Dec 12, 2016 | DIY
It’s time to revisit some articles about DIY weddings. Here’s a good one:
Of all the things you might want to do yourself for your wedding, the one I would recommend against without hesitation is catering your wedding reception yourself. You might think this would be obvious, but I have talked to people who thought they could do it.
Did I mention that presentation is a professional catering skill? Photo courtesy of Artisan Events.
I have actually heard of self-catered weddings that were pulled off with a lot of help from friends and family. I know it can be done, especially if there are people with special skills involved. So, I won’t say you should never, ever do it. I’m just going to give you a lot of reasons not to.
Caterers do a lot more than cook in quantity. They also manage the kitchen; order and return rental items; keep the food (and so your reception) on schedule; hire and manage serving and bar staff; set up tables, chairs, and linens; set the tables; and clean up and take the garbage out. Caterers also have food sanitation licenses, meaning there is a low probability of spoiled food or food poisoning from their kitchens. They know how much ice to buy and bring. Some of them own serving equipment that they provide at no charge. And that is just the minimum of what a professional caterer has to offer.
On your wedding day, you are going to be very much occupied with, first, getting married. Second, you will want to spend as much time as possible greeting your guests. You’ll probably also want to have your photograph taken with many of your friends and family, not to mention with your spouse. These things will take up most of your day, leaving you no time to be the caterer at your own wedding.
I would say that unless you are able to provide everything a caterer brings to the table, and unless you can also delegate all the catering on the wedding day to a trusted party, hire a professional and save cooking for a crowd for another day.
Aug 22, 2016 | DIY
A professional at work. Photo courtesy of christytylerphotography.com.
There are plenty of elements of weddings that are suitable for Do-It-Yourself projects, and some that are totally unsuitable. When it comes to officiants, you can’t really do it yourself: Another person is required to sign your marriage license, at least in Illinois. The real question at hand is whether you should hire a professional or ask your cousin to get ordained at the Church of the Latter-Day Dude. I have to say that I have been at weddings with both kinds of officiants, and there are advantages both ways.
Professional wedding officiants, clergy, and wedding celebrants all have some training in the art of ritual, which is one of the keys to a good wedding ceremony. They can also elicit from you what you want in a wedding ceremony, and then follow through. They are generally very polished public speakers, who won’t mumble and “um” their way through your ceremony. Many of them are also trained counselors who can do pre-marital counseling, if you wish.
The advantage to having a friend or family member officiate at your wedding is that that person already knows you, will instinctively know what kind of ceremony you want, and will be able to add all sorts of personal touches because of your relationship. If you want a more relaxed feel to your ceremony, having a non-professional officiate might be the way to go.
And, of course, some people are lucky enough to have clergy in the family so that you can get the best of both worlds. If you do, be sure to ask them to officiate at your wedding. They will likely be more than happy to do so.
Sep 29, 2014 | Budget Planning, DIY, wedding planning
If you hire a good planner, this is all you should have to think about on your wedding day. Photo by MWD Photography.
I’ve written a lot about do-it-yourself weddings lately, and here are my final thoughts (probably) on the subject. Should you plan and manage your wedding yourself? Yes–and no.
Most people can do much of the planning themselves. Hiring vendors is not difficult. You will probably also want to plan the decor yourself so that it reflects your taste. Of course, if you’d rather not handle all the details yourself, by all means, hire a full-service wedding planner!
The place where a lot of people get stuck in the planning process is scheduling the wedding day and the logistics of making everything happen. It turns out that these are special skills. And so you will likely want to have a professional planner on hand. One of my favorite parts of this job is taking a tangled mass of good ideas and turning it into a usable plan. Actually, I really like seeing the smile of relief on my clients’ faces when I do that.
Even if you are able to do the scheduling and logistics yourself, actually managing what happens on your wedding day is another matter. I like to use a theatre metaphor to describe it: You are the star of the show; you can also be the director and the producer. But you need a good stage manager to make sure that you shine. Also, on the day of your wedding, you should be able to focus on getting married, not on whether the flowers are delivered on time.
This might be predictable coming from me, but I have seen enough problems and near-disasters to know that it really does make a difference: Make sure you have someone with practical, hands-on experience managing your wedding day. Don’t try to do it yourself.
