Homemade wedding stuff - ideas

[princessconsuelabanahammock]

Hellooo ladies:

I got engaged last Week and we’ve started the wedding planning already 😅. We want to keep costs down and the bulk of cost will be on our wedding reception / evening do. Feeding (and plying with alcohol) friends and family is the priority cost wise.

For the rest, I’d like some nice personal touches but not to spend a bomb. I’d love to hear your creative ideas for all things wedding related please! 😊

So far I have:

• Baby’s breath tied with ribbon for bouquets
• Wedding cake - buy a few normal l cakes and stack them, put a bride and groom on top
• Home made invites

Thank you!

My advice is to not fall into the DIY wedding rabbit hole. You'll end up spending loads making pretty crap, and in the end you could have spent the same on a lot nicer.

For example the baby's breath thing- do you like the look of this or are you going for it because it's cheap and other people have done it? In my experience you can buy some beautiful flowers cheaply if you stay away from expensive roses etc and you can cut back in other places.

It's so easy to get into a sort of DIY wedding addiction where you end up with loads of tacky looking stuff instead of far less stuff that it's actually elegant and pretty.

Re: invitations, the price of a stamp is pushing £1 now. We're going to a wedding later in the year, where the invitation was an email, with a link to download an app (Joy) which has the details on. This went down three ways:
Less techie rellies, generally 70+ - what's this all about? What's wrong with a card invitation? Where and when is this wedding?

Moderately techie - couldn't they just put the details in the email?

Youngsters - oooh, an app!!

I've recently got a new phone and have had to download the app again. I've forgotten my password, app is not being very forthcoming coming with a reminder...

You could cut costs on invitations by sending traditional cards to less techie folk, and emails to others.

The only advantage to app seems to have is that the b&g can add details to it as time passes. At the moment we don't know where the reception is yet! I'd have thought that most people planning a wedding would actually know this. (Maybe this is an old fashioned view).

Other potential cost savings - do your own hair and make up ? Pot luck supper? Shop bought cake. Don't go OTT on decorations. I've been to 20 or so weddings and could not tell you how the venue was decorated for any of them, or whether the chair covers matched the groom's tie, but I could tell you who had the best food by far, and who didn't account for non-standard diets and whose reception collapsed after a couple of hours when everyone went to the Chinese takeaway because they didn't put on any food for guests at all.

We had an amateur band from a local college. Now I guess you'd use a phone playlist.

We did not have any photo booths/sweet trolleys/doves/balloons (autistic nephew) or many flowers (hayfever throughout DH's family) or personalised matchbooks/napkins/champagne glasses.

My lovely, now-ex BIL, lived in London and did a booze run to Calais for us. (My DSis got divorced, not me).

We did have friends, family, children (several parents chose to leave them at home, but all were invited) and plenty of food, drink and photos. Also a prof photographer, but this was before everyone had smart phones. Maybe friends with phones could be used instead of a prof photographer, but I'd still designate someone to gather people into appropriate groups and ensure that a few "key" pictures are taken.

My dress wasn't a traditional wedding dress. It was an evening dress, designer @ Harvey Nicks, but lots of brilliant high street dresses around. DSis wore a slinky nighty and jewelled flip flops!

I won't take credit for this, but one friend combined table decor/place names/favours by growing herbs in little terracotta pots, and chalking names on the pots.

Another recommendation for withjoy the website / app. Currently planning June wedding and very handy after having previously paid £££
to send paper invites in 2020 🙄

You can amend people’s details for those that aren’t techy so we had a few paper rsvps for older relatives.

I macrame so I’ve made lots of table runners, bunting, and we have hoarded wall hangings, bunting, candles, jars, vases, bottles etc. From freecycle groups etc. It’s probably not to everyone’s taste but we’re a higgledypiggledy couple anyway, and a tipi venue so suits our style.

We’ve also made place names, seating plan etc ourselves. Again looks homemade but no one remembers that’s stuff anyway.

Don’t bother with favours, they’re usually tat no one needs.

My dd made some lovely bunting to decorate the reception venue. She is very good at sewing but actually bunting is very easy so not much skill needed but time consuming.

Calligraphy pen to make place cards for seating arrangements at reception.

Order of service can be made on Word document.

Invitations can be made with image on front, then sepate smaller invitation page can be stuck inside.

Posies of flowers to decorate pew ends.

Ideas that might help:

use online invites

collect glass jars and do your own flowers from the supermarket, it’s so easy to do and cheap

M&S do cheap wedding cakes

charity shops for wedding dresses

don’t have a bridal party, saves loads not having bridesmaids and groomsmen

We rented all our extra wedding decorations that the wedding venue didn't have. Worked out a lot cheaper and a lot less hassle!

Elope and go on holiday.

Guests will appreciate convenience and thoughtfulness so I would rather invite people with their partners and cut on decorations altogether, keep it simple.

With the cake, just be careful that they are completely level when you stack them (supermarket cakes often aren’t) and use appropriate supports. Also don’t be tempted to put baby’s breath on the cake. It’s mildly toxic.

There's really not many things you 'have' to have. For example I didn't have a wedding cake, or a wedding dress, or any bridesmaids,'or any decorations. We found a really fun venue that didn't need to be decorated. Our only costs were the venue (alcohol and food package), our outfits (normal clothes - I wore a really fun dress, but it wasn't a wedding dress), printed and posted invites that we designed on canva, celebrant, photographer and babysitter for my DC. My normal hairdresser did my hair and I had make up done at a MAC counter of a department store (free with purchase of a couple of items, I stocked up on my regular products).

