diy wedding

DIYing decorations is fine, food is not, unless you or the person cooking is an experienced and insured caterer. It’s not worth the liability and it’s a ton of work on your wedding day. You and your family should get to enjoy the day, not work it.

We had planned to DYI it all too, including the food, but the venue doesn't allow it. We can bring food in, but it can't be home cooked. My wedding budget is only 1500 so I have to make as much as possible

I’m DIYing most of it kinda we got a couple gifts from family. Not the food but we are having bbq which is cheaper good luck

I am also diy most of it but hey if you have family and friends help out it should be ok. Remember not to overwhelm yourself.

View Quoted Comment I am having bbq as well. But everyone is quoting 1800 to cater. I still have time to hopefully track down a person to do it for less.

View Quoted Comment Thanks. I am trying but it’s really hard for me to ask for help. I have a few that are helping me but I didn’t have to ask them they just help.

We are DIYing our flowers and some decorations but didn't want to take on the task of cooking or asking our family to cook for 120 people. Can you look at local restaurants for catering? Or drop off catering? Those might be more in your ballpark. We found our caterer on thumbtack.com and she was very reasonable.

View Quoted Comment That’s great ours is like $3500 but I’m in NY everything cost more 😞

We’re also paying for almost everything ourselves and we’re looking to DIY as much as possible until we started changing our plans. My family offered to smoke pork and brisket, my MOH and I have experience making wedding cakes, and I worked in a flower shop for two years so I’m comfortable with doing our flowers. The best advice I got as to only DIY things that I won’t be stressing over trying to get ready last minute. I prefer real flowers, but those can only be purchased and arranged so far in advance, same with decorating the cake and prepping food. At this point, we’ve decided it would be better for us to have a small private ceremony in a place that has a lot of meaning to us and throw a larger reception later, so I’ll only really be worrying about flowers on the days leading up to the wedding. Before the reception my MOHs and I will do the cake and centerpieces, but the location we want won’t allow self-catering.

When you pick your bridesmaids, you can ensure their help by having them understand that they will be required to help with the decorations. My cousin in law's wedding was a lot of DIY, with the exception of the caterer. I was a bridesmaid, so I helped with some things. In addition to the catered food, she made crock pot mac and cheese. She just threw the ingredients in and it was done by wedding time. The wedding was on her family's land, so all of the tents, tables and chairs were theirs. Everyone helped to set it all up before the caterers arrived. The crock pot mac and cheese station was serve yourself at the reception as the caterers had nothing to do with it.

I guess you could just get a bunch of extra large crock pots and cook different dishes in each one, enough to feed everyone plus seconds, then set them up on a buffet with serving utensils, it could work. But you might still want to hire a service staff to manage the buffet so that your family doesn't have to worry about it. Even still, the last thing you'll want to do is cook while you're getting ready for your wedding.

I am doing many of the decorations., which to my surprise the florist really loved. Plus...it helps to relax me when I start to feel stressed. My wedding is still seven months away and I started early so I feel like it’s doable.

No DIY here. I’m all about it being hassle-free, stress free and enjoyable for us and our guests. So we’re leaving the work to the professional vendors.

However, there are many DIY brides on here with a lot of pics of their projects. Best of luck with all of it.

DIYing perfectly fine, that’s what I’m currently doing but food is a different story only because I have a friend who caters so I won’t have to pay that much for it.

My MOH did this for her wedding. She came out debt free from saving all the money. But it was A LOT OF WORK. Like A FRIGGIN LOT. She was stressed for the entire month before her wedding. We all chipped in to help her but geez all the details that go into a wedding are insane. Worth it to her since she saved a boat load of money.
1. Her close family friend baked her cake as a wedding gift
2. She rented a hall that was completely bland, but cheap, and did all the decorations herself
3. She made the favors
4. Another close family friend did the flowers, which were sweet and simple
5. She wore her cousins wedding dress.
6. Her husband is African, so the second outfit for the bridal party was made by his family in Africa
7. Her husbands family made all the food
8. She used dollar tree to order a lot of supplies

My my wedding was mostly NOT DIY. But we did make all the flower arrangements ourselves and my mom had fun with some crafts.

What type of venue are you having the reception at? If it's a backyard wedding, then home cooked food should be fine. You could even do a potluck style.

Don't let people discourage you. Plenty of people do their own food. The risk goes down the fewer people you have and depending on the venue. If the food will be stored and served inside it's easier to monitor temperature. I did my best friend's backyard wedding on the 4th of July. She bought invitations from Wal-Mart and printed them out at home, we had potted pansies for centerpieces. She had a delicious box cake (bakery cake can have a heavy and dry texture), ziti, salad, chicken parmigiana, garlic bread, fruit salad. A friend DJed. There were string lights and a canopy. I did her makeup, her sister did her hair. She had a red white and blue wedding so decor was cheap. It was really nice and fun. Everyone had a great time. I'm sure your wedding will go just as well.

I know how you feel. I am trying to find a venue & reception room for my wedding in Charleston next year. Everything is so expensive. It is very disappointing. I am glad that you are able to do yours yourself. I am sure it will be great.

Hi, well I’m trying to do the most I can my self, bouquet, shoes, decor, center pieces, and invitations. I have a catering lady who is gonna do it for $950 for 120 people, I just didnt want to make food because it’s going to be a busy day and I don’t want to get more stressed, lol, but if you get the help why not? It’s tie day and you are the one who is going to spend too, so if you can save money go ahead !!!! Good luck 😊

Do it if these things are things you are used to doing. Otherwise, just trust me.... DIY when you don't know what you're doing will cost you more in the long run when you have to fix a mistake or hire a professional.

We're doing a lot of DIY, including the cake (TONS of experience on that one) BUT there are some things that I just refused to DIY, like catering. We ended up finding a restaurant that does things super cheap, and due to the unique situation with our cake, they're letting us bring our own cake in, not one from a bakery.

We are DIYing pretty much everything and thankfully our venue allows food to be brought in as long as we purchase wedding insurance. We are doing potluck style- everyone is bringing a dish. Hopefully it’ll go smoothly.