Monday, 19 March 2012

Time to get your hands dirty...DIY Wedding ideas.

Taking the time to create aspects of your wedding design, will give the big day a real personal touch. I am not saying you need to get the sewing machine out for your dress...but you will be surprised how many small details can be done by friends and family with hidden talents such as...:
Edible Favours: Gone are the days of sugared almonds in an organza bag..If you or any of your friend or family (Think Granny's home-baking) has a passion for baking then this idea could work well and will be a lot cheaper than paying a caterer to carry out this task. From cupcakes to truffles to shortbread, these sweet treats will be welcomed by wedding guests late into the evening celebrations. I especially love the idea above with spoon readily attached ready to attack! There are thousands of recipes on-line giving great edible gift ideas if you are stumped for miniature tasty goodies inspiration.


Home-made decorations/centre-pieces: Want your evening reception décor to really be unique? Then create your own table decorations, no one will have seen any like them before! Whether you have a theme running throughout the day such as the outdoorsy look in the photos above, you can adapt these to match any style. For any friends or family who are crafts enthusiasts, this would be just their cup of tea! Using rustic twigs, stones and other natural elements won't cost a thing and will still give the tables that much needed oomph! There are plenty DIY Wedding Templates on-line to help Brides to Be create their own personal decorations!
DIY Invitations: For the artistic bride or groom! Ensure your guests first glimpse of your wedding show off your talents and personalities. Use the invite to introduce yourselves as an engaged couple by adding in drawings of things personal to you such as your favourite past times or portraits of yourselves or even a picture which reflects what you do for a living! For the bride with an abundance spare time (not many of them) each invite could be hand painted but with weddings which have over 100 guests this might not be possible or practical! Designing one key invitation style which can then be scanned onto a computer and printed off multiple times is a more realistic idea. This hand painted idea could be incorporated in many other design aspects of the day to create an overall personal theme.
Design your own Venue: Want a stylish wedding ceremony or reception but don't have the spare money to pay for a design team? Well fear not! If you have a true vision of what you want the venue to look like then there is no doubt that with great research and trips to craft stores you will be able to create the perfect design yourself! With hundreds of craft wholesalers online which offer ribbons, petals, candles, flowers, fabrics and so on, any bride could give venue designing a bash! Just take a look at the photo above..obviously the venue owner will supply furniture but other than that the main aspects that have been added to this ceremony room is ribbons, petals, candles and plants/flowers. Simple will always emulate elegance, you do not want to go to over the top which could create a cluttered messy look..(Unless that is what your wedding design vision entails!)
The cake: Again if you are a baking enthusiast or know one, there is no need to spend hundreds of pounds on a professional wedding cake designer! At the end of the day as long as it tastes good and looks decent enough, that's all that matters! Cake decorating utensils are available from many supermarkets and online and it really is another way to put a personal touch to your day if you can say that Bride and Groom baked and decorated it together. My fool-proof sponge recipe is as follows:
  • 8oz Self Raising Flour
  • 8oz Cater Sugar
  • 8oz Butter
  • 4 Eggs
  • Wee Spladoosh of Vanilla Essence.

Mix butter and sugar to a light fluffy consistency, then add all eggs and vanilla-mix into a runny mixture and add sifted flour a wee bit at a time until you are left with a smooth non lumpy mixture! Pop into 180C oven for around 20 minutes or until when poked with a knife, it comes out clean with no raw mix attached.
This recipe can be altered to be double, tripled, halved etc to cater for more or less people!

All in all, a wedding day can be extra personal to the happy couple by taking part in the design process of the day! For the low budget bride, a DIY wedding is a great idea to save money but still have the perfect day knowing how much hard work has been put into the day from talented friends and family who can also have a sense of pride seeing their talents showcased to all guests.

Have a Happy Monday!




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