Are you planning a wedding for a bride to wants to do things herself – sew her own dress, bake her own cake, make her bouquet, or any number of other things related to her own wedding, believing it will be fun and save her some money? You might point her to the Summer 2011 issue of Martha Stewart Weddings magazine. This is their annual D.I.Y. issue and they suggest brides ”design it yourself” then hand it off to professionals to execute and not try to “do it yourself.”
But, if your bride still wants to tackle D.I.Y. projects, here are 4 suggestions that you can give to her:
1) She needs to watch costs
D.I.Y. isn’t cheaper if the bride must take classes and buy books and tools in order to complete her project. She would be better off investing the money in professional help than to do it herself.
2) She should assess her skills
If she doesn’t really know arranging or cake decorating, this isn’t the time pick up those skills. Taking on a major project for her wedding day will just cause a lot of stress. She can give input into their designs but the execution should be left up to professionals.
3) She should only select projects that can be completed in advance
Items such as wedding favors, unless they are perishable, can be finished weeks before a wedding, giving the bride time to relax. Other projects, such as making bouquets or the wedding cake, need to be finished at the last minute and would be very difficult for a bride to work on during the last few hours before her wedding.
4) It will be difficult to do it all herself
Even if your bride has experience with D.I.Y. projects, she should enlist the help of her friends. Time has a way of moving quickly and your bride needs to be as stress-free as possible in the time leading up to her wedding.
There are lots of suggestions in the magazine for wedding designs and themes that you and your brides would enjoy. (Just don’t let her try to do them herself.)
