If You Are Going to DIY Your Wedding, DIR (do it right)

In today's economy, there are a lot of
DIY (do it yourself) brides. Its a way to personalize
your wedding, its also a way to keep
within your wedding budget. If you are going to
put your effort into DIY wedding projects, do it
right (DIR).

I was away on vacation and came home to a huge
pile of mail. Mr. Weddingzilla put the mail in piles,
his, mine, junk and catalogs. I looked at the important
stuff..and a few days later decided to throw the junk away.
What looked like a piece of junk advertising
mail turned out to be a wedding invitation.

This invitation was by a DIY bride who didn't DIR. OK,
before you blast me, hear me out. It was printed on a computer
but it wasn't spaced properly and it wasn't on invitation blanks.
It was on some paper that looked like junk mail paper. Nothing
wedding about it. The reception card was hand cut and it was
crooked. And the time to respond was less than a week from
when it was mailed and a full two and a half months before the
wedding.

This invitation bothered me because I had received
it after the response time and I felt bad about it. And I felt
bad I didn't realize it was a wedding invitation and I've sold
wedding invitations. It made me wonder
how many more people tossed it in the trash without
reading it.

Its OK to make your own invitations if you DIR.
Its a lot more work than it looks when you see the blank
invitations. You have to have time, motivation, ability
to do the task and a good amount of printer ink. And you need
to find out how to do it the right way. Get some advice
from a professional or get on the internet and get some
instructions. And I don't mean getting advice from Yahoo
answers where you ask a question and pick the answer you like.

DIY means you have to invest some money into the
components besides time and work.
If you aren't willing or able to do the work, don't attempt to
DIY whether its centerpieces, flowers , favors or invitations.
If you can't do it after you've bought the components,
you've wasted your money and time and you'll have to
spend MORE money to get the job done.

If projects stress you out, think before you tackle a DIY
project. Don't feel inadequate if your peers are all DIY
brides and you aren't. And don't attempt to DIY everything
yourself if your budget dictates it. Get help from your
wedding party, your family or your friends.

If its totally out of your field of expertise, don't attempt it
for your wedding. I met a bride who said she is making
her wedding cake but doesn't know how to cook. OMG!
She has to buy the pans, mixes, etc to make the cake and
she can't cook. She's bragging about how much money she
is going to save by baking her own cake. Say a prayer for her,
she's going to need it and put a bakery on speed dial.