Weddingbee boards

Wedding websites are jumping on the do-it-yourself (DIY) bandwagon by producing checklists, timelines, and creating step-by-step instructions for building favors, creating invitations, preparing floral arrangements, and more. These tools may make sense for some situations, especially when it comes preparing favors, but often the checklists lack important details and make me wonder: is DIY always a practical choice?

It is estimated that planning for the average wedding takes 240 hours - 6 full work weeks! The DIY sites forget to tell you how to manage those 240 hours, how to allocate your resources appropriately, and how to effectively navigate the various issues that inevitably arise throughout the process. DIY checklists are often missing many other elements you must consider for the big day. I've seen a bride who used a DIY planning checklist realize the night before her wedding that someone had to be at the reception site, during the ceremony, to deal with the catering company. Her DIY checklist just said "set up the reception" but failed to mention picking the person (who would miss the ceremony) to work with the reception vendors. Personally, I think spending money on a planner is essential to a successful event. They are trained to prepare, analyze, and question each aspect of your event. Planners will obtain discounts that should then be passed on to you and they provide the much needed relief (and support) on your big day to ensure the various parts function correctly.

Another issue is flowers. Many companies are promoting DIY flowers as a way to reduce costs, but I disagree. First, you don't really know where the flowers are coming from. With a reputable florist, the flowers and their origination can be accounted for. Wholesale florists are selling weddings-in-a-box, complete with bouquet, corsages, boutonnieres, and centerpieces and, while this sounds great, you're going to have to put all of the pieces together when the box arrives. By the time you buy your thorn strippers, gloves, wire, ribbon, lace, floral decorations and greenery, I dare say you'd have spent more than having just gone to a local florist. Oh, and don't forget that DIY flowers don't arrive until 2 or 3 days  before the event and you then have to store them in buckets of water and in a cool, dry place to ensure they survive until your event. The cost of supplies, the hassle of adding even more hours preparing floral arrangements, and the issue with storing them is far greater than working with a local florist who is an expert in floral care, ensuring beautiful and lasting flowers for your special day. Fear of wilted flowers is something I'd prefer not to deal with - ever!

I think all the responses to Mr. Planner are really valid. I was a total DIY bride - tackled nearly everything but knew that having someone there day-of was a necessity to ensure each element I carefully created was placed just as I planned.

I ended up outsourcing our invitations, because as a designer I couldn't really design anything that I could be 100% not-critical about. We also ended up hiring an event design that was resposible for making sure the day looked as perfect as I had planned.

For brides going the DIY route, it's all about personal expression, just be sure you aren't asking your friends or family to sacrifice the hours leading up to the big day installing and sweating for you. It's your party and everyone should be entitled to enjoy the day.