DIY NOT

If there was one way I would describe myself it would NOT be- crafty, creative, artistic or patient. In my everyday life this isn’t really a big issue, I have other talents…like the ability to spend hours watching mindless reality shows, but when it comes to planning the wedding it definitely puts me at a disadvantage. I have spent hours lusting over wedding blogs full of amazing DIY projects that other brides have done for their weddings. And considering that I’m trying to save money as much as possible DIY seems like the best route to go. Unfortunately I don’t have the skill, patience and more importantly desire to spend hours creating personalized drink stirrers or graphically designing all of the needed paper products or making 100 origami birds as decoration. If you are one of those brides more power to you, I envy you, but I’m not part of the club.

With that said we still do need to find ways to save money and I am trying to do as much as I can on my own. This is where my current favorite store comes into the pictures. Michael's has become my store of choice over the past few months. It has an amazing section dedicated just to weddings as well as a whole store full of craft items to help me create whatever my little heart desires. One way we are saving money is by printing our invitations, programs, escort cards etc. ourselves. As I mentioned I’m not a graphic designer so I won’t be designing anything myself. Also, the idea of walking into one of those huge paper stores trying to pick out stationery gives me minor panic attacks. Thankfully Michael’s has a great selection of invitations that you just have to print and assemble yourself. Even I can do that!

Another bonus to buying items at Michaels is that they are also constantly running coupons in the paper for 20, 40 and 50% off. Both mine and Kristian’s mom have loaded me up on coupons which has helped me save as well. So far I’ve bought the invitation kits, program kits and a box for guests to put cards in. I also plan to go back to buy the kit for the escort cards and items to create our table numbers. I plan to start doing some print test this weekend to see how it all looks.

(our invitation kit, I plan to replace the black ribbon with a pink ribbon to add color)

(Our programs. The picture on the website isn't that great, I got the black and white version and will also use a pink ribbon instead of the white. It has different sheets for the Wedding Ceremony, Wedding party etc.)

(The cardbox we bought for guests to put any wedding cards in. We can also use this after the wedding as a keepsake box)