Junior Rasmussen
Planning a wedding can be a costly affair, so it's no surprise that many couples are choosing to go down the DIY route for their big day. From crafting your own invitations to creating your own centrepieces, there are plenty of ways to save money and add a personal touch to your wedding. Whether you're a seasoned crafter or a complete beginner, there are numerous DIY wedding projects to choose from that can be both enjoyable and satisfying. In this article, we'll explore some of the best DIY wedding ideas and offer tips on how to keep costs down without sacrificing style.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Purpose | Saving money, adding personal touches, focusing energy, learning new skills, being eco-friendly |
| Items | Bouquets, centrepieces, seating charts, signs, invitations, veils, arches, blankets, candles, napkins, menus, wedding favours |
| Materials | Flowers (fresh/dried/faux), eucalyptus, water, glass bowls, ribbon, paint, wood, paper, wax, mirrors, crystals, balloons, PVC, tulle |
| Considerations | Time, venue, design, sustainability, reusability, recyclability, compostability |
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What You'll Learn
Wedding signage
Choosing the Right Materials
The materials you choose for your wedding signage can depend on the overall look and style you want to achieve. Some popular options include paper, acrylic, wood, chalkboard, glass, and vinyl. Combining different materials, such as wood, glass, and acrylic, can give your signage a unique and personalised touch while maintaining a cohesive look.
Sourcing Materials
Before you begin, take a look around your home for any unused items that could be upcycled for your project. Old frames, mirrors, or easels can be given a new lease of life with a simple lick of paint. You can also hunt for second-hand items at thrift stores or craft stores for more affordable options.
Signage Ideas
Welcome signs, table signage, seating charts, and menus are all great opportunities to incorporate DIY signage into your wedding. You can also get creative with your guest book by using a typewriter as the base for a paper guest book sign or having guests sign themed shapes that can be dropped into a shadow box.
Time Management
DIY projects can take longer than expected, so it's important to start working on your signage well in advance to avoid last-minute rushes. It's also a good idea to factor in the cost of supplies and time, especially if you're creating multiple signs.
Online Resources
If you're looking for inspiration or step-by-step tutorials, websites like Etsy, Pinterest, and Creative Fabrica offer a wealth of ideas and templates for DIY wedding signage. You can also purchase fully finished signs or templates from these sites and then edit them to your liking.
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Table decorations
DIY wedding table decorations are a great way to save money and add a personal touch to your special day. Here are some ideas for centrepieces and other table decorations to get you started:
Centrepieces
Centrepieces can be a great way to showcase your DIY skills and set the tone for your wedding. Here are some ideas:
- For a rustic touch, use slabs of wood as a base for your centrepieces. You can cut your own or find them at a craft store or online.
- Create a floral wreath filled with fresh blooms. Use Astar's Place video guide to learn the basic techniques, and then adapt it with the flowers and foliage of your choice.
- For a unique and modern look, try a terrarium filled with cacti and succulents. You can even add table numbers to the structures.
- If you're looking for something simple, try filling vintage vases with single-stem flowers that you source yourself. Surround the vases with candles of varying heights for a romantic and elegant look.
- For a forest-themed wedding, use natural log candle holders surrounded by other natural decorations.
- A blooming branches centrepiece, such as Martha Stewart's elegant design, features paper flowers and sweet little millinery birds. You can cut out the flowers by hand or use a machine.
Other Table Decorations
There are endless possibilities for DIY table decorations. Here are some ideas to consider:
- Create place cards by printing each guest's name and table number on a piece of paper, then sealing them onto a mirror with wax.
- Make your own confetti cones for guests by choosing your paper, cutting it into squares, rolling it into a cone shape, and securing it with double-sided tape. Fill with confetti, and you have a quick and simple favour for your guests.
- For a relaxed wedding, a macrame table runner can add interest and beauty to your tables, especially when accessorised with flowers in vases.
- If you're feeling creative, try making your own pom-pom table garland or crochet doilies to scatter across your tables.
- To add a personal touch, upcycle old props such as dressers or ladders to use as decorative features or to display photographs and theme-based decor.
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Bouquets and centrepieces
DIY wedding bouquets and centrepieces are a great way to save money and add a personal touch to your wedding. If you're thinking of doing your own wedding flowers, it's important to plan ahead and choose flowers that are in season. You can also save money by using more greenery in your bouquets and centrepieces, rather than expensive roses.
When creating your bouquet, consider the style of your wedding dress and your colour palette. Think about whether you want complementary or contrasting colours and whether you want a classic, tight bouquet or something more whimsical, like a cascading arrangement. You can also break the traditional rules of bouquet design by adding a single stem of something from your garden to set your bouquet apart.
For centrepieces, you can create a simple yet beautiful look with paper flowers and millinery birds, or go for a natural look with dried plants, such as hare's tail grass and dried palms. If you're having a summer wedding, vibrant fruit and flower centrepieces can add a pop of colour, while teacup candles will give your wedding a quirky retro feel. For a relaxed country wedding, metal bucket centrepieces filled with your favourite blooms are a great option.
