How Much Does A DIY Wedding Cost?
Colleen and Corey knew they wanted a romantic and intimate wedding that also showed their love of Charlotte and their southern background. While keeping true to their vision they also wanted to stay on a budget. They saved money by making almost everything themselves, scouting out pre-owned items, spray painting decor to match with the theme and baking the sweets for the dessert table. With all this do-it-yourself going on the question still remains "How Much Does A DIY Wedding Cost?".
Lucky for us Colleen goes into a full breakdown on the costs of her diy wedding along with pretty much every detail from start to finish. You can see all the photos from this diy wedding in the full gallery by clicking here. Captured by Abigail Seymour Photography.
My bouquet was made of blush pink garden roses, snow-white dahlias, and a mixture of wildflowers from a fresh cut flower farm in Asheville, and adorned with an antique broach from my mom. To include part of Corey’s Irish heritage, we decided to incorporate a handfasting ceremony, in which our two mothers bound our hands together using lace from Corey’s mother’s wedding dress.
To fancy up our gorgeous invitations from The Aerialist Press, we punched pretty shapes out of cardstock and tied all the pieces together with bakers twine like a little package. We addressed the envelopes using faux calligraphy, in which we printed the address on the envelope in a scripted font and traced it with a metallic pen.
The Aerialist Press is one of our Hand-Picked vendors, you must visit their page to see more of their divine work by clicking here.
The ceremony programs were designed by an etsy seller, printed on recycled paper, and placed in mail holders filled with baby's breath. We provided ceremony refreshments in the form of a “strawberry lemonade stand” complete with striped barber straws. Heart shaped lemonade labels were placed on each lemonade container and we created the “Wet your whistle and have a seat” signs by printing them on cardstock and placing them in painted frames that we already owned. The ceremony chairs were lined with baby's breath and the altar was draped in white sheer fabric and adorned with a halo chandelier I found at Ikea. We painted large white pumpkins and surrounded them with pre-owned sparkle pumpkins to adorn the front steps of the house to be seen as the guests arrived.
The reception took place in a courtyard filled with trees that we strung with bistro lights the day before the wedding. To create the centerpieces, my sister and I spent months gathering lanterns on sale and collecting vintage green glass bottles from flea markets. We crafted the table numbers from wooden numbers and spray paint, and we used silver leaf and spray paint to turn clear glass votives into mercury glass votives. I wanted to be eco-friendly wherever possible, so I used recycled card stock for all paper products, including the guest book love letters that we tied with bakers twine to each napkin place setting.
The dessert table was my favorite part of the wedding décor, because it was both beautiful and delicious. Our mint green almond and spice cake was covered in dahlias and garden roses and topped with miniature versions of Corey, myself, and our cat Picasso purchased from an Etsy vendor. Apple pie has always been my favorite dessert, so my sister and I made apple pie pops the weekend before the wedding. My sister also whipped up some strawberry and cinnamon macarons for the lucky guests (I swear her macarons are the best in town). To satisfy the chocolate lovers, Corey and I picked up chocolate covered oreos and pretzels. Recycled card stock and our trusty paper punches were used to create the dessert table signs, which were held in place by some adorable bubble place card holders from BHLDN. We also crafted the sparkle Colleen and Corey signs hanging in the dessert table gazebo as well as the bride and groom signs on the back of our dinner chairs. To save money on flowers, we placed empty mason jars on the dessert table (as well as other locations around the venue) for the bridesmaids to place their bouquets in after the ceremony.
To save money, we made almost everything ourselves, and used as many pre-owned items as possible for décor, from the mail holders for the programs, to the baskets that held the flip flops and blankets. We also altered items that we owned to fit in with the look of the wedding, using glitter, spray paint, or card stock. Another budget saver was my agreement with the videographer whom I decided to hire in the last month before the wedding. I was very fortunate to be able to afford a fantastic videographer because he agreed to bring the cost down by sending me just the raw footage, which I could then have edited by a video savvy friend.
This should give you a good starting out point on How Much Does A DIY Wedding Cost? This just a little insight into one bride and groom's overall expenses who saved costs by doing as many projects on their own as they could.
Stationery: The Aerialist Press
Photographer: Abigail Seymour Photography Venue: Whitehead Manor Hair & Makeup: Lindsey Regan Thorne Be Pretty Cake: Cheesecake Etc. Caterer: Family Catering Service Cinematography: Whitney Photo and Video DJ: Daily Soul Band Dress Designer: Watters (Style Sonara) Flowers: Sweet Earth Flower Farm Groom's Attire: Hugo Boss (purchased at Nordstrom) Jewelry: BHLDN (Earrings) Officiant: Rev. Heather Casselberry Shoe Designer: Butter Veil or Hair Accessories: Ban.Do (Crystal Swirl Bobbi) Bridesmaids Dresses: JCrew Programs: Set Apart Designs
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