Rating Diys on a scale of 1 to 10 difficulty

With the exception of hair, make up and nails (which would probably rank about a 5), this all sounds like a 10 to me!

View Quoted Comment Very valid! Some of these make me balk as well, just wondering what everyone thought

1: cleaning, crowd control.
2: favors (packaging of existing edible goodies), Spotify list, nails, uplighting (really easy).
3: invitations with template, gift bags. 7-9: florals, unless single stem in a bud vase. 10: ceremony schedule (I abandoned it, those templates are killer!). The thing with DIY is logistics bringing in and out. Ugh. ** I'd leave food to professional caterers for food safety concerns. Good luck!

It's your day, you want to be THE BRIDE .... not the caterer, janitor or any other laborer. If you are doing flowers in a vase, thatv is easy .... but how will they get to the venue and on your table? Favors and other decor, hair, make-up and nails are definitely doable, but IMHO leave everything else to the pros.

Ease vs difficulty is subjective. What one person excels at and thinks should be easy for everyone is super stressful to someone else. Only you can answer what your skills and limitations are.


Floral arrangements were easy with DIY tutorials on YouTube. Centerpieces were easy.Hair/makeup/nails is/was a super stressful thing because none of us have experience or confidence in that, and it wasn’t anything we (bridesmaids and I) were taught how to do when we were younger so it’s easier to leave that to the pros.
We left dj’ing, catering/bartending and coordinating to the pros. The venues we looked at allowed DIY but for liability and safety, catering/bartending is required by law to be handled by licensed professionals. In our state, we are required to purchase alcohol ourselves but not allowed to serve without a licensed professional. It cut costs for us because very few of our guests drink beer/wine compared to liquor/mixers and non alcoholic beverages. Plus we have had bad experiences over the years with Spotify playlists/family as coordinators or catering, as guests when they are DIY’ed. Same for the cake. The rehearsal dinner was fine as DIY because it was just pizzas from the Costco food court and sodas from the grocery store.
We skipped favors, but if we did do them, they would be something very stress free.
Setup and tear down was done by the coordinator so that was also left to the pros. Renting was cheaper than buying mass quantities of items that we will never reuse or make an effort to resell.
We had a vision of what we wanted for stationary but no graphic design skills even though Canva is made for people with no skill sets to be able to do it. We worked with a local print shop and came out cheaper than trying to figure out Zazzle or Canva. We did hand write envelopes and escort cards, which wasn’t that time consuming, even with bad handwriting. We skipped nearly all signage as it isn’t done in our families and social circles.
So in the end, we had a lower (than the national average) cost wedding in a major high cost of living city, which people said can’t be done. But we also had access to local wholesalers that are not found elsewhere. We also knew what would stress us out and what we would enjoy. One thing that is never discussed when DIY is mentioned is that it more often than not is not a money saver. People don’t consider that their time, sanity and labor is charged at minimum wage per hour in addition to cost of supplies. They only look at “10 tablecloths on XYZ.com is cheaper than renting” without considering that they need to add up the time spent and gas money to get every step of the way from the store to selling it online, including transportation and steaming, etc.

I agree with previous posters that DIY task difficulty is totally subjective. I also agree that you want to enjoy your day and not work it. But I think there can be a balance. So for me, I'm focusing on a few DIY things that are within my skillset and can be mostly done ahead of time. This includes all of our signs, edible favors, and hair/makeup/nails. In the past, I have DIYed flower arrangements for other events but I do not want to end up stressed as they can't be done very far ahead of time, so I am leaving this to the pros.

Also be careful about the costs. Some DIY projects end up costing the same or even more than renting/purchasing/hiring a professional. Good luck!

View Quoted Comment For sure. I very much agree with you and with previous posters that these things are subjective and I don't want to feel like I'm working my wedding either.


The current plan is to DIY day of hair and makeup, but after having a wash, ends only trim, and blowout the day before. I want to look quite natural. I'm not a huge makeup person but I feel comfortable doing it and I think it will still look good and special in photos since it's an outdoor wedding with natural light, especially if I slap on some false eyelashes. Nails I'll have done when I get my hair done. Nails are a 10 out of 10 difficulty for me lol I just can't.
I'm not going to DIY floral arranging, I don't think, at this stage, but it's worth saying that I think I probably could if it came down to it because we're looking at wood florals. Gives you a bit more lead time without worrying about freshness. But I'm fine picking them up the day before already done, one less thing. We're not having aisle decor so that's easy, just bouqs and table flowers and mayyyyybe a garland for the front that will wind up on the sweetheart table.
For cleaning and crowd control, I don't think it will be that bad both because of the smaller number of guests and because we are asking my partner's two brothers who are not otherwise in the wedding party to be 'ushers' and help seat people and then after the ceremony they're going to ask/help people grab their ceremony chairs and carry them the 40 ft to the reception tables. Idc if people think that's strange, you literally have to walk past the reception tables (5 total) in order to get to the ceremony area so I'm not renting 40 extra chairs just for the other 40 to sit there, within sight, empty for 5 hours. They can make sure to help grandma and grandpa first and then anyone else who is hesitating or struggling, of which there should be very few as it's a young and able-bodied crowd as of now.
We also will have a DOC who can be supervising these things and handing people their phones back because yes I'm also being 'that bride' and having her collect people's silenced phones in a basket at the entry. Phones drive me absolutely bonkers and I'm paying a lot of money for photography, videography, and live string quartet during the ceremony, idc who thinks it's rude, my DOC can be the 'bad guy' there.
Everything else about my wedding is focused on the guests' enjoyment and comfort. We are even providing complimentary onsite lodging for up to 3 whole days both since it's a destination wedding and since there will be alcohol. The food will be top knotch. So I think with those things in mind, asking people to give up their phones for an hour and to carry their chairs across the lawn is not that big of a deal.
Also going back to the 'cleaning', I think we will prob go family style on the food so that should make the bussing a bit easier as it's not as many extra plates as buffet or served courses.