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Beginner May 2022

Overwhelmed with diy

Sonja, on March 21, 2021 at 9:01 PM Posted in Do It Yourself 2 25
My fiancé and I are trying to have a beautiful but inexpensive wedding, which means a lot of DIYing. Aside from actually doing it, I'm getting overwhelmed just trying to make a list of things that I will need to make! Any tips?

25 Comments

Latest activity by Mrs.evans, on March 29, 2021 at 12:24 PM
  • Faviola
    Dedicated August 2021
    Faviola ·
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    I feel you 100% I’m starting to stress a little. Pinterest and TikTok have been my go to has been giving me a lot of ideas
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  • H
    Master July 2019
    Hannah ·
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    Less is more. You really don't need to have a million devor pieces. A lot of these things are completely optional. For instance, welcome signs and such aren't really necessary: people know who's wedding their attending. Centerpieces can be minimalistic but still elegant and classy. You can skip favors and programs. Go through your list and think about what you actually need and start with that. Then, tackle 1 thing at a time.
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  • S
    Beginner May 2022
    Sonja ·
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    So many ideas, that's my problem aha. We got this though!
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  • S
    Beginner May 2022
    Sonja ·
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    I suppose! I guess my dreams are just too big aha. I'm just struggling to figure out what I need, what I don't, and what I've forgotten
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  • H
    Master July 2019
    Hannah ·
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    Your wedding is over a year away, so you have plenty of time.
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  • S
    Beginner May 2022
    Sonja ·
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    True, I just try to start early, I have ADHD so I figure I'd better give myself plenty of time for distractions! Thank you for your advice
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  • H
    Master July 2019
    Hannah ·
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    Totally a great idea to start early! But try not to stress too much. Remember, guests don't pay nearly as much to decor as we think they do. Think back to all the weddings you've gone to? What do you remember? Is it the decor or is it the food and what a great (or not) time you had?
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  • Michelle
    Rockstar December 2022
    Michelle ·
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    DIY is not inexpensive because of the timand and labor that goes into it. You have to calculate your time spent at minimum wage per hour plus your sanity. If you are not a naturally crafty person regularly, your wedding is not the time to start. Take a step back and figure out what you can do realistically and what to buy from artisans on Etsy.

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  • L
    Beginner April 2021
    Lauren ·
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    I'm not going crazy with decor, maybe 2 or 3 vases with fresh flowers on each table is all. I'm doing alot of DIY for my wedding. We found a venue that pretty much allows whatever we want to do, and hire any venders we want. Are you booking with a venue? Some venues offer some decor with rental. I also found a wedding needs and wants facebook page in my area, bought alot of used stuff from there. Some people even sell left over new items never used, like packages of napkins and cups, utensils. That may be a start to look there.

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  • S
    Beginner May 2022
    Sonja ·
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    To be fair, I am a crafty person! But never on this scale. I've accepted some things being outsourced aha, I know I'm not great at graphic design so I'll be purchasing invitations. But things like signs and centerpieces I can't bring myself to buy when I know I can make them for less than half the cost.
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  • S
    Beginner May 2022
    Sonja ·
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    I haven't committed 100% to my venue but the one I'm looking closest at provides tables and chairs, everything else I have to rent or purchase. Still more than most in my budget provide though, chairs add up quick!


    I joined a few Facebook groups, I'll definitely set some alerts for items I'm in search of!
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  • Kimberly
    Super March 2021
    Kimberly ·
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    I’m not a DIY’er but I AM a list maker. 😁
    One thing I did was index cards with my vision for each area (entrance area, ceremony, reception, and also bride’s attire, grooms attire, & wedding party attire) then I taped that card to a piece of notebook paper and made a list of what I needed for that specific area. This helped to break up the huge to-do list.
    I also had the master to-do list, but having a specific page for each area really helped me not forget things and made it much more reasonable of a list.
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  • S
    Beginner May 2022
    Sonja ·
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    Oh wow this is a great idea thank you! That's like, exactly what I needed! I'm sure I'll adapt it a bit to my style but breaking it into chunks like that would help a lot.
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  • Grace
    Super February 2022
    Grace ·
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    My SIL's wedding had a lot of DIY, including some that was repurposed from her older sister's wedding. You can buy whole sets of wedding related items sometimes on Facebook marketplace or other resale sites from people who had similar or the same wedding colors. My MIL sold all of the items they had from her 2 daughters weddings to someone else who was using purple as an accent color.



