-DIY Blogger

Finding ways to make the most of your buck doesn’t come easy when planning a wedding. One way you can cut costs is by Doing It Yourself (DIY). One area on which you can DIY for your wedding is putting together your favors yourself. Not only will it add a personal touch to your wedding but it will also be truly unique since you’ll be making them. You can also gather your friends and family together to help make the favors and host a Favor Making Party. Below are several ideas that can help you come up with easy, creative and inexpensive Wedding Favors.

Something Edible

If you love to bake, why not make your favorite cookie or brownie for each of your guests to take home. To make any favor look super fancy it’s all in the packaging!! So put a few of your special baked good in a colored paper bag and create a fancy label to seal the cookies closed. Another way to package your sweets is to box them up and tie them with a pretty ribbon. You can also include the recipe to your sweet treats in the packaging for your guests to try when they get home. You can add a stick to your sweet treats making it like a lollipop with a personalized message to your guests as a tag.

Something Natural

Another kind of favor you can give your guests is something more natural; seeds of Love, simply put some seedlings of your favorite flowering plant, tree, vegetable or herb in a small box or create a paper envelope to put them in. Your guests will have something they can watch grow and enjoy long after your wedding.

Something Entertaining

One of my all time favorite favors to receive at a wedding is a personalized audio CD made by the couple. When you create your own CD, not only will your guests hear some of your favorite tunes, they’ll also get a chance to know you as a couple by the songs you choose. You can make a CD full of your favorite love songs, or fill it with songs that are meaningful to you and your fiancée, or have songs that you picked out to play during your reception. Personalize your favors even more by getting printable CDs and print your engagement pictures, or your personalized monogram onto the CD itself. Go even further and create an entire case to put it in, you can create a cover for a jewel case or put in a CD envelope and seal with a personalized label. I loved this idea so much this was our favor at our wedding last month!!!

I hope this gives you a few wedding favor ideas that are inexpensive, unique, creative and that you can DIY.

- DIY Blogger
Image 1 via: Its a Jamie Thing
Image 2 via: Favors by Serendipity
Image 3 via: Green Wedding
Image 4 via: Naziamorani

DIY Invitations

Hand making your wedding invitations can be a great thing for you as a couple to do together. You can both decide on a design or look for your invitation that you would both like. Each of you could add your own style to the invitation. Making your wedding invitations is easy and simple. It gives you the opportunity to design them any way you want. It also gives your guests something that reflects the two of you–giving them something special to remember your wedding by. You can use ribbons, gems, or even special paper cut outs to design the paper with. Don’t forget when making your invitations that they might take some time to make them. You don’t want to leave them until the last minute to throw them together.

DIY Bouquets

To make your own wedding bouquet there is a few things that you will need. Your going to need roses or flowers of your choice, which can be either your favorite flowers or maybe flowers that accent your wedding colors. You can go to a local or city flower mart, or even order beautiful fresh Spray Roses from Lola Blooms online -  shipped to you at wholesale price. Your also going to need flower cutters, ribbon, and pins to hold them together. Most likely, a more heavier flower like a rose would hold together better. Don’t forget to make sure that the flowers will hold. You don’t want to be walking down the aisle with your bouquet falling apart. You can go plain and simple with the bouquet or you can go all out. It all depends on your style and the colors of your wedding. It’s quite simple to do and only takes around 30 minutes to an hour. You could even make your own boutonnieres for the groomsmen.

DIY Placecards

Designing and making your own place cards can help save a lot of money. It may take up some of your time to make them but in the end it’s worth it. Place cards are a piece of a cake to do. All you need is a folded piece of paper or card. You can choose from either hand writing all the guest’s names or printing them onto the paper. Make sure to be careful when doing this. When you hand make them yourself it can be easy to write down the wrong table number or mix up the guest’s names. Making your place cards yourself show the guest that you care for them to be there. It can also add a personal touch to the occasion.

DIY Centerpieces

Doing it yourself centerpieces is a huge money saver. They are consider the most important element in decoration for a reception and what better way to set the mood than to put them together yourself. By using flowers that are in season you can save a lot more instead of paying for expensive flower arrangements.  If you choose to make center pieces with flowers in them, make sure that the flowers will last. An interesting idea for a center piece is dried flowers. You don’t have to stress about the flowers wilting or dying and its something unique that not many weddings have. There are lots of other ways to put together a gorgeous center pieces without even having to add flowers. You can use fruits or candles as an alternative.