If you're feeling crafty, you can make your own pom-pom table garland or candle centrepieces with moss and herbs. You can even add cranberries or holly for a Christmas wedding. For a truly unique touch, create floral displays in glass cloches, or paint plain taper candles and arrange them with single-stem flowers in vintage vases.
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Wedding favours
DIY wedding favours are a fantastic way to add a personal and memorable touch to your wedding. They can also be a great way to save money, although it's worth noting that they're not always the cheapest option. Here are some ideas for DIY wedding favours:
Edible Treats
Edible wedding favours are always a popular choice, and they can be a great way to showcase a hobby or talent, or to involve family members in the wedding preparations. Homemade baked goods such as cookies, cupcakes, or pies can be a lovely treat for guests, especially if they are packaged attractively in cute boxes, tins, or cellophane bags. You could even include a tag with your family recipe so guests can recreate the treats at home. Other edible favour ideas include cake pops, chocolate, fruit preserves, or honey.
Personalised Gifts
If you're feeling crafty, you could create small ceramic trinket dishes for each guest, especially if you share a love of pottery with your partner. You could also make dip-dyed candle votives, or small vials of honey with personalised tags. For a destination wedding, homemade limoncello using a family recipe would be a unique and meaningful favour.
Entertainment
For a fun and interactive favour, you could put your own spin on mini tambourines using stamps or paint pens, which guests can use on the dance floor. Alternatively, cheap scratch cards or small cans of wine with decorative straws and personalised notes attached can be a budget-friendly way to treat your guests.
Practical Favours
For a practical favour that guests can use during and after the wedding, blankets with a cute sign are a great option, especially for an outdoor wedding. You could also make personalised mixtapes or CDs with your favourite songs, including your first dance song, for guests to take home and enjoy.
Eco-Friendly Options
Encourage guests to bring out their green thumbs with eco-friendly wedding favours such as custom flower seed packets or mini painted pumpkins if you're tying the knot in the fall. For a destination wedding, small vials of local sand or shells can be a unique memento for guests.
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Wedding invitations
Design and Printing
You can design your invitations using a digital tool like Canva or Photoshop, playing around with different colours, fonts, spacing, sizes, and messaging. If you're happy with the design, you can then print them yourself at home, or use a local print shop. Remember to save your design as a TIFF file for better printing quality. If you're printing at home, check that the thickness of your paper will fit in your printer, as some printers will smear if the paper is too thick. You can find cheap paper at local copy shops, or order specific types of paper online, such as watercolour paper or cardstock.
Kits
There are also DIY wedding invitation kits available from companies such as Cards & Pockets and Amazon, which include all the essentials you need to create professional-looking invitations at home. These kits often include RSVP cards, envelope liners, place cards, and detailed invitation templates that you can customise to match your wedding theme.
Extra Details
To add extra details to your invitations, you could try wrapping waxed thread around them a few times and tying it into a knot, or adding small bits of dried flowers or leaves. You could also use wax seals, either on the envelope or as part of the invitation design.
Other Ideas
If you're having an intimate wedding with fewer guests, you could opt for wooden wedding invites, which are more expensive than paper but look breathtaking. You could also create simple origami invitations, or add ribbons and bows, although these may get crushed once put into envelopes.
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Frequently asked questions
Here are some DIY wedding craft ideas:
- Signage and decor using imaginative canvases such as vintage mirrors.
- Escort cards hung from a tree with tassels and artificial flowers.
- Embroidering your initials on napkins.
- A DIY veil.
- Table centrepieces.
- Wooden accents, such as a wooden box with hearts.
- Blankets with a cute hand-painted sign.
- A wedding arch made from PVC.
- Dried wildflowers for table settings.
- Crystal chandeliers.
Some DIY wedding craft ideas that don't involve decor include:
- Designing and printing your wedding menus.
- Wedding favours such as baking cookies, filling glass vials with locally sourced olive oil, or gifting jars of honey and jams.
- Wedding invitations with a chiffon ribbon and wax seal.
- The wedding website, save-the-dates, invites, and signs.
It's a good idea to consider what happens to the items after the wedding. You can keep, donate, or reuse items, or ensure they are recycled or composted. You can also consider what crafts will work with your venue, and whether you have the time and skills to make them.
Some DIY wedding craft ideas that are budget-friendly include:
- Affordable flower arrangements, such as dried wildflowers, or faux florals from the dollar store.
- Spray-painting candle holders.
- Printing place cards and sealing them onto a mirror.
- Terra-cotta saucers as table numbers.
- Seating charts displayed on crystal decanters.
DIY wedding craft ideas that guests will love include:
- Edible decorations such as a dessert bar with bite-sized cookies, candies, macarons, or chocolates.
- Blankets with a cute hand-painted sign that says "To have and to hold, in case you get cold".
- Decor that doubles as entertainment, such as a swing hung from the tented reception.
