wrong and again, you don't save money.

Do not build furniture unless you plan to keep it. Arches and whatnot can be rented locally cheaper than supplies/labor (from the first sanding/cutiing to the last transportation). Again time and sanity are never factored in.

Two of the best things you can DIY are invites/stationary and fresh flower bouquets. Canva.com has thousands of free wedding templates and there are even more free/inexpensive fonts/clipart, etc online.

Fiftyflowers.com has a plethora of fresh flowers cheaper than most silks. The construction of a bouquet is pretty easy with countless how-to videos online.

View Quoted Comment I agree that many people often do not factor in time, skill, or patience! I tried to create my own bouquet out of wooden flowers, and quickly learned I don't have the skill for it, lol. However, I can say that seeing the price of weddings is often enough motivation to DIY as much as you can. I also agree that catering is probably the trickiest thing to DIY for your own wedding, and should probably be avoided. Thank you for the recommendations on the sites for DIY stationary and flowers!

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Look outside the box for non-wedding alternatives. For nearly every item labelled 'wedding", you can find something something similar that is often better quality for half the price by getting creative with where you shop.

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It was a pain gathering all the flowers from various stores, and I was left with a lot of product, but it was the cheapest option, and the most fun option. Actually one of my bridesmaids basically made all of them ( I only made the blue one ). I think that bridesmaid basically spent 4-6 hours just to create all of them. To be honest, the reason why I never wanted to hire a florist was because I knew it was going to be hard and difficult for said florist to search for multiple different colors of flowers, and gather them all, and create corresponding bouquets. Ahahaha... Could you imagine the price of that?

View Quoted Comment Ugh the pricing on flowers is just crazy! I think the flowers have been the most stressful part of wedding planning for me, but I think that's partly because I have no clue what I want to do for them lol. Sounds like you saved some money and also had a fun time putting these together with your bridesmaids! Nice work!

I think the key to DIY is to keep it simple! I'm doing a few projects:

1. Propagating succulents for favors/escort cards.

I'm taking clippings and growing small succulents. I order some blank plant tags. I'll write each guest/couple's name of the front and their table number on the back! I have some fancy calligraphy pens, but I'll need to practice a bit first!

2. Folded napkin/card holder

In lieu of menus at the place settings, we're doing thank you cards. Since it's a lavender and sage wedding, I've included a stem of dried lavender with each!

3. Centerpieces

I ordered mirror plates, vases, and floating candles. I'll submerged baby's breath to make something like this:

View Quoted Comment I totally agree to keep DIY projects simple!! Those are some really neat ideas that you have, the thank you cards at each place setting are thoughtful! And I love the centerpiece idea, super simple to put together, but looks beautiful! Thank you for sharing!

I've DIYed our centerpieces, ceremony decor, bouquets, boutionerres, my ribbon flower bouquet (still a work in progress), signs, invitations, and escort cards! We've had to push the wedding back several times (thanks CoVID) so I've had a LOT of time to DIY things.

View Quoted Comment Oh wow, that's awesome that you were able to DIY so many things for your wedding! Having a lot of time to work on them is never a bad thing either. Do you have any pictures of the projects you worked on?

So I am a crafter and come from a family of crafters. The biggest thing I see that people go wrong with DIY is they take the I very seriously and try to do everything themselves and get overwhelmed before asking for help. Then when people come to help it in a very stressful situation with a time crunch.


The best thing to do with DIY is:
ONE reach out and ask people who already do it for advice when planning a project. Facebook has hundreds of crafting groups with people who just want to share their crafts and advice.
TWO ask for help to begin with and make a day out of it. Make it fun.
THREE pick projects that you can realistically get accomplished in your time frame and skill level of you and your help.
FOUR price out all equipment and supplies you need to do your project verse having someone else do it for you. DIY doesn't always mean cheaper either. Some supplies are more expensive when bought from a store then going though a whole sale market. Trust me I sew and whole sale linen I can get for $4-10 a yard sometimes less where in the store it's $8-14 a yard.
FIVE be flexible and patient with your help and yourself. Sometimes a DIY project doesn't turn out the way you want it to the first time you try. getting angry or frustrated with yourself will only make it harder the second time. Remember you are most likely learning something new and it's ok to make mistakes.
My friends and I follow the distance rule. Example: If it's a center piece and you put it in the center of the table and you can't see the flaw then Good enough. If people have to get in the items personal space; they probably shouldn't be standing on the table anyways.
Just remembered this is your wedding day, but you spend more time getting ready for it then actually there. So try to make everything you do for that one day fun.
As for what I'm DIY. I love arranging flowers so I will be doing all my own flower arrangementa. And as I'm allergic to real flowers I can do it a head of time and not stress about it closer to the date. We are also looking at doing an art work for our guest book out of wood that we will carve and use epoxie to make special. My fiance is a carpenter and makes custom cabinets, we both carve. So it's in our skill set and something we can work on together that we both enjoy. Invitation and safe the dates will mostly be DIY as well.