A friend who makes cupcakes did those as her wedding gift to us - that was dessert. We didn't do sugared almonds or little gifts that everyone leaves behind. It was cocktail style / free seating so didn't need seating plans, name things etc. didn't feel the need to have a large instrammable sign that says 'happily ever after' or 'welcome to the wedding of BritInAus and wife'.

what I'm trying to say is you really don't need to have all the things that a wedding magazine or blog tells you you need.

and I agree with Pp, all that homemade crafty stuff can look very twee / not get noticed at all.

throw a fun party - whatever that looks like to you - and as long as people are not too hot/cold/bored for hours/thirsty/hungry, it'll be great. Nobody remembers the chair covers or the hessian table centrepieces homemade and tied in ribbon.

One of the nicest wedding cakes I've seen is the simple M&S three tiers with pillars, and red roses in between tiers.

As a wedding gift I have done flowers for two weddings. One was bride, groom, five maids, four men, parents' corsages & buttonholes with artificial flowers & tape/ribbons off ebay ordered by the bride (£130) so just my work. The other was bride & groom & parents' corsages & boutonierres with 48 live red roses from online florist with wire, ribbon & tape off eBay so my wedding gift: £65 on blooms/materials and my free labour. I'm only a crafty amateur with access to YouTube and got many compliments as they didn't look unprofessional.
I made my own wedding dress from a silk sari (8metres) (£90 & £15 for a pattern plus zip & thread.)
As pp don't have a wedding party; one supporter each is sufficient and cuts down on drama as well as expenditure.

Ive just donated my gorgeous dress to Tenovus cancer bridal shop. Please consider getting your dress somewhere similar. I did my own flowers and just didn't bother with a lot of the things they say you 'need'. You don't. We got cakes made by a local bakery and the pub did pie and mash for 70. It was a lovely day and really inexpensive.

We have done a few DIY things, not just to save money but because we liked doing it.

Invites - bought card which matched the colour scheme, made template on power point and jazzed up with some stuff from hobbycraft

Seating plan - have found a massive frame from a charity shop which I will spray and use the same card as invites for each table list

Welcome sign - as above

Flowers - not DIY but asked a talented family friend who will do it as our gift

Sure there's more but I've only just woken up

We had a buffet, and no wedding party. Didn't bother with a band but got a DJ that was excellent. Didn't do wedding cars and I did a lot of the church decor myself. I did my own hair and makeup. All the family pitched in to help with various things like the cake, photos and decorating as their gift. .

Things can start to add up that you think you need but honestly the main thing is to have your guests well fed and watered, minimum travel time between ceremony and reception, affordable accommodation for those who want to stay, and good music.

Our DJ refuses to work with a B&G playlist, because he likes to read the crowd and tailor each night accordingly. He still played our requested first dance song and a couple of others we asked him to include but he got the place absolutely rocking. I got a dozen inflatable guitars from Wish and they were worth every penny. I wish I got more actually.

We had a lot of family kids at the wedding and the venue had a bounce house for them thrown in for free. We barely saw them after the photos, and just about managed to get them in for dinner. When it got dark they came in and joined the disco, and the littler ones finally conked it in a booth with dad's jacket tucked around them. My own personal preference but I adore family weddings like that.

Look at second hand and repurposed items for things you intend to buy. Hiring and renting and reselling clothing.
Making a very good plan and costing it out.

Home making jams, or little bags of chocolates, invitations, menus etc..

Accept every offer of help - for example - flowers, cake, cars, decor, music. You might be able to share church flowers with another wedding.
Make it easy for guests to accept - consider distance and accommodation.

Spend on what is most important to you.

Get quotes. The range is huge. The price some wedding venues can quote is cheaper than you expect and often less bothersome.

I did this for our wedding:

• homemade bunting from DH old shirts
• table confetti: bought a heart shaped hole punch and a couple of sheets of pretty wrapping paper.
• homemade throwing confetti - used the same heart stamp and some sheets on colourful rice paper (edible!)
• centre pieces: collected empty spirit bottles and stick light discs on the bottom to light the bottle up. 2nd hand bright fake flowers to put in the bottles, sold the flowers on afterwards.
• homemade favours: made some jam. He proposed in a strawberry field so wanted to get strawberry into the wedding! Used recycled and sterilised jars to gift it, tied with ribbon. Higgledy piggledy sizes though, collected over a length of time!
• homemade invites
• homemade cakes
• homemade seating places names (good old Sharpies and card, folded and used that heart shaped hole punch again)!
• homemade seating plan

...and other things I can't remember!! It was quite cathartic to sit in front of the TV and hole punch heart shapes from various things!

Good luck. I enjoyed doing ours DIY and saved so much as well.

Depends on your style and what you like though, surely?

We did a fair bit of DIY stuff for our wedding and it added something fun and personal. We are quite an arty couple anyway so it was reflective of us.

"Elegant and pretty" just isn't our style. I would have hated to pay someone to make mainstream white "elegant and pretty" wedding crap for us 😅 It was mismatched bunting and colourful table plans, and it was perfect.

(We did get pro's for some things though of course!)

My close friends all made a pudding and guests helped themselves. It went down a treat!
I did have flowers but panicked last minute that there might not be enough. My sister went and got about £60-£100 worth of flowers from tesco the day before and we put them in jam jars. They were as good as the florist ones which cost 1k!

Oh and my cousin made our confetti. Microwave petals on a piece of kitchen roll to dry quickly. I was v lucky with all the help I received

Avoid scope creep. We had a very DIY wedding but paid for the core bits, photographer, florist etc. But had no favours, table plan, chair decorations, fancy centerpieces, table activities and probably a million other things you see on Pinterest. In fact if Pinterest had been around I'd probably still be faffing 30 years later,!