2003 Reader Survey: Recently Married DIYers

Posted by Khris in Wedding Planning

In 2003, we polled just over 100 recently married couples about their DIY experiences. Their responses yielded some excellent advice and wisdom for anyone contemplating a DIY wedding.

Benefits of DIY:

• You control the design or concept

• You control the quality of product or service you create for yourself

• You control the pricing/budget

• Each project you make is uniquely yours

• You get to excerise your creative talents

Negatives of DIY:

• It’s not always cheaper than having someone else do it

• Creating your own projects can take a long time

• DIY may be intimidating if you’re not crafty or are in a creative funk

• There’s often a huge time commitment involved

• You’ll likely need reliable help to complete projects

• You may need to buy a bunch of expensive supplies just to get started

• It may be difficult to find inexpensive, quality, or unique supplies

Tidbits from our poll:

• 57% said they’d go DIY all over again

• 66% said they’d scale back their DIY projects if they did it again

• The average budget for DIY supplies was $800

• 84% said they went over budget

• The average amount of hours spent on DIY projects was 200+ (that’s over 25 8-hour days)

• 89% said they underestimated the time needed to complete their projects

• 45% said they didn’t have enough help

• 55% said they couldn’t find the right supplies

• The most popular projects were:

- invitations, rsvps, maps

- programs

- favors & gifts

- table cards/seating cards

- bouquets & flower arrangements

- centerpieces & decor