Get Crafty!!! Do-it-yourself!

by Megan Garcia
(Cape Coral, Fl)

For my brother's wedding we did all the decorations ourselves. We used rose petals that we plucked, cheap candles from the dollar store, and decorated the chairs (we had the wedding on the beach).

We also threw a "pitch-in party," where you ask your friends to be a special part of your wedding by helping you assemble favors and make invitations, centerpieces, and other homemade inexpensive touches.

Other things you can do yourself - wedding favors, simple floral and candle centerpieces, cupcakes (instead of a wedding cake), ring pillow, flower girl basket, use an iPod instead of an MP3 player; enlist a tech-savvy friend to make sure your first dance song, entrance music, cake cutting music, etc. is playing at the right time; bridal hair and makeup, save the date Cards, programs, seating arrangement cards, decorating the guest book, card box, photo album, or other keepsakes.

We saved loads on this wedding just by doing the little stuff ourselves.

Note from Karen: Now that's getting creative and saving a lot of money! What a beautiful wedding that must have been. Thank you for sharing!