Thursday, January 7, 2010

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)

18 comments:

Unknown said...

We DIY'd our own invites from Michael's and they were beautiful! These that you have picked out are stunning!

Heather said...

We’re going with DIY invites from Michael’s, and I absolutely love them! They’re easy to make and look great!

Laura said...

I've never seen that kit at Michaels, but I love it!

Born to be Mrs. Beever said...

I like that invite a lot! We just got our mockup invite in the mail yesterday (blog post next Wednesday) and I love them...but I am trekking down to Michael's this week to pick up some little embellishments to add to them :)

Alicia said...

those invites are seriously so cute! michaels has such an awesome wedding section. i can't wait to see how everything turns out!

princessapr said...

That's great! I am not a DIY person. Everyone in my wedding, I just delegated to someone else. I made my mom and sister do the invitations (my sister does calligraphy) and my sister assembled the favors (we did bookmarks because I like to read). Everything else my mom did because I didn't care about it. I delegated transporting flowers to my aunt and uncle. I really did as little as possible as a bride. :) The DIY stuff was more FSETDI (Find Someone Else To Do It).

The kit is so pretty! Love that your blog matches.

Lacey Bean said...

I love the scheme of your invitations/programs! And that you're getting it from Michaels (I can spend HOURS in that store.) I'm not really doing DIY anything for our wedding, but I am trying to use local vendors as much as possible. We have a friend doing flowers, another friend of a friend doing hair, got my invites and hair pins from Etsy, etc. I think I would drive myself nuts if I tried to DIY everything! But I will probably make our card box, because I haven't seen anything I like yet. And that can easily be done. ;)

Mels said...

Check out InviteSite.com for DIY wedding invitation kits. Eco papers, handmade papers, letterpress printed covers. Easy to assemble and come with templates. We're paper snobs and have worked with DIY brides for 14 years. There are more than 100 designs in tons of colors to choose from, and you can totally customize them further. Plus, we have the paper made, do everything inhouse. (Most places resell other companies stuff)

Annie said...

i love everything you have picked out and the damask theme!! i hope all the DIY projects go smoothly hun!

i decorated our home office in damask and black and white accessories/furniture.

Abbie said...

I DIY'ed my sister's wedding invites, and they came out wonderfully. Don't worry about not being crafty. Most of us aren't!

BonBon Rose Girls Kristin said...

LOVE the black! I DIY'd our programs and the turned out super fab...I think!

Elizabeth Marie said...

I love the black too. I can't wait to see! I suck at DIY anything so props to you.

bananas. said...

lady...you can TOTALLY do it! i have faith and you. oh what's that? yes i just sent you awesome DIY waves your way. you should be fine now ;)

Iva Messy said...

you can DIY like a CHAMP!! you are going to knock this out of the water!! I can't wait!!

ps a very sincere thank you for my happy birthday wishes!! I really appreciate it!!

Jen said...

I really like the programs! So much better than your standard booklet! Very cool.

Don't worry, I'm not much for artistic DIY either, so I'll be in the same boat as you come my wedding. I can, however, tie a mean bow, which I think might come in handy. :) I tied the bows on 150 votive candles for my BFF's wedding favors!

I'm looking forward to seeing how you navigate your wedding planning; I feel like you'll have some helpful tips for me!

Gracie said...

Beautiful! I don't think you have to be crafty to save money (it helps of course) but there are ways on keeping costs down.

Your invitations suite looks lovely! I love black and white with touches of pink.

Gracie said...

Beautiful! I don't think you have to be crafty to save money (it helps of course) but there are ways on keeping costs down.

Your invitations suite looks lovely! I love black and white with touches of pink.

Ela said...

It's crazy what Michael's offers now! I only wish they had what they do now when I got married! They'll look amazing hon :)