DIY brides

I made our save the dates and they ended up costing more than if I'd bought them, oops! So I'm being a bit careful now. I'll make the table plan and palce names but maybe not too much else. The only thing I'm working on right now is pom pom bunting, like this http://www.pompommag.com/pom-pom-garland/ in our colours, blue, purple and gold. It's only a metre long so far, but might be as long as 10m when I'm done - I think it'll look ace if i say so myself

I'm making our invites - card base for a fiver for 50 from The Works decorated with some hessian and gingham fabric, a crocheted flower and some heart sequins. At least that's what they will be if the OH likes them.

Have also crocheted my bouquet. Need to put them in the oasis holder still, but this is a rough idea

Bridesmaids will have white flowers. And certainly cheaper than a florist, and a bit cheaper than the supermarket option that's second choice if this looks stupid lol.

Was going to make my cake, but I'm not great with vegan baking so have asked a cake maker friend if she can do it, and will hopefully be putting together my own photo booth - though props will probably be ought rather than made. As we're eating in a pub there's not really much to decorate, but might make a few bits for the tables - saw some lovely tealights in jars on here not so long ago which looked nice

We're DIYing the invitations, the centrepieces (mostly), the flowers (probably), the cake and the Save the Dates (sort of).

Invitations:

I've designed these myself - the big blue writing is actually filled with our favourite comic book characters, and there's a comic colouring page on the back of the RSVP card. We're hoping to get enough people colour it in so that we can make it a competition!

The Centrepieces:

We're supplying the large cocktail glasses with some comic book stickers on them and the venue decorator will fill them with the coloured beads (different colour for each table) and supply the white flowers.

Flowers:

I'm currently in the process of assembling a bouquet made from comic book pages, so I don't have any finished pics!

Cake:

This was my trial run. Needs tidying up a bit, but you get the idea! The bride figure is a Katniss Funko Pop Vinyl Figure and the Groom will be a custom pop. H2B hadn't made it when I took this pic but he has now:

Save the Dates:

Haven't done these yet, but will be getting a photo taken by our photographer with some custom bunting that has our date on it. Once we have the photo, I will design a Save the Date around it

To be honest, I've enjoyed everything we've DIYed so far. It can be stressful, yes, but you have soooo much time to get it sorted

I don't really know whether we've saved any money haha we'll save money on the cake, but I'm not really sure about anything else!

I'm a crafty person to and have diy most of the items for our wedding. I had 2 year till the wedding (less then 5 months now) and I'm pretty much on track but everyone thinks I'm mad for doing it all.

As long as you have time I'd say go for it.

My sisters are making bunting and my table runners.

I've made or going to make bunting signs, favours (photo is of first try, looks better now). invitations. Order of service. Table plan, centre pieces. Place settings. Sweet buffet. Bouquets. Button holes. Bags for the bridesmaids. Pew ends.

We're doing our own picnic themed buffet and im making a tradional wedding cake for people who don't want our more quirky professionaly made one. We're also doing a vintage camera table with old film cameras, prop box and ribbon back drop,

I've saved money on some bits like the bouquets and button holes but spent way more then planed on bunting so I think it goes both ways.

This is the thing that most people try and do themselves to save money on and end up spending more.

I spend £40.02 for invites from Vistaprint and that includes envelopes and it being on nice paper and standard (but not the free) delivery. If I was to DIY the paper alone would have cost almost that much for the 50 invites I needed.

In response ot the original OP, I am doing my cake DIY as I can bake pretty well and I will only have a sponge cake and am pretty good at icing. No way am I spending loads of money on a cake that most people probably wont even eat.

I made the invitations, which took forever but I did enjoy it! They were definitely cheaper than ones on etsy with similar embellishments (though I'm sure those look a lot more professional...). I'm also making bunting, which is not very cheap if you have to buy fabric, but I figured it would be nice to be able to use it again for birthdays etc. The cake will hopefully (haven't asked yet!) be made by my future mother in law... We are also planning to have a bake-off cake buffet with home-made cakes from other guests - some are already planning their entry with almost 6 months to go! ?I also painted a blackboard to serve as a sign for the ceremony, and I plan to do some more for the table plan and other things.

If you have so much time, I'd definitely take on some diy projects, I'm finding it really fun! It's a nice way to think about the wedding but not in a 'planning' kind of way.

I'm not making anything myself but I have people DIY'ing for me!

OH's aunt and uncle are going to make our table numbers (we are having 3D actual numbers, mounted on a stand and covered in gold glitter). They are also making our post box, table plan and a fruit cake which they will ice and decorate (we're also having a naked cake but that will be made professionally).

My bridesmaid is making our favours (chocolate brownies).

I have bought all of the bowls and jars for the sweetie buffet so I will put that together with bits and pieces that I will buy online but won't make myself.

Probably the most artistic thing that I will do will be to write out the place names on the cards I have bought and write out the tags for the favours! I am not artistic at all and admire people who are.

I wish I could make my own invitations as I begrudge paying lots of money for something that will be shoved in a drawer or chucked! X

We've decided to DIY quite a few things for ours for mix of reasons; fun,personalising,matching items (stationery etc) and cost. Ours started when looking at prices for invites, we looked around at eBay sellers and templates you can buy on esty etc but costing it out it was still cheaper to make our own and then we could have more control over the other things to match too which I'll make; menus, place cards, ceremony/details cards and seating plan. I'm also making our table centres of hessian and lace squares and decorated jam jars-again to buy the materials and make myself was cheaper than ready made. I'd echo others comments regarding costs though, as depending on what you're wanting to do it can end up more expensive-depending if you're comparing like for like. I'm going to buy bunting as I just won't have time for that as well.

