How to have a DIY wedding

First things first - make sure you assign more time for your DIY tasks that you think you need - because they will always take longer than planned. Make sure you have a budget and try to realistically price all the elements you need for your DIY wedding. You can find out more about how to have a DIY wedding in this episode of our podcast.

DIY wedding ideas

Here are our top tips on how to have the DIY wedding of your dreams.

1. Check Rock My Wedding's dedicated DIY wedding Pinterest board for loads of ideas and inspiration.

2. Take a look through our DIY Archives and make yourself a gorgeous and very simple bottle table plan or perhaps hoops for your bridesmaids.

3. Sometimes (most times in fact), less is more. So, see how you can keep things as simplistic as possible.

4. Make sure you budget correctly. Try and calculate what you need and then you probably want to double it. Unless you have made your DIY items before, it can be tricky to know exactly how much you need. Also, factor in for times when it might go wrong. A DIY budget contingency if you will. And believe us, a can of spray paint never goes as far as you’d think.

5. How long is it all going to take? Be realistic and then add some extra time on. 9 times out of 10, DIY projects take longer than you originally anticipated. Have plenty of time scheduled in for no DIY too. You don't want it taking over every single evening of the run-up to your wedding day. Create buffer time to help you wind down before the big day.

6. Get a team behind you and delegate. Having friends and family involved helps to create even more amazing and often hilarious memories.

7. DIY the things you enjoy. If it becomes a labour, you want it to be a labour of love, not of I-wish-I’d-never-started loathing.

8. Don’t strive for perfection. It doesn't exist.

9. Don't underestimate how long it might take to put your own stationery together. And if you're giving it a crack, you could look at taking a modern calligraphy course to make them extra super fabulous and give them a really personal touch.

10. Invest your money where it’s going to be worth it. Is it more beneficial to hire in a bar for the evening than find the time to figure out how to make the bar yourself (thats going to be sturdy and actually stand up) and then find the time for actually making it and then you know, filling it with excellent beverage choices.

11. Practice when it comes to DIY flowers. Thinking of making your own bouquet? Give it a go way before the big day to make sure you have it nailed and if you don't, that leaves you plenty of times to get yourself booked onto a floristry course.

12. Buy someone else's wedding. In the interest of helping save the environment and save you time, you might find that someone else has already had a wedding with a similar style to what you’re after and they might be selling the decor on. So investigate that route.

13. Be careful not to pull on your best creative friend too much. Set expectations. Friends will want to help but they might not want to dedicate a fortnights worth of evenings to tying string around cutlery or cutting place cards out.

14. Be frugal. Scour ebay or local charity shops and car boot sales for bargains. If you’re looking for crockery or furniture or maybe vases and general decor these are great places to look.

Check out some of our favourite easy and budget friendly DIY projects here. Hopefully, that will all help you on your way and give you a place to start and for more absolutely solid advice, visit these weddings to see what these DIY couples had to say about the process: Alice & Ian Leila & David Anna and Luke Kerri and Sam Hayley and Al Hannah and Jon Lizzy and Rob Michaela and Luke And if you still want more you can listen to Charlotte and Becky chat all about DIY weddings over on our podcast.

How To Have A DIY Wedding

Becky Sappor