So you want to be a DIY Bride...
The #1 piece of advice I would give to any DIY bride is this: don't bite off more than you can chew. Sure that cut and fold and glue and glitter project doesn't seem too bad when you only have to make one of them, but think about what it's going to be like to make 100 of them. Do you have enough time? Will you be able to get enough supplies? Will it drive you crazy if every piece isn't completely perfect? Do you have people who can help you with at least part of the project? Will you have somewhere to store them before you wedding (this was a real challenge for me)? Do you have a way to transport it all to your venue?
Then there's the question that I asked myself more and more as the process went on and I needed to prioritize what I spent my time on: can I just buy this somewhere? Sometimes the answer is "no;" a lot of our wedding revolved around my husband's love of music and my love of books, so our centerpieces were phonographs with pictures from some of our favorite picture books. Obviously, this is something that would be unique to our wedding, so even though it took quite awhile to make 13 of these, it was something I'm really glad I did.
(photo credit Brian Currier, 2017)
On the question of make or buy, it's also key to consider if it's really important to you that you can tell your guests that you made this thing and it is your special design? Personally, I loved being able to show off all of my hard work and know that I created a different type of wedding that everyone enjoyed and would remember. This didn't mean that I needed to have my hand in every little detail. When I started planning, I thought I was going to make lots of paper flowers (I don't really like flowers and that particular tradition seemed very wasteful to me), including a corsage for myself. Ultimately, I realized that there people on Etsy who could make that for me and do a better job than I could for only a few dollars more than it would cost for me to DIY it.
That brings me to the idea that DIY projects are perceived as being the most budget-friendly way to go. Warning: this is not always the case! Even when it is, sometimes it's worth it to just spend a little more to avoid some stress. Planning a wedding is inherently stressful, so I would suggest taking whatever you can off your plate without detracting from what you want your wedding to be.
The idea behind my online shop, The DI4Y Bride, is to support my fellow DIY brides who don’t want to compromise the vibe of their wedding, but just need an extra set of hands. I’m happy to help take on your biggest projects and bring you ideas you might have never considered.
Really, the best advice I could give to any bride considering whether or not they want to go down the DIY route would be to just know yourself. If you are a crafty person, who likes to spend a lot of time on projects, and want to maybe do something a little off-beat, then go for it, but be sure to have realistic expectations, prioritize, start early, and have fun!
