Weddingbee

Not so much a warning, actually. More like advice. After my last post about wedding-related stress, I figured I’d share the few tips I DO have for reducing stress… they’re all related to Do It Yourself (DIY) projects, as those are the only things I have a handle on!

Make a decision and STICK TO IT. There are a kabillion ideas out there for invitations, programs and all the other DIY stuff. If you change your mind a bunch of times, you’ll drive yourself insane and waste money with already-used, unreturnable supplies. Come up with an idea that excites you, and then stop obsessing over other ideas. I changed my mind about my programs, which wasn’t too horrible of a problem because I still had my receipt and I hadn’t actually started them. However, my invitations were not a problem because I started them in December and they don’t have to go out until June. Had I changed my mind about those, I would probably be freaking out right now.

Me, making our invitations. Please pardon the mess that is
our dining room table. That’s what crafting does to a girl!

Be realistic. The first time my mom and I went to Paper Source to start thinking about ideas, we had the BRILLIANT plan to make little accordian books, complete with little pieces of book board, for each invitation. Then I realized that I would probably kill myself (and others) before I finished the first dozen. The idea morphed into a much easier to handle project. Don’t make things harder on yourself than they need to be. Remember, people don’t know how awesome the original idea was–they only know how awesome the invitation they received is. Mail your invitation to yourself before you make a whole bunch. I took my original idea for an invitation to the post office and was told that I would have to mail it “parcel post” because it was too stiff. That would have cost $1.50 per invitation. I took my second idea to the post office and found out that I would have to mail THAT invitation parcel post too–why? Because the ribbon I used to close the invitation made a BUMP in the envelope. These are things one would not necessarily think of. Can you imagine making 200 invitations, then taking them to the post office and learning that you’re going to have to pay an extra $184 to mail them?! Talk about a freak out.

Start early, work rarely. The best thing I did with my DIY projects was start early. Right after we got engaged, I came up with a vision for our wedding, and I got right to work while I was feeling inspired. When I had the inkling to do our invitations, I started on them and finished about half of them. Then I started to get frustrated by the monotony, so I didn’t work on them for over a month. I didn’t feel panicked, because I had plenty of time before the wedding, and had the freedom to start up again only when I had a new burst of excitement about them. I worked in little steps, but I still had them done a few months ahead of schedule. And I didn’t end up wanting to stab myself in the eye with my bone folder, either.

Enlist your friends. Not so much to help you with the projects, but for the company. This is where being a dork and making online bridal friends is really awesome. I got together with my knot friends, and they were my saving grace–they made me sane. If you get together to do your DIY projects, you can talk about wedding planning the whole time. This has the added benefit of not making your non-bride friends crazy.

And that, my friends, is my advice. What tips do you have for brides wanting to Do It Themselves?

PS. I’m taking a teeny weeny break, so I won’t be able to answer any comments until next Wednesday evening. So please don’t think I don’t care–I’ll be back (and there will be entries between now and then)!

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