Jun 16, 2014 | DIY
It has been a while since I wrote about DIY (do-it-yourself) weddings. Here’s a topic I haven’t covered before: wedding cake.
Considering how expensive wedding cakes can be, maybe you want to try your hand at baking your own. There is certainly a lot of information on the internet about how to bake a wedding cake. Some of the sites even say it is “easy.” I won’t pass judgment on that, since I’ve never tried it. What I have seen is the results.
Before I tell you about the home-made cakes I’ve seen, I have to point out that sometimes professional bakers have cake disasters. (See this rather funny story as an example.) So, amateurs should be aware of the pitfalls.
My experience is that home-made cakes are likely to be a little more rustic than cakes made by professionals. This may suit your aesthetics exactly, in which case feel free to ignore anything else I say.
Here is a cake baked by the bride’s sister.
Image by theblondephotographer.com.
It is a perfectly lovely cake after its own fashion and suited their country-themed outdoor wedding reception. It might have been out of place at an ultra-formal downtown reception, though.
And here is one baked by the groom’s family.
Photo by Magical Moments Photography.
The bride and groom wanted to use the family recipe for carrot cake for their wedding cake. This was a highly informal wedding and reception, and the cake fit right in. Again, it might have been out of place elsewhere.
Here is one more example that is slightly different:
Photo courtesy of christytylerphotography.com.
The bride and groom at this wedding both had tremendous food allergies. Instead of asking a professional baker to work around their allergies (wheat, sugar, dairy, etc.) and try to come up with a recipe that would be delicious, the groom’s mother made a number of cakes from a recipe they already knew would work for them. They didn’t insist on a tiered cake but enjoyed them as regular cakes. This was a case where DIY made a lot of practical sense.
My short recommendation would be that DIY wedding cake is not impossible. The important thing to keep in mind is that the visual results may be different from what you would expect from a professional. It is probably also wise to learn some of the tricks of stabilizing and transporting tiered cakes to prevent disasters. You might also have to make more than one, in order to try out your skills. (Bonus: extra cake!) If you’re willing to take these risks, go ahead and make your own cake. If not, there are a lot of really good bakers who will be happy to do the job for you.
Mar 31, 2013 | 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 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.
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.
Feb 11, 2013 | DIY, wedding planning
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, and the internet.
Of course, it takes extra time–sometimes a lot 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.
Dec 17, 2012 | DIY, Family Parties, Parties and Special Events, 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 to bake enough in advance that they will have time. 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. 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.
Nov 26, 2012 | 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, 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.
You can also do the 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 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.
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!
Oct 22, 2012 | Budget Planning, DIY, wedding planning
You might look at the cost of professional photography and think you’d be better off without a professional photographer. You might be right. Or you might be very disappointed. It all depends on how important photos are to you.
Here's a photo I took with my point-and-shoot camera and limited photography skills.
If having high quality photos of your entire wedding and reception is not your first priority, you can ask a friend or relative to document the day for you. Someone with good photography equipment can probably take decent photos for you.
But if having professional quality photos is important, it’s difficult to get them without paying professional prices. Professional wedding photographers have equipment and skills that ordinary mortals lack. The best consistently take copious, excellent photos that capture the essence of your day. They are on the spot and don’t usually miss any important moments. It’s also important that they are not guests, but are hired to work for the entire time, so they will be alert and sober until the time they leave. They know what to look for and how to take good (and often stunning) photos of your wedding.
The same cake in a photo taken by Agnes Malorny, professional.
As with all DIY projects, think this one through before you make a decision. There is a definite difference in quality between amateur and professional photos. Decide what is important to you, and then pay a professional if you can’t live without those photos.
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