What are the best DIY Wedding ideas?

Hi, you can try this site, it's full of DIY projects and links, it'll be a good start: www.wedcraft.com

Also try the bridal talkboards, the girls on there are full of amazing ideas.... www.canadianbride.com and www.weddingbells.ca

Go to wal-mart or Micheal's or some arts and crafts store and buy silk flowers in whatever kinds and colors you want for your wedding. Have a girl's night with your bridesmaids, maid/matron of honor, and your mother (probably the groom's mother also)...you can make your own bouqets and its really not very hard to do at all...each girl can make her own and your mother and mother-in-law to-be can help you make yours...that way all of the bouquets are unique and each girl can keep her own and it will still be pretty 20 years from now...just try to keep it to the same idea/scheme for the shape and design of their bouquets...not difficult at all...

Also, look at the time of day you are having your wedding...depending on if it is going to be around supper-time or not, you can get away with doing just snacks and things like that rather than food-food...

Oh, and crazy as it may sound to some brides...unless you just want a particular dress, go check department stores in the mall...right now is a good time of year with school dances being over with...I bought my dress for $100 and the 2 bridesmaids dresses for $25 each...and my HOPEFULLY soon-to-be sister-in-law thought for sure that I had paid boo-coodles for my dress and was completely shocked when I told her where I had actually gotten it...

I got little rounded type globes and put stones and water in each one with a floating candle in there and then wrapped daisies around the bottom for my center pieces...think I may have spent $50 on all of the supplies for that and had about 8-10 center pieces I believe...and it didn't take a lot of time to put each one together either...

Just remember to have fun with your wedding...and there's no point in having a big show...you can have a prettier, more enjoyable wedding for $1000 than some people manage to have for $20,000 or more...

Good luck and have fun!

1. MAKE YOUR OWN FAVORS

Homemade favors don't have to be mints wrapped in tulle. Get ideas off websites, buy the materials and make your own version. Don't buy anything from wedding websites. For example i bought clear favor boxes in bulk from a online whole box company.

2. SKIP THE LIMO

We used a town car instead of a limo. We kept the rides short, just from the church to the photo site to the reception

3. PREMADE SILK ARRANGEMENTS

I bought a prearranged rose tree topiary from Big Lots. I had to tweak it to make it appropriate. I added ribbon around the stem, spray painted the pots to look like brushed silver and hot glued fake green moss to the top of the pot.

4. CUT AMOUNT OF FAVORS IN HALF

I figured that not everyone would take one. There are always favors left on the tables. So instead of a favor at every seat, i put 5-6 around center of each table. I figured men don't care about favors anyway so maybe only the woman (if its a couple ) would want one.

5. MADE MY OWN VEIL

There are plenty of patterns and directions online. I spent $12 on the tulle.

6. BORROW, BORROW, BORROW

Use whatever you can from any other recent brides. I was able to borrow a tiara, pew bows and a slip.

7. BUY THIS BOOK

"Bridal Bargains" by Denise Fields

Best wedding advice I ever got

8. KEEP THE CAKE SIMPLE

I ordered very simple 3 tier cake and decorated it with live flowers. I wanted a square shape but circular was cheaper so i got that.

9. COMPARISON SHOP FOR THE DRESS

Get the manufacturer and style # of the dress you like. This will be very difficult and might require some research. Bridal shops will flat out refuse to release this info because they DONT want you to comparison shop. Once you get it, go to other stores and see if they can order from that manufacturer and how much they want for it. Most bridal stores jumped at teh chance to beat the other store's price.

The best things to DIY are invites, save-the-dates, favors, and other stationary-type projects. If you are daring, try to DIY flowers as well, and maybe instead of a DJ try a loaded IPOD and a friend.