We have a pretty low budget for a 75-85 person wedding, and our venue took up nearly $4,000 of that budget, so I'm DIYing a LOT!

I've designed all of our stationary on Canva myself so far; I just tried to replicate the designs of a suite I really loved but cost thousands of dollars. I'll attach a photo of the mock-ups I printed on our home printer on regular paper. I still need to add the information/details insert. I'll be creating and printing our table numbers, seating chart, and bar menu sign as well.

- I'm DIYing all of our signs. They are antique window panes. I will be painting the backs, then placing vinyl letters on the fronts using a Cricut.
- I'm also DIYing our place cards/favors. (2 in 1, lol!) They are simple acrylic discs I found on Amazon, tied with a silk ribbon, using the same technique as my wedding signs (paint the back, place vinyl letters on the front with only the guest's name). I'll attach photos! (:
-Table settings, from chargers, to linens, napkins, centerpieces, will all be DIY. I already have the linens, chargers, vases, and wood slabs I'll be using.
Wedding cake will be a DIY by my momma. She'll be baking it at the lodge my family is staying at a couple days before hand.
- DJ will be "DIY". We found speakers with phenomenal reviews and a wireless mic on Amazon. We also are paying for a DJ app subscription called Pacemaker, which allows us to import our Spotify playlists and create our own mixes. My oldest brother will be MCing. This is less about budget and more about me being a control freak lol!
Last thing I can think of off the top of my head is DIY jingle bells for our jingle bell send off. I'm attaching my inspiration pic below too.

I'm DIY'ing a lot. I am also super crafty. So it depends if you're not super crafty (no judgement) it just might be more stressful. I'm doing; favors, all the flowers, all parts of the centerpieces. The centerpieces include wood slices (I'm sanding and sealing), wine bottles painted and putting vinyl table numebrs on them. And I'm sure there's more I'm making off that I'm forgetting. But I don't suggest it unless you're crafty and comfortable and have the time.

Some of my DIYs in progress

View Quoted Comment This is all great advice for DIY!! Thank you for sharing all this! Your comment of "they probably shouldn't be standing on the table anyway" made me laugh, lol! Totally agree that aiming for absolute perfection can end up in frustration and feeling overwhelmed, and best to instead try to make it as fun and stress-free as possible.


Flowers seem to be a fun thing to DIY, that's awesome that you're planning to work on those! It's nice to get the DIY projects done well ahead of time, instead of attempting to do them the week of the wedding. And what a cool and unique idea for doing the carving on the wood for your guest book! I hope you share a picture once it's complete, I'd love to see how it turns out!

View Quoted Comment Those look like some really cool DIY projects! I especially love the idea of a jingle bell send off. It's crazy how much of the budget the venue alone takes up (it's the same with our venue, definitely took more out of our budget than we anticipated), but it sounds like you found quite a few ways to save some cash to help out your budget! Thank you for sharing!

View Quoted Comment Totally agree!! I'm crafty in some ways, but definitely not all, lol. I tried putting together my own flower bouquet out of wooden flowers, and quickly learned that I don't have the skills or patience to DIY my own bouquet. So, I hired a florist instead, lol. Awesome that you're going to do DIY flowers and favors in addition to the centerpieces! What are you doing for the favors? And are you using wood or silk flowers for your bouquets?

View Quoted Comment Oh wow, these look cool! I love how well the colors of the bottles go with the colors of the flowers. Nice work! Thank you for sharing!