We get married in 5 months and I started making things in December and started slowly as well designing templates for the stationery. I don't feel stressed for time but then have a 9-5 job so can happily do a bit some evenings and quite a lot of weekends. Just depends on your circumstances really. The only thing is that some things can only really be made nearer the time such as stationary once you have those details confirmed so that's something to consider.

I'm getting married in May '17 and have been planning and DIY'ing since last July....!

I'm making all our save the dates, invites, menus, RSVP's, information sheets, place names, table plans and table 'numbers'. Given the amount of money I've spent on card, ink, pocket folds to hold all the invite bits together, ink, stamps etc etc, there is NO WAY my stationery is going to be cheap! It's probably going to cost me in excess of £300 ? BUT... I am really enjoying making it all and I love the fact that no one else will ever have the same stationery.

I'm also making satin ribbon flowers for 'end of aisle' pedestals, a wish tree and a signing frame..... I hope!

The satin flowers are coming along nicely, but again it would have been MUCH cheaper to have got a florist to do the pedestals with real flowers- the ribbon becomes very expensive when you have to buy tens of metres of it!

The wish tree I could have hired for £75 and it's probably going to cost me at least that by the time I take into account the wire, lights, tape, decorations etc... but as with the flowers and the invites, no one else will have one quite like mine ?

The signing frame I've cheated a bit on- have bought a plain one and will just decorate it a bit!

Over all I won't have saved ANY money at all, in fact I'll have spent WAY more than I needed to, but I love 'making and doing' and I have a great sense of satisfaction from doing it all- so if you want to DIY for the joy of it and to feel that sense of accomplishment, then I'd say go for it.... but if you want to save any money at all then my advice would be to price up both the DIY and other options very carefully before you start..... if I'd priced the flowers properly, I wouldn't have done them to be honest!!

Woah thanks for everyones replies! Everything looka fantastic and I"m pleased to hear all the DIY hasnt had you all gearing your hair out.

My reason for doing it is purely for enjoyment, but hey I dont mind saving a few ££ either. I'm planning on doing all of the stationary, table decor and a few bits for the venue (ive got some wooden ladders i want to do up and some signs and props). I was going to attempt to make a naked cake as I love baking but I know they need to be quite fresh and I really dont think I could leave it till the day before as I know it would turn out to be a disaster.

I love how some of you have done your own bouquets, i'm crafty but no way could I do that so I must say you are very talented!

Our venue doesnt allow food/drink favours so no idea what I will come up with for them but I'm having wooden laser cut place names so might just double them up as favour as it seems a shame to waste them, although I really dont know what anyone would do with them ?

Those of you who have done your own invitations (sorry dont know how to tag people), how did you print them? On a regular printer or did you get them printed elsewhere?

We're having ours printed by solo press. More expensive than vista print but faster delivery as standard and far better cardstock. We use them for work all the time

I've got a very old but professional quality photo printer and have printed mine at home- most domestic printers can cope with thin card, but it's worth trying a couple of test pieces before you invest in a lot of card!! ?

This is the prototype for our invites- the text is printed on our printer, the flowers etc are stamped on!

What a great idea

I printed my invitations on cardstock on my regular home printer, which was fine. I do have one that can feed the paper in straight, which I've read is important - if it goes in at the front or the top and then has to bend apparently card can get stuck. Some of them did come out slightly wonky, so just make sure you have some spares!

We made our table plan and centre pieces (bottles will be filled with flowers by florist) and we will write on the mirror in chalk pen

They are lovely! Can i ask where you got the gold part? Thats exactly what I want but in white

I love these this is exactly what I want..ive been saving my wine bottles for a few weeks now ha

Haha! I've got TONS left over if you're local to South Wales or Leciester!

I got them here: http://www.pocketfoldinvites.co.uk/exclusive-pocketfolds-81-c.asp

I think that link takes you to the exact ones I have, but they do them in all different sizes and colours and the quality is amazing!

Ah unfortunately not im up north! Thanks anyway though

Will have a look on that site thats great you're a gem xx

I used pocketfold invites too, can definately recommend them. Took the easy option and had them print ours too, I just had to stick them together.

i'm not very crafty but I can bake so I'm making my own cake and favours (fudge). Mainly to save money but also because I want to.

some things I would just rather pay someone else to do rather than have to spend the time and stress doing it myself.

Can I ask which quality cardstock you got yours printed on to at Vistaprint? I'm thinking the heavier stuff for the actual invites, but wondering if we could get away with the standard 220 ones for save the dates?

Also, did you design your own, or use one of their designs? Would love to see pics of the finished product if you wouldn't mind. Thanks.

Between myself and friends we DIY'd most things for our wedding which included table runners, centre pieces, table names, place settings which were personalised stones, table plan, order of the day, bunting etc only thing we didn't do was invites as Vistaprint worked out cheaper.

We did it to save money and that we definitely did - name stones which doubled up as a favour cost nothing just time and table runners were £20 for all 14 which were customised lengths - ebay would have cost £14 each!

We've part-DIYed our decorations. I'm folding 1000 origami cranes to decorate the ceremony room, and I've collected/altered all of the containers for our centrepieces. We're planning on DIYing the stationary as well, except for the invitations.