Tips and Tricks To Save Money With DIY Wedding Projects
Holly and Josh were looking for a traditional wedding, but with a modern twist that reflected who they were and what they loved.
To make this vision come to life, they opted like many couples to get their hands dirty with some do-it-yourself wedding projects. One of our favorites is all the homemade cakes. Anything sweet and tasty always wins us over. Not only were all there projects made with love, but it did save them quite a bit of money. So keep scrolling to hear their tips and tricks on how to save money by doing things on your own, and the full budget breakdown. To see some of the diy wedding projects up close check out the gallery. All captured by JR Magat Photography.
Custom Made Bridesmaid Dresses
The Bridesmaid dresses below were designed by Holly and made by a seamstress. Such a great idea, if you want a custom fit for each of your bridesmaids.
From The Bride On Decor
We had a garden theme for the wedding, with a natural feel and neutral colors. The tables were raw wood with lace runners and a mossy centerpiece with about 30 candles on each table. I designed the bridesmaid dresses and had a seamstress make them.
Some small details I worked into the wedding were: Old vintage doors from an antique shop, I decorated them with fabric flowers, fresh flowers, and some dried flowers. We had an old suitcase for cards. There were vintage watering cans all over for decor with flowers in them.
DIY Wedding Projects
Our cake table was one of the doors, my dad put legs on it to make it into a table, and then I borrowed 7 glass cake platters to stack our cakes, and we lifted some for different heights by stacking them on tree stumps. I had garland hanging in the ceiling of the hallway, and window panes honoring our bridal party. I love to paint so I painted our guest book on a canvas, it was a tree that had a paint pen available for guests to sign with so we could hang it up in our house afterward. The escort cards were displayed in empty frames suspended with wire, and each person's name was on a leaf that I had clipped to strings with tiny clothes pins. Then the place cards on the table were a leafy twig with a name at each seat.
Advice From The Bride
Some advice I would give to brides is to decide what is worth your time and what is worth your money. A lot of times, saving a couple of bucks isn't worth spending countless hours on trying to do something yourself. Looking back, I would have bought my invitations instead of making them myself.
Believe it or not, by the time you buy envelopes, ink, paper, ribbons, etc you spend almost as much money as you would have if you hired someone else to do it. Also, we were wavering on whether or not to have hors d'oeuvres at the reception during the cocktail hour. I am so glad we did because we had a wild game themed dinner and the appetizers helped tie the whole thing together. We had so many complements on our caterer; the service and the food. It was worth spending money on.
- Wedding Photographers: JR Magat Photography
- Accessories & Lingerie: Vince Camuto
- Caterer: Moveable Feast Catering
- DJ: Black Tie Entertainment
- Dress Shop: Perfect Fit
- Flower Centerpieces: Brady Events
- Hair: Kate at Douglas J. Aveda Salon.
- Photographers: Velvet Love
- Venue: MSU Horticulture Gardens