Sep 22, 2014 | Budget Planning, DIY, Weddings
If you have the time and skill, you can go all-out and make a chandelier, as this bride did.
I’m still thinking about DIY weddings, and about when DIY is a good idea and when it is not. One of the most successful kinds of do-it-yourself wedding planning is in the area of decor.
There are some kinds of decor that are better left to professionals. Things like flowers (see my thoughts on that here) and lighting fall in that category. If you want to hang large objects from a ceiling, I would recommend hiring someone for that, too.
But there are lots and lots of things that are suitable for DIY: table runners, table numbers, card box, place cards, photo props, menus, programs, favors. Especially if you are planning unique decor, it may be easier and cheaper to make it yourself, rather than hunting down the perfect item at craft shops, second-hand stores, rental shops, and the internet.
Of course, it takes extra time–sometimes lots of extra time–and a little skill to do it all yourself. As always, plan carefully and leave yourself enough time. You don’t want to end up like a friend of mine who was frantically hand-writing place cards late on the night before her wedding. Plan to have it all done early and get help if you need it.
Sep 15, 2014 | Budget Planning, DIY, wedding planning
The homemade sweet table can be both pretty and tasty.
Here’s another good DIY idea: Dessert! While I strongly recommend that you do not cater your own wedding, dessert is a completely different matter for doing it yourself. Better yet, get other people to do it for you.
I’m not talking here about making your own wedding cake. While I’ve seen cakes made by talented friends and family members, that’s a job that is probably best left to professionals. I’m talking about sweet tables.
We all know people who make fabulous cookies or pies or cupcakes. You can take advantage of this by asking people–instead of bringing gifts–to bake for your wedding reception.
DIY sweet tables, like all DIY projects, do require a little more advance planning and coordination. You’ll need to ask people enough in advance so that they will have time to bake. Your caterer will need to be alerted to the DIY nature of dessert. People who bake will need to drop off their baked goods at a specified time. (Your coordinator and caterer will help determine the right time.) You’ll probably want to coordinate your bakers so that you have some variety. It’s also a good idea to have your volunteer bakers include a list of ingredients with their baked goods so that people with allergies can find out what is in each dessert. And you’ll have to be sure the quantity is sufficient.
If you feel like you can handle all these things, the DIY sweet table is definitely an option. It might not be as fancy as a sweet table from a bakery, but it can save money and be a way to have your friends and family closely involved with your reception.
Sep 1, 2014 | Budget Planning, DIY, wedding planning
Will your invitations look the way you imagine them if you do them yourself? If so, then go for it!
If you want to choose just one item to do yourself for your wedding, invitations could be on the list of choices. As with most things you’ll want for your wedding, invitations do require a certain amount of skill and time, but if you feel up to the challenge, you can probably pull it off–depending on what you want.
If you must have traditional, engraved invitations or letterpress invitations, you’ll have to hire a pro. Some of that equipment is very expensive!
But if you want something more casual, there are lots of options. One of the easiest things you can do is go to a stationery store, paper store, or even an office superstore to find paper or cards you like. Then you can run them through your printer. The hard part is figuring out what you want the invitations to say, laying it out, and formatting it.
You can also do your own graphic design, including the text, if you have the skill. This is beyond what I can do, so I have no idea what goes into it. I have seen it done, however. Sometimes, a friend or family member can do this part. If not, though, you’ll probably want to hire a pro.
You can also do the layout and design yourself and take it to your local printer for reproduction. That saves on design fees but means you don’t have to slave over your printer for hours. Some home printers are also not up to the task, so be sure to do a test run or two–and have plenty of spare ink on hand if you are doing the printing yourself. If you’re doing 300 invitations, also be sure you have a very sturdy printer. Most of the inexpensive ones won’t stand up to this kind of treatment.
Leave plenty of time if you are planning DIY invitations. Save-the-date cards should go out six months in advance, and invitations should go out six to eight weeks before the wedding. Plan on spending several weeks getting invitations ready before your projected mailing date. And don’t forget that it takes time to address, stuff, and stamp the envelopes!
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