If you’re getting married next year – congratulations! I’m sure you already have the ceremony arranged and the venue booked, and maybe you’ve even picked out a wedding dress. But have you started on your decorations yet? If not, here are three decor pieces that you certainly don’t need to buy because, you can make them yourself…
I know first-hand that planning a wedding can take up a lot of your time. I also know that, no matter what you do, there’s always a last-minute rush to get everything ready before the big day. So, if you’re getting married next summer, the best thing you can do is start preparing for your wedding right now!
The darker evenings in autumn and winter are the perfect time to stay in and get ahead with doing the things you can do to help you get a head start. This means there’ll be much less rushing around just before the wedding because you’ll already have all your decorations made and won’t need to splash out on last-minute (over-priced!) wedding decor.
I was chatting with my sister-in-law-to-be last night and she showed me the amazing decorations that she’s already made for her wedding next summer. I’m talking about dozens of floral arrangements, bunting and table decor – it was an impressive sight, to say the least! And it got me thinking; why doesn’t everyone prepare in advance? Why does there need to be a mad-rush before the big day that stresses everyone out.
Get it done now and you can relax when the wedding approaches, knowing that everything is ready to go. Plus, with the average price of a UK wedding in 2019 being a staggering £30k+ it’s a good idea to cut costs wherever possible. Here are three easy decor DIYs that you can definitely do yourself during cosy evenings in…
BUNTING
Bunting is a wedding essential, surely? If you’ve not hung bunting in your chosen decor colours all around the venue, are you even getting married?! Thankfully, it’s also one of the easiest items to make yourself at home – if you can sew in a straight (ish) line with a sewing machine, you can definitely make your own and save ££s.
There are two options with bunting: Cut out triangles of fabric and sew them along a length of ribbon. Or, if you’re not okay with using a sewing machine, cut out paper triangles and staple them onto a ribbon. It doesn’t get much easier than that!
Actually, it does: you could simply use doilies from the pound shop that you fold in half over a ribbon and glue the two halves together. That’s such a simple way to get a vintage afternoon-tea vibe without splashing the cash. Or you could simply peg photos to a length of string or wool like I did below – maybe use photos of the happy couple throughout their childhood and life together.
TABLE DECOR
One easy way to tie the reception decor together is with table runners in the colours your wedding theme. Again, this is definitely something you can make yourself, and it’ll save you ££s compared to hiring runners from the venue or the catering company.
The more items you can make yourself, the lower the entire wedding bill will be overall. So keep an eye out for rolls of fabric in your favourite colour and simply cut it into strips to create table runners. You can fold under the edges and use a straight stitch to hem them, or you could even use an iron-on bonding mesh (remember Wundaweb?) to ‘glue’ the edges down. Or, if you choose your fabric carefully and pick one that doesn’t fray, you could just cut the edges with pinking shears and leave them un-hemmed.
That will save you time – as will using paper rather than fabric. Have you seen just how pretty wallpaper is these days? It’s thick enough that it’ll stay flat on the table (I mean, compared to wrapping paper or tissue paper, that is) and you can even get glittery finishes these days to really make your tables sparkle. Keep an eye out for ‘bargain bin’ rolls of wallpaper and simply cut it to length to fit the tables.
FLORAL ARRANGEMENTS
Obviously, you can’t get a head start on floral arrangements if you’re having entirely fresh flowers at your wedding BUT maybe you could consider adding some faux flower displays to decorate the ceremony and venue. Faux flowers look so realistic these days (especially from a distance – no-one is going to be that close to them!) and using artificial flowers means you can get a head start on your floral designs.
At the very least, you can prepare vases or pots for the centrepieces and ceremony displays. Gather together vessels from car boot sales and charity shops during the year, or even collect washed-out jam or coffee jars to upcycle. Then you can add ribbons or lace with a glue gun to get them ready to fill with fresh flowers on the big day.
ONE FINAL TIP
If you want to use fairy lights for your wedding decor (and let’s face it, who doesn’t?) stock up in the post-Christmas sales. You just know those twinkle lights will be half price or less after the festive season so that’s the best time to shop for them to cut the cost.
Let me know how you saved money on wedding decor in the comments below and I’d love to hear your tips for easy DIY decorations that can be made during wintery evenings at home.
PIN IT FOR LATER
This blog post is a collaboration. The pink links in this post may indicate a collaborative link or information source.
