My DIY Wedding
272,240 views 
Wednesday, March 10th 
30 Comments
My husband (and business partner) Danny and I are both very artistic and crafty people by nature. So naturally, a lot of elements at our own wedding were handmade. Here is a peek at some of what we did in the hopes it will inspire you to infuse a little bit of the do-it-yourself spirit into your wedding day.
Dress
While I didn’t actually make my own dress (you gotta draw the line somewhere), I did make a few really easy alterations to it. First, I thought the bottom edge of my cocktail length dress was a wee bit plain so I added a vintage-looking trim to it. A lot of things in the wedding were themed around ribbons, so I also added a variety of pink to white ribbons streaming down the back. I love how in some of the dancing shots these swing!
Boutonnieres
I bought a whole bunch of various fake flowers from Michael’s craft store and fashioned these little guys. Added touches included some copper and blue wire to form some of the elements and I also covered some plain green leaves in blue velvet. A perk of creating a non-fresh flower boutonnière is that you get to save it afterwards as a keepsake. If you haven’t already, check out this easy tutorial on creating your own boutonnière.
Tablecloths
Our wedding was held at the Washington Park Boathouse. They don’t provide anything for you other than the raw space, so we had to rent tables, chairs, and the like. For tablecloths however, I decided to buy them outright. The price was pretty much the same as renting them and this way I was able to make my own alterations, which I happily did.
Since our theme was ribbon inspired, I attached a whole bunch of various colored ribbons across the tables. I had to sew four places in each ribbon where it attached to the tablecloth so it wouldn’t blow away. This picture was taken while testing “the look” beforehand.
Invitations and Save the Dates
For our save the dates, I took photos of us with a blank sign. Compiling the shots we liked best, we created our own photobooth-like strip. I added the text and sent them off to the printer. I then attached the printed pages to magnetic paper we bought online (you can find great deals on eBay) and cut out all the individual strips. It took forever and I had plenty of papercuts, but the end result was definitely worth it! Along with the magnet, we also made little cards with the rest of the pertinent wedding information.
For our invitations, we designed and printed them out ourselves (which was a cinch compared to the save the dates). We used a similar design to create unique menus for the rehearsal dinner as well. At the wedding, we had premade cards in a similar design that explained all the dishes and drinks.
On the tables, we left out cards for our guests to fill out. One side was a fill-in-the-blank type of thing; on the other was empty space for each guest to fill in as they saw fit. I love how creative our friends got with the responses!
Program and CD Favor
We combined our program with a CD filled with our favorite songs, all of which played at some point during the wedding. The CD case made out of white paper which I embossed in blue with our names on the front. Inside, the CD has a picture of us, and a small book which included the ceremony details. A separate insert was a cute little map I drew of the gardens and I also pierced two holes on the binding to thread ribbon through.
Decorations
I wanted a really fun, colorful, and somewhat vintage inspired theme throughout, so for the main lighting we purchased 50 various sized paper lanterns. I also replaced the original clear lights inside with multi-colored ones. I’ve since used the lanterns in another party we threw, and am psyched to have them to use again. I also made some signs with fun sayings like Дискотека (which is “discotheque” in Russian–an inside joke for me) as well as more general ones with our names. This sign is actually a wood burning, which is easy to do with a little patience and a trip to the craft store.
Flowers
I collected lots of vintage little vases from various thrift stores for our centerpieces. Instead of going for a florist, I ordered 250 spider mums from the local grocer. I placed a single flower in the smaller vases and up to three in the larger ones and made groupings of a few on all the tables, including the catering tables.
For my own bouquet and the bridesmaids’ ones, we got together the day before and made our own. I used only white mums in mine and the gals used all of the colors. I had lots of ribbons to tie them with and when the big day was done, I hung my bouquet to dry.