DIY Programs

Do it yourself wedding programs are similar to the invitations. There’s so many things you can do with home made wedding programs. You can explain your ceremony, tell a story of the two of you, or give thanks. The programs are what guests take home as a souvenir so it should be something to resemble the two of you and your love. You can add a picture of the two of you with decorations that remind you of each other. Don’t forget to add in the names of the people in the ceremony on the programs or if you are deciding to have something in your wedding that’s unusual it may be good to include that as well. You will probably want to write your wedding programs in your own words and have your personality stand out in them. There a great way to make your guests feel more involved in the wedding and helps allow them understand what is happening in the ceremony.

DIY Decorations

Decorations are a huge aspect of any wedding. They are what give the wedding ceremony and reception a setting and mood for the guests. Decor allows you to let your mind run wild. Depending on the style of your wedding most couples want striking and romantic decorations. Just by hanging up lights and adding candles around the room can add to a romantic feel for your ceremony or reception. With theme weddings there’s many ways to decorate coordinating with the theme. For example, with a beach themed wedding you can have small bowls filled with sand, shells, and small candles. Even little things such a napkin rings can be designed hand made to add to the decoration of your wedding. When shopping for decor supplies, seasonal sales are helpful to save money.

DIY Favors

There are so many directions you can go in with wedding favors. Ideas such as cookies, rocks, CDs, and matches are easy to do yourself. To make sure your favors aren’t just forgotten and thrown away, make them cookies or candies for your guests to eat. Simple and easy, all you need to add on them is your names or the wedding date. Beach rocks are cute and creative to have as favors. Their not expensive and you can hand write on them yourself. CDs are also a simple favor. They can be easily made at home on your computer with a picture of the two of you on the front. A box of matches is an unique idea for a wedding favor. You can design them to any color or want and add any design or writing to them. They are different from the average wedding favors and that’s exactly what you want. You want your guests to leave your wedding with a memory.

DIY Bridal Veil

Wedding veils can cost you up to $100 to $300. Making your own can cost you only $25 which saves you a whole lot. The great thing about making your own is you can choose everything you want. It will look exactly the way you want it to. The materials you need to make a veil is fabric, thread, a comb, and trims. You can choose fabric from tulle, organza, chiffon, silk, etc. The thread on your veil should match the color of the fabric. The trim on your veil can be anywhere from crystal beads to ribbon. You can even decide yourself on how long you want your veil to be. No one wants to spend hundreds of dollars on a small rectangular piece of fabric so do it yourself and create your perfect veil!

DIY Bridal Bags

There’s no use in going out and spending money on bridal bags when there so easy to make. Bridal tote bags are perfect for giving to your bridesmaids. They are bags that come in different sizes that are used from beach bags to purses. You can put a personal message, name of the bridesmaid, or date of your wedding on each bag. It makes a great gift to your bridesmaids. It also adds a personal touch to each bag and lets them know that you appreciate their help through out your wedding. You can even make one for yourself! They’re cute for “bride” bags or “just married”.

DIY Cake Topper

Cake toppers couldn’t be easier to put together! A cake topper could be anything from a picture of the two of you to two little plastic dolls. There’s always that traditional bride and groom cake topper. Mix it up and add something to make your cake stand out. You could hand make two little dolls that look like you to add to the top of your cake. It adds personality to your cake and it’s unique and different. You could also use ideas such as bows with wire around them. You can slip pearls or beads onto the wire to hide it and they look like you went out and spent hundreds of dollars just on a cake topper. Even just adding your initials is an easy and cute way to decorate your wedding cake.

Its your wedding, do it the way you want! By doing things yourself you can save a handful of money and have fun while doing it. They can leave your guests with a lasting memory and it adds both your personalities to your wedding day. Don’t forget to not leave any do it yourself item until the last minute. Some can take some time and remember to stick with the theme and color of your wedding.

Image 1 via  Dan & Briana

Image 2 via SJB Wedding & Events

Image 3 via Intimate Weddings

Image 4 via Wedding on a Dime

Image 5 via Intimate Weddings

Image 6 via Intimate Weddings

Image 7 via Melia Spring Weddings

Image 8 via I wan A Gown

Image 9 via Advantage Bridal

Image 10 via Vintage Indie