With any wedding, it’s possible to get caught up in all the details – those special little touches that photographers love to feature in glossy spreads. I admit to having a severe case of weakness for details, because they do go a long way towards setting the overall feel of the day and they lend such a beautiful handmade touch to everything.
But with all the focus on details, it’s easy to feel like your wedding has to have all those little touches. And it really doesn’t. So if you’re one of those people who simply doesn’t care about custom Gocco’ed napkin rings, feel free to skip away from this post. I’m not offended. Sometimes I wish I didn’t care about these things. Fellow detail-addicts, read on for how to handle those DIY projects without getting so stressed out that you forget the reason for the day.
{image c/o Taryn Kent}
Make tough decisions early on – The sad fact of the matter is that you simply can’t do everything without going a little crazy. So let go of the crazy and sit down and decide which details you really want and can make happen, realistically. You will see loads of fabulous details in magazines and on blogs, so train yourself to resist feeling like you have to have every single one.
{image c/o Jose Villa}
Set up a schedule – I set up a calendar for the months leading up to my sister’s wedding. Every week, I scheduled a few projects for myself. The goal is to have absolutely everything you can do ahead done a few weeks before the wedding. Because other things will come up that you didn’t anticipate and you want to leave yourself time to deal with them. Really, the only projects that must be done in the days leading up to the wedding are food or flower related, if you’re ambitious enough to be taking those on.
{image c/o Jose Villa}
Stay organized – As you knock out those projects, cross them off your list. Have plenty of storage boxes on hand and when you finish a project, pack it all up and label it neatly. The only thing more frustrating than spending an entire week of your life struggling with tissue paper pom poms is misplacing those pom poms and tearing the house apart looking for them.
{image c/o Picotte Photography}
Make day of arrangements ahead of time – DIY details take time and someone has to set them up. A gorgeous tablescape with hundreds of mismatched glass jars filled with twinkling votives is cheap, it’s true. But someone needs to run around right before the reception and light hundreds of candles. If you have a wedding coordinator, make sure you set up a meeting ahead of time to discuss how things will be set up. If you don’t have a WC, you must find a friend or family member willing to step in. You won’t have time to focus on all those last minute touches yourself, trust me. Your neatly labeled boxes will come in handy at this point – just remember to toss a couple of nice lighters in with all the candles.
{both left side photos by Jill Thomas, lower right corner photo by The Image is Found}
Make it fun – Ideally, you’ll enjoy the process of handcrafting your wedding. Watch movies you love while you work on projects. Bring in friends for the big stuff and treat them to dinner. When we did the flowers for my sister’s wedding, we invited tons of girl friends over and ordered pizza. It ended up being a really fun activity to do a couple days before the wedding. And if you find yourself absolutely hating a project, just let it go. No one else will miss one tiny detail and your sanity is much more important.
