Hello, 100 Layer Cake readers! I’m Rachel from Heart of Light and I’m thrilled to be posting over here while Kristina enjoys some quality time with her darling new boy.
I am one of those people who had never even thought about planning a wedding. And then my sister announced her engagement and asked for help with the planning and I went into overdrive. I dove into wedding blogs, I read magazines, I made spreadsheets of venues and clipped inspiration photos.
I had so much fun helping my sweet (and incredibly laid back) sister with all the planning. She wanted a simple wedding that wouldn’t blow their budget so we ended up throwing a DIY champagne and dessert reception.
When I say DIY, I mean it. We designed, printed, cut and glued the invitations. We rented all the tables and linens and enlisted family to help us set them up. We purchased and arranged all the flowers. We made the wedding cake.
It was very, very lovely. And unbelievably exhausting. In retrospect, we both agree that it would have been smarter to pick and choose our projects and simply let details we couldn’t afford fall by the wayside.
Don’t get me wrong – I love craft projects and I would never discourage anyone from taking on a project they truly love. The problem is that we tend to take on much more than we can actually handle without going a bit crazy.
I’m sure some of you are in the same situation right now. And so I present the DIY reality check flowchart. Simply print it out and follow the instructions. I’m going to start using this to test myself before beginning ANY project. I swear.
I’ll be sharing several posts this week about how to go about your DIY wedding projects without getting so stressed out you can’t enjoy the process. Throughout the week, feel free to ask questions in the comments section and I’ll answer them as best I can.
24 comments
Rachel, this is AMAZING! I wish I had this for my wedding. Actually, I’m opening my store in three weeks and starting the decor process this weekend, so I’m going to print this out and remind myself of what I can and cannot (or should not) be doing!
Thanks for the lovely post, I printed out your chart – so useful for staying realistic! : )
you are my Martha!
Rachel, I adore you and needed this. J and I will be bookmarking this series, especially because we’re starting to make the “which projects” decisions. thank you.
You made that cake!?!?! Holy goodness! I would love a tutorial on that because I’ve contemplated making our cake… but are you a Martha Stewart cake guru or something? I’ve got skills…of a newbie.
DIY Flowchart – BRILLIANT!!!!
Why should I stop if it’s to save money? I’m on a budget…
I think this is a wonderful, visual reminder about the love and passion that goes into DIY and how it can be potentially draining. Thanks for posting such a fun check point! I know I get sucked into DIY projects all the time, but haven’t looked back yet!
Hi Rachel! I love your blog with all the beautiful pictures and ideas, and I am happy to see you here as well. I wish I had that chart when I got married-not for me, but for my mom! Trust me, you do not want your mom to be fixing two of the bridesmaids dresses at midnight the night before the wedding. DIY is great, but you have to be realistic about how to get it done.
Love the DIY chart. My mother is constantly telling me that I’m taking too much on. This will help me put things in perspective!
Wait! Are you telling me that y’all made that five-tiered wedding cake and the bus cake too? Wow-we! – And your DIY reality check chart will be very helpful to many people. Plus, it is funny. Love the part where you have to ask, “Why am I doing this?” and then answer yourself with, “Because I really, really want to….” That is great!
Thanks, everyone! It’s fun to be over here.
Bethany – that stop (if you’re trying to save money) only comes right after you figure out that you’re actually spending MORE than you would if you just went ahead and purchased the item. DIY can be great for budgets, but it can also wreck them. If you’re spending money on trial and error purchases, buying supplies in bulk that you’ll never use again, etc, then DIY can be totally non-budget friendly in those instances. It’s definitely a case by case basis thing.
And thanks for the cake love! I’m not a cake guru, I swear. That post is coming up later this week.
Oh that’s a great idea to do dessert and champagne. Thanks for the tip!
Lila Ferraro
Queen Bedroom Sets
oh how brilliant! I wish I’d had it while planning my wedding but I definitely think it applies to everyday. Thanks so much!
Thank you, I LOVE your flow chart. Printing it out for my bulletin board and my fiance will be thrilled as well. The other thing that really helps, especially if you have 9 months or more to plan your wedding, is waiting! I am so glad I didn’t buy all the supplies for everything I thought was a good idea the first month I dove into the blogs because I really don’t care about half of them anymore and have determined the things that I really want to invest time into! Thanks for sharing!
ok, the flow chart is awesome. The herb-y hydrangea bouquet is awesome. However, I believe I spy a cake shaped like a volkswagen bus: holy crap!! that’s the most AWESOME of them all.
Seriously, taking what’s meaningful and special to you about a wedding and going forward with that in mind and WITHOUT all the rest of it…that’s so, so important. Can’t wait to hear more about it!
What an awesome idea! I have a lot of DIY projects planned with my wedding but I have never thought of how crazy its all going to be in the final months. I am definitely going to print the flow chart off and put it to good use. I am sure my family will thank you! To many brides get wrapped up in the unimportant stuff.
it is so hard to limit yourself but i suppose so necessary. it’s just nice to hear someone say it.
ps – i love me a good flow chart!
Fantastic advice! DIY can be a slippery slope sometimes and your flow chart is a terrific reference for brides and wedding planners alike!
I’ve been engaged for all of 3 weeks. We’re not getting married for another year and a half and I told my fiance I wanted it to be a diy wedding, as much as we could. He’s taken that into a full blown EVERYTHING is going to be do it yourself. I’m blessed he’s SO into it, but in an attempt to make everything ourselves and save money, he’s shutting down projects that I don’t want/think we can diy…. help?! =(
Jamie – it’s so great that you guys are both on board with the DIY thing. You have a long engagement, so my advice would be to WAIT at least a month before you commit to anything or buy any supplies. You’ll probably both go through wedding inspiration overload during that time. Take notes, write down projects you think you want to do, details you’re interested in.
After the month is up, start really making a list and then considering it rationally. Figure out a schedule. If you can do it ahead of time and then delegate someone to assemble it the day of, go ahead and put it on your schedule. The goal is not to have a million projects during the final months. Be realistic about what you can do.
And as for shutting down any non-DIY projects, I would talk to him about it. Is he concerned about the cost of the wedding? Can you figure out a budget you’re both comfortable with and make it work? Talk about how you want your wedding day to feel (is it going to be frantic if you’re both running around setting stuff up? is it worth the money to delegate some of the jobs, or just do without them?). You cannot completely DIY a wedding without a ton of cooperation from family and friends, because the two of you simply don’t have enough hands to get it all done on the day of. Sometimes, figuring out a way to pay for some services is absolutely the sanest thing to do.
AMAZING (and so timely)!
I AM in this exact same situation right now . . . I was so excited about my planned DIY projects, but have been so lazy about starting them . . .
thanks for the flowchart!
So genious! Thank you for sharing! This flowchart is a great reality check!!!
Yes, that it it indeed! Case in point: my own DIY wedding cake. I spent just as much money on equipment and practice cakes as I would have to simply have a cake professionally done. Thanks for the reality check on the wildly popular DIY movement!