As a creative person who has been in love with crafting and DIY since I was a child in my mother’s crafting room (yes, my household didn’t have an office like normal homes; instead we had a room dedicated to all things crafty; stamps, yarn, ribbon, embossing gun, you name it, my mom probably had it) I knew that I would be doing a significant amount of DIY for my own wedding. But how much is too much DIY? I’m a heavily ambitious woman so I can tell you this, my wedding was A LOT of DIY lol. So how much should you take on, and how much should you pass on to the pros? Well, it depends on your skill set, what your crafting strengths are, and what materials you already possess, but I can definitely help you weigh some of the pros and cons of DIY.
Photo 1: Cranes hand folded with friends and family.
Photo 2: Our friends working to put up the arch for our ceremony.
Being the me that I am, I’ll start with some cons and then we’ll go through the pros to end on a happier, more positive note.
Cons: Perfection - If you’re anything like me, a perfectionist virgo (bless your soul lol), then this may not be the best choice for you (I mean I did it anyway, so who am I to judge). It will, like I said, take time to make things perfect in your eyes and it may end up looking wonky or not quite like your vision. If you hire someone to do it, they’ll likely be really good at what they do and be willing to make sure they get it just right for you.
Not all of them are perfect, but each is special in their own way
Time This work is very time consuming, if you’re thinking, oh this is a simple or quick project, remember that sometimes making that one to 30 pieces, tags, etc. may be a simple task, but once you put it into perspective that you might need to do it 100-200+ times, that will take A LOT of time.
Photo 1: Handwriting all of our favor tags.
Photo 2: Tying each tag to the bottles.
Photo 3: Final product, favors on the tables at the reception.
Patience If you don’t have a lot of patience to get things done right, or do them nicely, you may end up getting frustrated and tired of doing it, and then end up farming out the work to a pro anyway.
Stress The more DIY you do, the more stressful it will be; plain and simple. If I’m being 1,000% honest with you, a lot of my wedding stress (aside from pandemic planning problems) came from the fact that I decided I wanted essentially ALL of my decor (which was a lot of small pieces) to be sourced and DIY’d by myself or closely supervised by myself lol (I know I sound like a crazy control freak, but for the most part I was a kind and very nice bride, just very specific about the way I wanted things done). Because of all of this oversight and how involved I chose to be, it was a lot to do and stress over.
Photo 1: Stringing and gluing cranes with my dog, Paco. Photo 2: We decided to hang the cranes at home in our backyard and acrylic seal them so they’d be slightly more weather resistant in case it rained. Photo 3: The crane arch displayed at the reception.
Pros:
Details If you’re into small details and like to layer them in, this is where customizing some of your wedding decor may be appealing. When you make things yourself, you’re able to get the perfect shade of that color, the right textures, and find the perfect piece you’re looking for yourself.
Photo 1: My sister, Chara working on the seating chart. We were able to hand pick colors I wanted for this sign to help blend more of our color scheme together.
Photo 2: The seating chart displayed at the reception.
Cost You may be able to cut some costs if you source some things yourself or make it yourself, but don’t forget that sometimes it’s more worth it to shell out that money and get it done by a pro. Good labor ain’t cheap, and cheap labor ain’t always good.
Photo 1: Chara working on some smaller signage for the wedding.
Photo 2: The sanitize and mask up sign used to greet guests at the reception.
Quality time One of the things I loved about doing all the DIY for my wedding was that I was able to wrangle in different family and friends to help do small parts together. I was able to spend time with them, talk about the wedding, future, and catch up while we worked on beautiful pieces together. From a Hawaiian perspective, I made it a point to let everyone who worked on pieces of our wedding with us know that it was important to me that they work with good intentions, positive mindsets, and love because you manifest that energy into everything you do. I only wanted to feel their positive energy for our wedding.
Photo 1: Chara personalizing our guest book.
Photo 2: Finished guest book with our names and wedding date.
Photo 3: Guest book used as a polaroid sign in!
Sentimental value The fact that so many people came together to build a lot of the pieces and collect the small decor for my wedding truly brought joy to my heart. A small part of their hearts, time, love, and energy were sprinkled throughout the day and were a reminder that we were quite literally surrounded by their love.
Photo 1: Titas With Tools building our mini arches for the cranes.
Photo 2: The mini crane arch used as decor for our dessert bar!
Overall, if you have a very specific vision, time, and PATIENCE to get things done, you may be able to pepper in more DIY. At the end of the day it’s really only a decision you and your partner can make (this was a surprising way for me to see just how supportive and understanding my partner was of me in a “higher than normal” stress situation). How much of your engagement are you willing to spend working on projects, how important is it for you to have certain details PERFECT, and how much time do you realistically have to juggle all of these projects. Maybe doing a small part or one or two projects is most feasible for you, or maybe you’ll be a crazy overly ambitious bride like I was.
Photo 1: My best friend, MOH, and ½ of Titas With Tools, Zabrina bringing these centerpieces to life!
Photo 2: The hexagon centerpieces in action at the reception.
In the end, I’ll tell you that I wholeheartedly believe I made the best decision for myself and couldn’t imagine doing anything differently. If you fall into the latter category and decide to go for it and do the most, I 10,000% support you; we’ll start a wedding DIY bride support group together lol. In all seriousness, I wish you the best of luck in however much DIY you decide to do, and hope you most importantly HAVE FUN with it. Don’t lose sight of the reasons you chose to do it yourself and know at the end of the day your wedding is going to be beautiful, I’m sure of it.
Photography credits for all photos: Kenzie Kate Photo
Did our little list help you decide whether you should DIY for your wedding? Want to DIY some pieces but not sure where to begin on everything else? Click here to contact us!