Wedding Do/Do Over Series: DIY
Do: DIY as much as possible
This thrifty tip (also mentioned in my book) not only saved me a lot of money, but also allowed me to be creative while making some fun and personalized things for my wedding.
Programs made on Vistaprint
Even though the church where we got married had the option of projection for responses during the ceremony, I decided to make programs using Vistaprint. One of the tips in my book talks about registering for websites with coupons (Vistaprint and Snapfish included), so I utilized one of my weekly coupons to get a great deal on printing for our programs. I was able to completely customize them with pictures and text. Included in the programs were the timeline for our ceremony, explanation of each part (since not all of our attendees were Catholic), and directions to our reception. I enjoyed designing the programs and they were by far my easiest DIY project since Vistaprint did the printing and folding for me.
One of the many chalkboard signs
My reception had a chalkboard theme, so my signage, banners, and place cards were all chalkboards or chalk paper. I used chalk pens to write out each place card, sign, bar menu, etc. All of the materials were pretty inexpensive (purchased at Hobby Lobby and Target). I also used coupons and bought things over time so almost everything I got from Hobby Lobby was 40% off.
Lanterns provided by NOAH's Event Venue as part of our rental package. They had tall and short ones, which we mixed between guest tables and outdoor cocktail tables.
DIY Centerpieces (the lighting makes the charger look gold, but it was actually silver)
Of all the decisions I had to make for my wedding, I was the least enthusiastic about my reception table centerpieces. Our venue allowed us to use their lanterns, which were super pretty, but they only had enough to put on half of our tables, so I had to come up with something for the remaining ones. Steffani - my dear friend and day of coordinator - met me at Dollar Tree about a month before my wedding to help me put something together. The underlying theme of my color scheme was the Arc Reactor from Iron Man, so we decided to make centerpieces that looked like the Arc Reactor using blue and clear glass beads, small vases, and flameless candles, as well as silver chargers purchased from Hobby Lobby. Unfortunately there are no pictures of the overhead view, which is what made them look like the Arc Reactor, but you can see the general idea from the picture above. They were big enough to add some ambiance to the table, but simple and incredibly inexpensive, which left more $$$ to allocate to other parts of my budget.
DIY Headpiece for Ceremony
Headband from Hobby Lobby ($5) for reception.
I had a difficult time deciding what I wanted to wear on my head for my wedding and reception. My dress had a princess-y feel to it (it was the Cinderella gown from the Alfred Angelo Disney collection), so I felt a tiara style headpiece would be more fitting than a full veil (plus, why would I want to cover my face, hair or dress with anything?). I didn't want to wear an actual tiara though. After browsing Etsy and Pinterest for ideas, I picked up some sparkly ribbon and rhinestones from Hobby Lobby along with two pre-made headbands that were both under $5 each. After one failed attempt at a headpiece (it looked like something a maid might wear), I made a very simple piece to wear for the ceremony and left the white lacy headband with rhinestones untouched for my reception.
Bridesmaid shirts (above)
Bridesmaid clutches and bags (right)
I wanted the gifts for my bridesmaids to be just as personalized as their gifts when I asked them to be in the wedding party. In addition to their jewelry for the big day, I decided to make shirts, clutches, and bags for each of them.
I designed the canvas bags on Snapfish (and they were on sale!) with pictures of me and each of them. Snapfish actually printed the bags, but I had fun picking out the pictures to put on them.
I purchased black clutches from Oriental Trading (along with many other things for my wedding), then I asked each bridesmaid to pick a color (black, blue, or silver) and her favorite Disney movie. I purchased the bows, charms related to their favorite Disney movie, rings and pin to make the clutches for each bridesmaid from Hobby Lobby. The charms easily attached to the rings and I hot glued the bows to the pins. The clutches had a uniform look while still being personal to each bridesmaid.
I wanted each bridesmaid to have a shirt to wear for our "getting ready pictures" so I found bright colored tank tops at Walmart. I got white and glitter fabric paint from Hobby Lobby so I could add text to the tank tops. On the front of each tank was my nickname for each bridesmaid, and on the back it said "Bride's Besties." I also made a tank for myself to wear with them on the big day. The tanks turned out okay, but I am not a skilled at writing with fabric paint. Unfortunately, I made the tanks too close to the big day to re-do them or order something else. While I'm glad the bridesmaids had fun tanks to wear with me while we got ready, this is the one DIY project I wish I could have done over with a DIY tool I often use now - my Cricut machine.
Do Over: Buy a Cricut
Since I invested in a Cricut last June for one of my businesses (Doodle and Bow), my only regret has been that I didn't purchase it a couple of months sooner to use for my wedding DIY projects. This Do Over goes hand in hand with today's Do tip because it is the one tool that would have improved my DIY projects. It is important to note that this Do Over only applies if you are someone who would also utilize a Cricut (or similar machine) after your wedding, since it is an investment. If you are graphic tee junkie (like me) and enjoy DIY projects on the regular, then purchasing a Cricut is definitely worth considering.
If I had had a Cricut while working on projects for my wedding, they would have turned out more clean and professional looking than my artistic abilities by hand, specifically the shirts for my bridesmaids. Now that I have made shirts with my Cricut, I wish I had been able to utilize it on the designs for my bridesmaid shirts. Pictured to the right is a bridesmaid shirt I designed for Doodle and Bow based on what I would have wanted my bridesmaids' shirts to have looked like.
My signage and place cards could also have been made with the Cricut, which would have looked better than my handwriting. Fortunately with the chalkboard theme, handwriting my signage and place cards was fitting, but for someone with a more elegant theme, a Cricut would be very useful for those tasks.
If you are contemplating the ways a Cricut could help with your wedding DIY projects, visit the Low Budget Bride Pinterest board for Wedding DIY with a Cricut to see more ideas.
Photo credits to Hearts Shaped Lens Photography, NVS Photography, and Kimi Cunningham Shackelford.
Bride's Besties tank by Doodle and Bow