DIY Bride

Candles are an inexpensive and lovely way to bring light, warmth, and color into your wedding decor. They’re also great as favors and, of course, serve as part of the unity candle ceremony.

Following are offsite links to excellent candle projects. From creating the candles themselves to embellishing pre-made candles, we have some wonderful ideas to share with you!
Acorn Cap Candleholders from Martha Stewart

Bridal Candle Champagne Flute Candles

Champagne Glass Gel Candles from Today’s Weddings

Embellished Candles from BHG

Glass Cylinder Candle Holders from Today’s Weddings

Hanging Votive Vases

Honeycomb Beeswax Candles

Lemon Candles from Martha Stewart

Make Your Own Unity Candle from Suite 101

Making Gourd Candles from Martha Stewart

Muffin-Tin Candles from Martha Stewart

Offray Unity Candles

Princess Candlescape

Ring Unity Candle from Your Wedding Company

Rolled Beeswax Candles from Martha Stewart

Rose Votive Favor

Rose Votive Candle Ring from Save On Crafts

Rose-Wreathed Pillar Candle from BHG

Sand Candles from Martha Stewart

Sea & Shells Candle Centerpiece

Sea Shell Candle Holder

Sea Shell Votives

Shell Candles

Taper Candle Centerpiece from Your Wedding Company

Two Become One Unity Candle from Hobby Lobby

Vellum Candle Wraps

Vellum Votives from Today’s Weddings

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We kick off the new year with a cheap-yet-beautiful project: Crystal Stems.A few tucked in amongst your flowers can be quite lovely; making an entire bouquet of crystal stems is a bold, beautiful statement.

Instructions for making these affordable beauties can be found in our Downloads area, under Project Sheets —> Bouquets & Flowers.

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I’ve collected a number of wonderful sites for creating beautiful and inexpensive bridal accessories. (All links are outside the diybride.com site.) Check out 30 projects for headpieces, hair accessories, jewelry, garters, monogrammed items, and more.
Veils, Headpieces, Tiaras, & Hair Accessories

• Floral Headband from BHG
• Silk Flower Hair Clip

• Silk Rose Hairband from JoAnn
• Hair Garland from Save On Crafts
• Bridal Veil
• Bridesmaid’s Headpiece
• Beaded Comb Veil
• Cascading Pearl Veil
• Fast Bridal Veils
• Tiara & Headband Tutorials
• Make a Tiara

• Make Your Own Tiara
• Bridal Veil
• Wedding Veil Tiara
• Flowered Hair Wreaths
• Wedding Veil
• Decorating Hair Accessories
• Bridal Veil

Jewelry

• Pearl and Ribbon Necklace & Pearl Bracelet
• Beaded Ribbon Necklaces
• Crystal and Light Sapphire Bracelet
• Faux Crystal Necklace & Bracelet
• Double Strand Illusion Necklace & Earrings
• Pure Allure Bracelet Ideas

Other Accessories

• Bridal Parasol
• Bridal Garter
• Something Borrowed, Something Blue Garter
• Flip Flops with Tulle Bow
• Wedding Handkerchief
• Monogrammed Wedding Purses

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The do-it-yourself wedding is an attractive option to many. But is it really for you?

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.

As with any decision, there are pros and cons to going the DIY route. Based on the comments from real brides, this handy little list offers some important things to consider before you commit to doing it yourself.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 talentsNegatives 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

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Beaded FlowerBeaded flowers are hot this year! They’re showing up in everything from bouquets to hair accessories to favors. This one, from Craftbits, would be perfect as a gift to your maids or as a corsage for the moms.Source: Craftbits.Com

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