The past year and a half while I've been working with all my lovely brides on bringing their wedding dreams to life, I have also been planning my own DIY wedding. Being familiar with the industry I knew that being a DIY bride would give me some good cost savings on florals and decor that I could spend on aspects that were more important to me like the venue or my dress. I always knew my theme even before I got engaged would be old Hollywood movie premiere, and have a had a vision board ready on pinterest since college. I already knew what I wanted to do, but had to determine how to execute my vision without spending thousands on materials. So here are a few tips from a black millennial wedding planner on how I acquired all my materials and how i delegated responsibilities to get all the decor created for my own wedding.
Tip 1: Create your vision board on pinterest if you haven't already done so
Pinterest has a lot of ideas and at first you might add everything to your board, but at some point go back and identify common themes and color schemes through the images on your board to pair down.
Tip 2: Search on TikTok for DIY ideas for your theme
I used tiktok to find different decor DIY tutorial videos and actually stumbled upon a video that had the exact look I was trying to accomplish for my centerpieces. The best part you ask? That all the materials I needed to accomplish the centerpiece could be found at dollar tree( before it became $1.25 tree lol)
Tip 3:Set a decor budget
I mapped out how many guest tables I would have in or to determine the correct amount of units to create all the centerpieces. Once I had the correct amount of units I did a few minor calculations and put together a budget of what I expected to pay for decor. If you can try to buy things in bulk as it will help save on cost.
Tip 4: Select a weekend for all your bridesmaids to help you put together the decor
You don't have to do it all alone! Schedule a day for you and your girls to come together and get to work to create all the DIY pieces you need to fulfill your wedding vision. Set up a nice spread of food and mimosas for the day to keep the girls fueled to get the job done. Make sure you focus on each persons strengths when delegating task so that everything comes out great. Remember this is what they are there for, don't be afraid to let them help you!
Tip 5: Hire a team( like us here at Unique's Dream Weddings) to bring your vision to life
Now that you and your bride squad have created all the decor its time to pick an amazing team who can help execute your vision by setting everything up accordingly the day of. You don't want to give this task to family or friends who are apart of the wedding because you are going to want them to be living in the moment with you. So, I recommend hiring a day of coordinator/decorator to set the ceremony and reception for you.