    Tule is a great multipurpose fabric that you can cheaply buy in many colors. My SIL's wedding they draped lengths of purple tule down the middle of the tables as runners over top of white table cloths. Simple to do and really added a nice pop of color and texture. It can also be used in many other DIY projects but this one is the least labor intensive I have seen.

    Best of luck!
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  • Grace
    Super February 2022
    Grace ·
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    This is such a great tip!!! I am definitely going to try this as well! My bullet journal just got a few more pages of wedding planning.
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  • Michelle
    Rockstar December 2022
    Michelle ·
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    Renting is nearly always cheaper than purchasing in the long run. Because again you have to factor in your time at minimum wage of setup/teardown, etc. Unless you plan to keep items to reuse for large scale church/family events, you are better off paying a professional to rent/setup/tear down.

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  • S
    Beginner May 2022
    Sonja ·
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    I'm definitely planning on renting any larger items for sure. Thank you
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  • J
    Master 0000
    Judith ·
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    This. Except RESTROOOMS, if you put it in a logical place, they will be find it, without a sign. Forget favors. Tabletop or tablescape: At least 1/3 are overdone, too much stuff. Many people never go past setting one table with cloth, napkins, runner, a place setting of dishes and silver, any candleabra or lamps, flowers, centerpieces and decorative pieces. Dishes can be substitute paple or home ones, just do they sre represented. Then Fill bottles to represent wine, if you will have wine on the tables. Glasses from the bar not in place setting, bread baskets. Then put stuff on the plates like food, and sit a person in every seat. It sounds silly. But a lot of people don't do it, and should. People have 5-10 minutes a banquet when there are no accessory pieces, food, or people. But most of the night there is also food, and people's clothing, and arms and forearms and drinks. When you do this, a third or so of people's plans are overdone. Carefully placed decorations are pushed together, stuff must be shifted or taken away to put down gravy or a pitcher or extra side dishes. Half of the elaborate pics on Pinterest will not work well on tables with food and people. ????? Too much DIY. or Napery. Or flowers. So before you order tablecloths with overlays and runners and serviettes and 2 napkins, one in a ring you make, and 5 baskets because your theme is country, and a high centerpiece and two lower ones with lamps and greenery, think of how cluttered it can look with brightly colored clothes surrounding it and plates full. That is what your guest sees. 🙂 When I first started in commercial cooking and catering, the instructor let us choose from a group of pictures. Mine is easy to find 24 years later, Renoir.
    And from the room Captain, Overwhelmed with diy 1
    A huge amount of color dominates the scenes. Overwhelmed with diy 2
    Do you need to add 4 colors of cloths and overlays, no. Instead of spending such a lot of time choosing colors on the tabletop, or renting prettier chairs, do what the classiest restaurants do and use more white and clear things. And watch the amount of stuff on the tabletop.Overwhelmed with diy 3
    Overwhelmed with diy 4A huge amount of work for DIY, but think of the table in use? So much for Pinterest. Do not commit yourself to too much.

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  • W-K
    Super October 2019
    W-K ·
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    My suggestions for DIY is this: do the bare minimum and keep things simple. A clean table with a simple flower arrangement keeps things elegant and functional.

    Overwhelmed with diy 5

    Overwhelmed with diy 6


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  • MK
    Expert September 2021
    MK ·
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    Less is more! You do not have to decorate every inch of your space. The only DIY we are doing is building a table for our grazing table, and I'm dramatically overwhelmed with one project, so I can only imagine having to DIY it all.

    I would spread your DIYs out over the curse of your engagement and try to make them fun projects rather than work -- I was going to do DIY bouquets, but bit the bullet and hired a florist, and my bridesmaids and I were going to have a "bouquet party" where we crafted practice bouquets and drank wine and just made a fun girls night out of it. I would try to do things like that, even if just with your FH.

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