DIY Options That Will Save You Heaps!

When you’re talking about the most important day of a girl’s life, you want to leave certain things up to the professionals. However, there may be some do-it-yourself projects you could take on to scrape a little off the budget to be redistributed to another detail of your wedding, or even give you back some spending money on your honeymoon.

MAKE YOUR OWN INVITATIONS AND WEDDING STATIONERY

There are fantastic craft and paper stores out there with absolutely everything you need to make beautiful wedding stationery. The possibilities are endless, and with a little skill, a lot of patience, you can make your own save the date cards, invitations, place cards, thank you cards and everything in-between.

You will need:

• An idea or theme – search the internet and craft books for colour themes and concepts, and find special little ways you can make your wedding stationery unique with embellishments.
• The use of a paper guillotine, because although you want to make your stationery on the cheap, you don’t want them to look like a home job. Nothing says cheap and nasty like scissor-cut invitations.
• Some help! Enlist your bridesmaids, mother, sisters, whoever you can to assist. Even if this seems like a fun project at first, halfway through it might start to feel a tad tedious. Make sure you thoroughly teach the techniques to your helpers, as when you’re trying to save money here, you don’t want wasted materials ending up in the bin.

MAKE YOUR OWN BOUQUETS AND FLORAL ARRANGEMENTS

This can really save you a bundle. Engage in a little bit of research first on how to construct bouquets and arrange flowers. Contact your local flower market or flower wholesaler and find out what kind of flowers will be available to you at the time of year you will be getting married.

On the Sunshine Coast, there are several flower wholesalers:

http://flowerbarrow.com.au/
http://coastalflora.com.au/

MAKE YOUR OWN WEDDING DRESS

If you can sew extremely well, this is a beautiful way to add a personal touch to your wedding day. This will be a big challenge, but nobody will have a wedding dress like yours! It will take a lot of careful planning, and knowledge of how to manipulate the fragile fabrics typically used in bridal wear.

You will need:

• A fantastic pattern, which can either be found at a material store, online or if you’re super clever, you could make your own.
• Drop-dead gorgeous fabric. This could take a lot of trolling through your favourite material shops, or why not try some op-shops? You may find some stunning unused vintage fabric or some vintage wedding dresses you could pull apart or rework into your own dream wedding gown.
• Access to a fantastic sewing machine. If you don’t already have one at your disposal, it’s time to beg, borrow or steal. You can also option renting one for a few hours a week at your local Spotlight or Lincraft store. On the Sunshine Coast, you will find a Spotlight store in the Kawana Home Central on Kawana Way.