Being a B.I.Y. Diva

Don't we all admire those wonderful detail recap posts that the married Bees share with us?  As wedding guests we don't always get the chance to appreciate all of the little details, or all of the work that goes into them, but with the Bees, we love seeing how all of the details come together.  Especially when they're wonderful DIY details like Mrs. Panda's - they look so beautiful, it makes a bride start to think they too can try their hand at DIY.  But let's be honest, some of us never developed in the craft department.  

Photo via Craft Fail

Seriously, if it requires drawing or writing pretty letters, designing or painting, I can attempt it but it's usually a complete fail.  So when it comes to wedding decor I'll just have to suck it up and pay the professionals to do everything for me, right?  I didn't love the sound of that, and I really hate the idea of renting things (just feels like wasted money!), so I decided to take a different route.




I paid attention to some of the detail posts that I loved the most - and I noticed that sometimes it isn't about making everything from scratch.  Sometimes it's about pulling items together and just arranging them.  I can handle that!  I got pretty good a decorating my house, and I think I could use the same approach here.  Of course, the volume we're talking about for the wedding is much bigger than for the house, so finding deals is key here.  My advice on that - always be on the lookout for deals and things that can work!

I was planning on actually finding a picture of Moody, but this is so much better./Photo from Cheezburger.com

I've already talked about finding our candles and vases at a few random places for cheaper, but we've also been able to find some other decor elements in everyday stores on sale.  You could definitely call Momma P a "mall rat" (in the most loving of ways!), so she's constantly got an eye out for items that I might want to use.  Here's a look at some of the items that we've found to incorporate into the wedding day.    

Midnight by Carole Hochman wrap robe (similar) on sale at Dillard's. 

I was really excited to find a pretty white and floral robe online during on of Dillard's big sales, and I'll use this for getting ready the morning of the wedding.  I think I got this for about $25, when it was regularly priced $82.  I loved the little lace detail on the sleeves, and it's very soft.  I wasn't able to find getting-ready robes for the bridesmaids at the same time, but I'll talk about what I'm doing for them later on.

Filigree letters found at Ross.

I love the idea of using our initials at the wedding, and I figured it wouldn't be too hard to DIY.  The problem was, I couldn't figure out what kind of look I wanted, and then we stumbled across these pretty metal letters at Ross!  They're a little small, but I think they'll work out fine.

The large, silver frames were from Tuesday Morning and the small swirly frames found at Marshall's.

I definitely wanted to incorporate some family pictures on a table at the wedding, and my mom and I found some frames at different discount stores for about $5 each.  They work with the rest of the wedding decor, and they're so pretty that I would feel comfortable using them in our house or gifting them back to our parents after the wedding.  

Found this LOVE cutout at Ross.

I found this really early on at Ross, and it's been on display at the house ever since.  It goes with the silhouette theme that I was trying to incorporate, I'm just not sure where it's going to go yet.

Candelabras found at Michael's during Halloween. 

I'm not yet sure if these are a success or a flop yet.  I found these candelabra's at Michael's during Halloween time, but they don't have any skulls or spider webs on them - just some regular beads.  I think they were about $25 and I had a 40% off coupon, so they were definitely way cheaper than any other "budget" candelabras out there - but I got really busy in October and never went back to pick up more!  I've only got two, and we might spray paint them gold or silver so they match better, but I want to figure out where we'll use them first.

We also were able to find this Kate Spade cake cutting set and this Kate Spade toasting flute set for well below retail (like $15 for each set) because of clearances at Macy's and Dillard's.  I never really cared what we used for a cake cutting set or toasting flutes, but once we found these beautiful ones on a killer sale, I was all excited to use them!

And of course, I have already shared the card box/lantern and our chandeliers, which are even more ways of  implementing my Buy It Yourself philosophy.  For me, this works because we're spreading the costs out over a year, instead of a lump payment right before the wedding.  Also, I can see the opportunity to resell these items or use them in our home.  I already have the initials and the LOVE sign on display, and I have plans for some of the other items too.

I guess my point here is that there are more options for decorations besides renting from a decorator or making it yourself, and there is certainly better selection out in the regular stores as opposed to wedding boutiques.  I went in some of those wedding stores and everything seemed to be overpriced and not so much my style.  I also prefer to buy what I can in person, as opposed to online.  I know some places are just fine to order from - but some seem pretty sketchy.  I like knowing what I'm getting beforehand, and I like the ability to return things to the store if necessary.

That's not to say that I haven't had to go through Etsy, online stores, or wedding shops for some purchases - I'll talk about those later - but this is definitely my preferred method!

Has anyone else become a BIY Diva while wedding planning?  Are you a hopeless DIYer too?