Wedding Trend - DIY Weddings

These days, I see more and more couples taking the do-it-yourself route for at least part of their wedding-- handmade bouquets and flower arrangements, home-printed invitations and paper goods, even hand-sewn dresses!  If you're an artsy type, and have some time, it's a great way to really personalize your wedding, and even save a bit of dough.  Many projects can be really easy, even if you don't have much experience.  I've seen several brides make their own simple bouquets.  One simply bought flowers she loved, trimmed them up a bit, and then tied them together with ribbon.  It's definitely a romantic look, and it fit her style perfectly!  Another bride had some experience in flower design, and actually put together rose bouquets, boutonnieres, and all of her centerpieces, too.

Reception table signage is another DIY project that can really personalize your wedding day.  A really simple and popular idea is to frame photos of the two of you from childhood or your engagement, or places/things that are special to you, and place those on your tables.  Josh and I actually did this for our own wedding, and named our tables after our favorite National Parks in California (did I mention that we loved the great outdoors?).  Even if you just stick with numbering your tables, it's a great way to give your wedding a bit of a theme and really make it unique.

Another really popular DIY wedding project is designing your paper goods-- invitations, save-the-dates, ceremony programs, reception menus, thank-you notes, etc...  This can mean anything from using one of the various online design websites, such as Wedding Paper Divas, to personalize a stock design, to creating your own design from scratch in Photoshop.  One of my brides is a graphic designer, and designed and themed her entire wedding and rehearsal dinner using paper goods-- save-the-dates, invitations, programs, menus, table cards, name badges, signs, the works!  The whole effect was gorgeous, and it really gave her wedding a style of it's own.

If you're thinking about some DIY projects for your wedding, check out some of the wedding planning blogs out there for inspiration-- Project Wedding, Green Wedding Shoes, and Style Me Pretty all have DIY sections.  There are a ton of creative ways to make your Big Day truly and uniquely you!

And, since this has been a long post, here's a little instant inspiration for your Big Day!