Drinks
Danny loves to cook and make cocktails, so he wanted to create a signature drink for the reception. We ended up with a fabulous concoction we dubbed Love Potion Number 9. It combined elements of both our cultures (some mint for his Cuban side, some lingonberry extract for his Swedish roots, and of course, some vodka for my Russian heritage) and was quite delicious on a hot August day. We also had a wide variety of wine, beer and other drinks, but we still get requests for from our friends for Love Potion Number 9! We purchased all of the alcohol ourselves beforehand at a wholesaler, which made having an open bar inexpensive and easy.
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Author information:
Nina Barry
Cori Cook
Lockerpartners
Julie Sandusky
Leah M. Charney
Katelyn Simkins
Continental "Divine"
Danny de Zayas
gorgeous!
impressive work, well done.
lovely and inspiring!
Nina, I love this. I feel like i got to experience your wedding a little even though I didn’t even know you and Danny then! Thanks for sharing!!!
Your wedding looks amazing from these pictures.
I loved your dress. Thank you for sharing this!
Hi Nina
Just wanted to say thanks for these pics from your wedding…it looks amazing and some things look like my dream wedding! love the lights, flowers and vases and more!!
Power to you woman!
Excellent! Life is about the simple things and you took that to a new level. Job well done!
I stumbled upon this and it’s like you were reading my mind! Ive been mulling over ideas for an inexpensive wedding: ie. what could I do myself and still make it look professional. (i’m an artist too!) so creative and inspiring. I would double like if I could! Congratulations on your beautiful marriage!
Thank you everyone!
You should check out this wedding too — I love all the DIY elements here:
http://indiebliss.com/real-wedding-inspiration-stephanie-and-michael/
Fantastic … my favorite has to be the save the date, and the lanterns, and the vases, and the flowers, and…
Some wonderful ideas, thanks for sharing them. It sounds like a very special wedding.
Well,
I remain speachless…
Conratulations for all that, but how much time took to organize yr wedding and how many guests you had?
Just for curiosity…
And I wish you a happy, long life with your Danny.
Hey Marina, as for time, honestly, I have no idea. I did little projects over the span of a summer, so I don’t feel like it took all that long, though I spaced it out. And the guest count was around 65-70.
Hey Nina! Where did you purchase those paper lanterns at?
-Lindsey
Beautiful, creative ideas! I am inspired by your creativity!
LOVE the save-the-dates! Such a clever idea!
Very creative and perfect!
I rarely take the time to comment on sites that I “stumbleupon” (even when I like them…) but your DIY wedding is beyond gorgeous and sooooo CLEVER! Really L*O*V*E*D your ideas!
Very nice, but one mistake–the brides name always comes before the grooms on everything, including the invites! Best to consult a miss manners book!
Yes Mary, we’d actually known that, but when it’s Nina And Danny, both the a’s and the d’s repeat in the “And” and it looks really weird.
Plus, I don’t really consider this instance manners — just a tradition that we’re happy to break as we did so many others.
After all, when it’s your wedding day, you can do whatever you want to do.
Beautiful. Thank you for sharing your experience with us. Glad you did it your way.
Hi,
I love your CD program. Do you have template that you could share?
Thanks,
Shelia
wsab398@yahoo.com
Thanks Shelia,
We actually designed the program from scratch using photoshop so there was no template. Glad you like it though!
im realy like this)) its wonderful))most of all i like the invitation))
This was amazing. i have been to diy weddings before and planned out weddings.
i prefer diy– incase something goes wrong or is different its menat to be that way.
You guys got married like three blocks from my house.
Congrats!
I absolutely LOVE all of your great wedding ideas. You wedding looks like it was beautiful! My fiance and I wanted to do cds as well. How did you make the case/program? Congratulations on the beautiful wedding and I hope you are having a blissful marriage!
Both did a gorgeous job! And the idea for the cocktail is so unique. Lovely <3
Wash park! perfect place to get married! My boyfriend took me there in the middle of the night, he blared music from the car and we danced right where you got married.
This hit so close to home.