All photos are by Chamonix Thurston Rattue
Having spent a large part of the last couple of years planning our handmade wedding - I thought I'd share a little of what I learnt in the hope that it might help some of my readers. So here are my top ten tips for a handmade wedding...1) Firstly (and probably most importantly) make sure you have a small army of friends and family who are willing and kind enough to help out and don't be afraid to ask for help - In his speech Mr E described our friends as the 'games makers' of our wedding and they really were- we couldn't have done it without them!
2) Make sure you have a willing fiancé – creating a handmade wedding isn’t a one person task, it will take up lots of your free time so make sure you work together. Mr E helped me out so much with all the handmade elements of our wedding - he put up with me spending hours reading wedding blogs and chugging away at my sewing machine, he also spent a whole weekend printing out and tying up invitations and made dozens of gorgeous paper flowers.
3) Spend some time gathering inspiration before you start – there are so many ideas out there that it can feel a little overwhelming sometimes. Spend some time gathering inspiration so you know the kind of wedding you want and you have an idea of how it will all tie together. Pinterest is such a useful tool and it is full of beautiful images and ideas. There are also a few blogs I would recommend; 'The Natural Wedding Company' for ideas and wonderful suppliers, 'Junkaholique' for gorgeous vintage styling (and their wedding is one of the loveliest I've ever seen!), and Green Wedding Shoes for a dose of eco-friendly wedding loveliness from the USA.
4) Once you gathered all your ideas, work out what is really important to you and know what you're willing to let go - however hard you work you won’t have time to do everything. I had all sorts of projects and plans for our wedding that I simply didn’t have time to do - at first not getting everything doen really stressed me out but I realised I couldn't do everything and just concentrated on the things that really mattered. Looking back on the day now I wouldn’t change a thing.
5) Invest time in budgeting and sourcing - Handmade doesn't always mean saving money but it will if you do your research and source materials and suppliers wisely. Get quotes from everyone, shop around and asks for discounts if you’re buying in bulk.
This bunting is for sale if anyone would like to buy it!
(please see the p.s. at the bottom of this post)
6) Set goals for what you need to achieve each month - this will help to keep you focussed and hopefully save lots of last minute panic. I kept a spreadsheet of goals with things like ‘make 20 metres’ in each month and it really helped to keep things on track.
7) Scour ebay, charity shops and car boot sales - you can pick up lots of pretty things for a fraction of the price they are in shops - especially in charities shops and at car boot sales outside of big cities.
8) If you see something you like give it a go - I didn't really follow instructions with my craft projects- I just looked at photos of how things were made and tried out ideas. Sometimes projects didn't work out quite as I'd hoped but more often than not they did - so just have the confidence to give it a try.
10) My final piece of advice is to enjoy it all! You're creating a day that is uniquely yours, a day when all the people you love will be in one place and a day that you'll remember forever. Handmade weddings are definitely not an easy option but can make a limited budget go much further and creating something with the help of your friends and family is lots and lots of fun!
Hi Holly,
ReplyDeleteHave you sold your lovely bunting now?
Regards
Sally