• Real Weddings

Thinking of having a DIY wedding? This crafty couple can give you the scoop on just what it takes to have a do-it-yourself wedding and keep costs down. Logan and Chelsea used items they already owned or what they did not have they made it by hand.
Keep on reading to hear valuable tips from the bride on how she cut corners without sacrificing the look of her DIY wedding. As always check out the full gallery here to see even more of this couples crafty country DIY wedding ideas captured by Bryan N. Miller Photography.

From the Bride:Our day was a dream come true. We loved the backyard feel of the Rancho Buena Vista Adobe, less than one hour outside of San Diego in Vista. The day was inspired by rustic vintage elements, most of which family members and myself had on hand, and of course DIY projects.

 All hands were on deck the week of the wedding helping out, setting up and cleaning up. When the day came, I knew it was time to hand over my binder of details to my wonderful day-of coordinator and enjoy being a bride. Memories of the day are filled with love, laughter and happiness.

Make your own bouquets and boutonniere. I wanted to have the bridesmaids carry simple baby breath bundles. We purchased baby's breath in bulk from the Costco Floral Department and it was delivered two days before the wedding. We had plenty of time to bundle them using rubber bands and floral wire covered with lace ribbon. For the boutonniere, we wrapped a small bundle of baby's breath in burlap and tied tight with jute/twine.

Ditch the Tux. DIY weddings are all about casual and laid-back. We were able to save by getting Logan's vest at Forever 21 and pants that he will wear again at Express. Everything else was already in his closet! 

It was truly a family and friends affair. My crafty and inspiring mom flew down to San Diego for a week in the spring to help with some DIY projects, the groom's aunt made the cake and desserts, my wonderful bridesmaids spent many nights gluing invitations and save the dates together.

Forgo flower arrangements on tables. Everyone of our tables were different featuring wood rounds, vintage books, misc bottles, vases with dried wheat and baby's breath, mercury glass candles, small potted succulents, DIY paper flowers. Hint, baby's breath will stay good a couple of days if they remain in water and in the fridge.

If I had to do anything differently, I would have started delegating tasks out to friends and family earlier rather than trying to take it all on myself. There were plenty of people willing to help, but I waited until the end of the process to start handing things off. The whole process would have been less stressful if I would have started delegating earlier.

San Diego is one of the most expensive cities to get married in the Nation, which was a little discouraging at first and we even started looking to get married outside of the area. However, we were able to save in a number of ways for example getting married in a smaller community outside the metropolitan area and finding a venue that was managed by the city rather than a big fancy restaurant or hotel, which forces you to use their high priced menu. We kept the total wedding budget under $16,000.
From the Bride:
My vision was to keep the wedding decor simple, handmade with a vintage rustic feel. I was drawn with burlap, lace, neutral colors, A few pointers for those that are trying to achieve this look:
Design your own invitations or get a friend to help. Use wedding blogs and Pinterest to give you inspiration and go for it. I got the paper on sale at Michael's Craft Store and printed them at a local, family operated printer that gave me a bulk discount. We had parties to glue everything together and stuff the envelopes. They ended up being fun and memorable times together that I would not trade for the world!
Start delegating early - Throughout the engagement process, you will have countless people ask you what they can do to help. If you're like me, you didn't have the answer ready and you say "Oh, I don't know. I got it... there's really not that much to do." Wrong. Don't overestimate the involvement of a DIY wedding. If I was to do it all over again, I would start by making a list of all the items that you want to make or tasks you need to accomplish. Mark off the ones you would feel comfortable handing off to some of your trusted friends and family. You will need their help. Don't hesitate to reach out to your crafty friends and family and ask them to make a thing or two... they will most likely be THRILLED to be involved. I had 10 bridesmaids, my mom and her best friend all involved in the fun. We had multiple crafting/invitation assembly/save the date labeling etc parties at my house.
Check out after-Christmas sales - I was in luck that my vision included mercury glass candles and vases and that was the trendy Christmas decor this year. Many of the Christmas decorations were definitely reusable for a spring or summer wedding or would be lovely for a winter wedding. During the winter season, I was in the process of accumulating all of the decor piece and found some great sales on the decorations after Christmas include table clothes, candles, vases, ribbon, etc (Michael's, JoAnn's, Target, Ross, TJ Maxx were the best finds).
Start crafting early - just like the delegating, start early crafting your homemade pieces. You can't forecast the problems you may run into along the way. A project that was planned to take a few hours could easily turn into days. In the 3-5 months before your wedding, after all of the vendors are booked and before you start working on the invitations, take at advantage of this "downtime" in the wedding planning to get some of the big DIY projects done. You will be much less stressed the month of the wedding.
Get creative with ways to save - We all know weddings are expensive and DIY weddings no exception. But there are many creative ways to save on costs along the way.
A few of the DIY projects:
Ceremony Backdrop - ripped fabric and lace tied to twine (no sewing required)
Escort Card Holder - vintage shutters, vintage window with chicken wire and chalkboard (used chalkboard spray paint on the glass of an old poster frame)
Escort Cards- handmade my MOB and lettered by bride Signs - scrap wood stained and painted, decorated with misc. lace Banners - burlap and fabric Table Numbers - vintage rulers in various vases with numbers glued in Bouquets - bundled baby's breath Boutineers - baby's breath wrapped with burlap and jute Candles - decorated many mason jars for candles/vases and individual votive candles Tissue balls - coffee filters stuffed in whiffle balls Coffee filter banner - coffee filters strung on twine

• Bridesmaid Dresses: The Dessy Group
• Cake: Family Friends | Stationary: The Bride | Officiant: Family
• Caterer: Phil's BBQ
• Coordinator: Joyful Weddings & Events
• DJ: Sound Illusions
• Fashion: Forever 21
• Groom & His Men: Express
• Groom Shirt & Pants: H&M
• Hair & Makeup: Beauty Carriage Salon
• Photographer: Bryan N. Miller Photography
• shoes: Mod Cloth
• Venue: Rancho Buena Vista Adobe