To Do or Not To Do

Everyone knows that on top of my huge pile of magazines that I subscribe to, I also read various wedding or design related blogs. One of many that I follow is In This Instance. In This Instance is a blog that was created by Tara Vorhes as creative outlet while planning her July 2008 wedding. She writes about a variety of topics including everything from inspiration for pretty details within both weddings and everyday life to reflections on the lessons learned while planning her wedding. I've asked Tara to be a guest blogger this week. I hope her insights will be a wonderful source of inspiration. Enjoy!

In recent years there has been a movement towards the highly personalized wedding. Couples are focusing their efforts on planning a wedding that reflects who they are as a couple. This can unleash seemingly boundless creativity and simply make planning fun.

With this movement towards a focus on personalization, nearly every bride that I have encountered (including myself) has found herself facing the dilemma of whether or not to DIY. Sometimes it is a due to the fact that you simply can't find what you are envisioning and sometimes it is due to sticker shock, thus the option to try to DIY becomes attractive. Crafting or DIY details for your wedding can be very rewarding but it can also be stressful, costly, and a large time commitment.

So how can a bride get the personalized look she is striving for to fit into her recession-sized budget? Ultimately, each couple's unique situation and personal preferences will drive how you make the most of your budget and there is no one size fits all solution. However, here are a few tips that I found valuable in planning my wedding:

• Work with vendors that you trust, that you click with personality-wise, that understand your vision, and that will work with your budget. A great vendor will be able to offer suggestions on how to get the most impact with your available budget. Don't be afraid to talk with them and ask them how you can cut out cost if you need to! I was set on DIY for the bouquets and boutonnieres until I discovered that it was going to cost me more to order all of the flowers than having our florist include this in our package!
• If you desire the hand-made, custom look but are not the most experienced crafter, seek out vendors on sites such as Etsy that can add a polish to the handmade item and often for a very reasonable price. I was toying with the idea of making a hand bound guestbook until I added up the supplies and time it would take to create what I was envisioning. It was a savings on all accounts to work with an experienced book binder via etsy for a custom guestbook.
• Know your limits with DIY projects! Many DIY projects can be very time consuming and complex. I kept our DIY projects to smaller details such as the favors and programs that we were comfortable with based on our crafting abilities and that wouldn't command our time the weekend of the wedding.
  
• Keep an open mind and plan ahead! Regardless of whether you are DIY or working with a vendor having an open mind will allow you to find options to cut down cost and planning ahead leaves you plenty of time to not pay a premium for last minute projects or requests.
  

Your wedding day truly flies by and you will want to be celebrating with your family and trying to soak in as many of the moments as you can before it is over. Working with vendors you trust and finding a balance in the number of DIY projects you can handle will allow you to be a stress-free bride with no regrets when you look back at your wedding album in the years to come.

Thank you, Tara for your appropriate words of wisdom. You can read more at In This Instance.