So, when it came to wedding planning I originally thought I would be one of those totally obsessed brides who wants to DIY everything herself. I am creative, and I like insane deadlines, right?
Turns out, I did not want to be stressed out by anything having to do with the wedding. I would rather be able to enjoy myself than worry about whether or not everything was perfect. I didn’t even design or print my own invitations. I went with a simple chalkboard design from Minted.
That said, there was one project that I did do myself. I made my own chalkboard signs. I ordered the blank signs from Save-on-Crafts, as well as some fancy chalk pens, and did the lettering on my own.
The first sign went on the gate that was the entrance to our ceremony area. The second one is a sign that was near the photo station where people could take instant photos using my Hello Kitty Instax camera. We did consider getting a photobooth, but it just wasn’t in the budget – this was much less expensive, and I think more personal! I took our Our Adventure Book and added photo corners so people could put their photos in the book and write us a little message.
We’re also using the Our Adventure Book for our wedding and honeymoon photos, though I think we’ll need to buy extra pages for it to accommodate all the awesome pictures!
When we were getting ready to leave another bride spotted this folding sign near our ceremony area. It says “Choose a seat not a side, we’re all family once the knot is tied” and on the back “Eat, Drink and Be Married!”
The bride liked it so much that she wanted to use it too. I thought she wanted to buy it, and said she could have it for $40 (the sign itself was $30). But, since she wanted to rent it instead she gave us $30 and we got the sign back. Woot!
That’s pretty much the extent of my DIY work for the wedding. Do I regret it at all? Wish I had more personalized things or saved money by doing more things myself? When I was planning, I felt kind of bad – like I should really put in more effort. But, on the day of the wedding I was so happy and relaxed. All the vendors were kind of amazed at how chill I was about everything. I credit this to my determination not to take on more than I could handle in DIY projects.
I came to the conclusion that the wedding is just one day and most of that stuff I could probably not use again. With the time I have to work on art and craft projects, I’d rather work on things that I can use for long periods of time or gifts for my friends and family. So no, no regrets at all.
That said, I would totally love to help my friends or family DIY things for their wedding. It’s not my wedding, so I don’t have to stress out so much, hahaha.