Things that (in my opinion) are better left to the experts - photography, food, dress

Do the flowers yourself. Me and my sister who was also my matron of honor, went to A.C. Moore and bought artificial flowers. We were really picky and chose only the flowers that looked natural. We're very creative people and had no trouble making all the bouquets and boutonnieres. (I wish I could show you pictures. They really did look professional.) We also made all of the centerpieces on our own. They were really easy. We bought round glass vases (they looked like fish bowls) with scalloped tops. We tied ribbons that were the wedding colors around the top. We filled the bottom with those smooth shiny clear and white stones that you sometimes see in fish tanks. They look kind of like sea glass only rounder. Anyway, then we put white scented candles inside. It created a soft glow on the tables and a pleasant smell. Those were two ways that I saved a ton of money and still had the professionally done appearance. Good luck and congratulations!

Make your own Invitations, programs and favors. If you are creative do your own centerpieces. Have a friend do your hair instead of paying to get it done. Look for things on sale,(shoes, dress, decorations etc) start now and store them at home for the time being. Decorate the church yourself.

Congrats on your upcoming wedding!

I'm in the process of planning a smaller inexpensive wedding for myself and my fiancee as well. Here's what we're doing and we have a 125 guest list, but are pulling it off for around $1800 total...

(NO SITE/RENTAL FEES)

We're having both the ceremony AND reception at my parents house. I found party tents complete w/the windowed side walls on Ebay for $69.99/10x30 and $49.99/10x20...they each had about $70 shipping, but it's still cheaper than renting...after you use them, you can re-sell them and make some of your $$ back! I purchased 4 to house my guest list, but depending on the size of your guest list, you may be able to get away w/less. THAT'S if you can have it outdoors, if you have a family member w/a large enough home, you could have it there.

(NO CATERER!)

We're hosting a "Family Favorites" buffet in which we're asking certain family members who have a dish that they are always asked to make for family functions to provide that in lieu of a gift. Then I'm going to print up little table tent cards to place on the buffet infront of the dish listing what it is and by who ("MaryBelle's Potato Salad")

(NO PAID DJ!)

If you're having music, load up an mp3 or such and hook it up to some speakers. (Have a computer savy friend do it as thier gift, or do it yourself) I've been to 2 weddings that did this, and it was even for a larger crowd! Worked great!!!

(DON'T PAY FOR EXPENSIVE INVITATIONS!)

Print your own. I just found the most beautiful ones at an Ollies discount store in my area, I got 2 kits for a total of 5BUCKS! There's enough for 80 and that includes the invites/mailing envelopes/rsvp card/return envelopes/foil seals + practice sheets and suggested wording for various situations....and also got an 80 pc pk of matching thank you cards for $5.....UTILITZE YOUR LOCAL DISCOUNT/DOLLAR STORES!!!!

(NO NEED TO SPEND MONEY ON INDIVIDUAL FAVORS!)

What I'm doing is I've ordered 2 diff styles of stickers from Oriental Trading

one type are mini stickers and goes on the bottom of hershey kisses and are already printed w/different sayings like "a wonderful day" and "love is forever" w/pics of flowers, hearts etc.

The other style is a little bigger & you can have personalized w/2 lines up to 18 characters each. So we got our names and "thank you".

I'm going to put 2 bowls on each table...one filled w/hershey kisses w/stickers and the other filled w/mini peppermint patties w/the personalized stickers.

This way, we are still offering our guests something sweet AND thanking them as well.

(NO FLORIST/DECORATORS!)

I'm just going to carry a single red rose tied w/ribbon and long streamers, my maid of honor a white one.

Making my own centerpieces, which I have TONS of ideas/designs that can all be done for less than $5-$8 each, feel free to email me for ideas if you'd like!

(KEEP AN OPEN MIND!!!!)

Don't get "stuck" on certain ideas/patterns/items....you'd be amazed how much EASIER it all falls together if you just sort of "roll with it"...it doesn't necessarily mean that you have to sacrifice anything, just be willing to bend.

If you yourself are crafty or know any crafty people, put them to work! Utilize the talents of anybody willing to help! DON'T BE AFRAID TO ASK FRIENDS/FAMILY FOR HELP!

I have TONS of money saving ideas (menu items, decor, wishing well, etc)....if there are any certain areas that you need or would want some suggestions for...feel free to email me!

Try www.theknot.com

don´t think it actually saves money but attending a class on how to make your own wedding rings sounds very diy to me :-)