DIY projects

One thing about the internet in conjunction with wedding planning, brides can find a lot of do-it-yourself projects that can save a lot of money. I've read so many magazines about using an Ipod for music, printing the invitations at home, DIY hair and make up, even making the wedding dress. My FI and I did talk about the music and finding a family friend to make the food. Neither of those ideas panned out but I have found some other ways to save money and express us with some projects.

First, for the flowers, I originally wanted to have all (including mine) to be fake or silk artifical flowers. I would be inexpensive and I wasn't always a getting-flowers type of girl (mainly because flowers die-why waste it). Then my FMIL and I decided that she'll be in charge of flowers. She loves flowers so that was an easy decision. My flowers will be real but everyone else from the bouquets to the boutonnieres to the corsages to the tossing bouquet will be made. From what I've been told, they got the majority of their materials from Michael's and Dollar Tree. Those two stores are some of my best friends right now. You can find so many deals and steals if you just look. The flower budget went from $250 to $170.

After the decision of creating a seating chart and having assigned tables, the third thing I thought about was finding some place card holders and numbers. I wanted to incorporate our colors under $25 dollars. I found the cutest place card holders--it matched the colors and only .99 cents each! A very lovely website by the name of Favor Warehouse had the these beautiful items and when I found it, I was so happy.

I slept on it for a minute and thought about it. I would only need a total of 20. I mean they are adorable. I was in love with them. Then one night I was ordering stuff off Etsy -one of my favorite sites these days and came across a woman makes the place card holders. When I first saw it, I thought that is really cute. THEN I thought I could do that! So I looked at the pictures and started brainstorming. Materials needed are the large paper binders, some fabric and ribbons and then any embellishments that the bride would desire. This is where Michael's and Hobby Lobby came in-we bought everything there except the binders. I bought a small container of binders (I think they were 24 in the pack) and some Krazy glue. My MOH and I found some light blue flower petals (I already had plenty of ribbon) and whoop, there it is! We had place card holders! I still like the wedding cake holders but I love what we made it. It was fun and inexpensive and didn't take any time at all. She and I were done while watching a movie. It was great. I did have one other project in the works and that was the card box. I've seen some great DIY pictures with them and was to jump right in but I was then told my FMIL will be taking care of that. I guess I can't have all the fun...:) Happy wedding planning!