Jane's DIY Wedding

Jane got married back in 2004 and had a true DIY wedding. She chose to do as much as they could themselves but decided that the important things that would be treasured memories they’d get done professionally.

For Jane and her partner, having lasting photographic memories and the rings were important, but the other little details like the cake, the dress, the waistcoats for her attendants and stationery were all done by her or family members. Here’s more detail about Jane’s DIY wedding.

Our special DIY wedding cake

Before I got engaged, I booked myself on a one day course to learn how to do basic cake decoration at a course provided by Bucks adult education. I enjoyed it so much I booked myself on a second one about wedding cake decoration. As it happens, my partner proposed shortly before I started it, so there was an added incentive!

I had read on the web that cakes should that matched your personality, so I did a nice, formal, three tier cake. The decoration was going to be iced roses to match my bouquet and to match my love of gardening and a little gesture to the cat. We decided to put little paw prints all over it and placed a curled up cat made from sugar paste and coloured to look like our cat in the middle of the bouquet of roses on the top tier. It looked like she’d walked all over the cake with outsize feet, hopping up each level and eventually curling up for a snooze.

For the wedding cake, I paid £29.85 for raw materials and about another £30 for equipment.

It’s all been used lots since for other cakes. The stand I needed for the footprint effect couldn’t be hired that weekend, so unfortunately I had to buy one outright which was £89, but it’s been used for other weddings since as well. It still cost less than a professional cake, even with the cost of stand!

If you’re interested in doing a course, speak to your local cake hire shop (best to do a search on Google to find one or look at the back of wedding cake magazines). They may hold basic cake decoration courses as well as those solely for the sugar flowers. They may also sell books on making flowers and the kit to make them.

You only need a few things to make roses and they’re not that hard. It’s the time taken to do it all which costs you if you buy a cake, not the materials.

The flowers, invites and venue

My mum got a friend from the church to help with the flowers. We did the buttonholes and table decorations ourselves, but got a florist to do my bouquet though.

The invites were ordered from a supplier called Black Mouse and were £55. We printed the invites, place names and table names at home and based the design on a watercolour of the cat. The Orders of Service were printed very cheaply by a family friend for £81, so we got a bargain.

Our venue was Newland Park in Bucks - a local college in an old manor house. We hired three rooms a pay bar and a toast master for £715 (in 2004). They’ve got beautiful gardens at the back of the house, so it was a lovely setting.

The outfits

My dress was made from a Vogue pattern that I really like, as were the bridesmaids’ dresses. I’ve been making clothes for years, so it was a bit of a no-brainer to do a DIY wedding dress. All of the dresses were made from raw silk and cost £321 including the patterns – which saved me a fortune. The silk came from a theatrical costumier in London. Both bridesmaids have worn their dresses again to a ball since as well.

My veil was from eBay for £4.26. I dyed it cream using a very, very small amount of turmeric. The first time, I used a little too much and it ended up canary yellow and I got a fit of the giggles! I bleached it though and it came out okay. My shoes came from a dance retailer.

My mother-in-law made the gents’ waistcoats which they could keep. The page boy and flower girl outfits were made by their grandmother from the leftover waistcoat material. Shame we couldn’t get them to smile as they’d both just lost their front teeth!

What we decided to ‘keep’

Our ‘keepers’ or keepsakes were going to be our photographs and our rings. We did splurge on both with an expensive professional photographer and custom rings that we had designed ourselves. We also bought really pretty necklace gifts for the bridesmaids which doubled up as matching jewellery for the wedding.

We didn’t have a honeymoon as we couldn’t afford it, but some of our friends lent us their parents’ holiday cottage in Cornwall for a week, so we did have a week together after wedding in the end.

Other budget bride's stories:

Lindsay's Real Budget Wedding
Melanie's £5,000 Wedding On A Budget
Hayley's Budget Beach Wedding Under £6,000
Caroline's Budget Wedding Under £5,500
My Wedding Under £5,000
Harriet's Cheap Wedding For Under £1,000
Lisa's Wedding On A Budget In The North East
Amy's Wedding On A Budget
Heather's Budget Wedding Under £500
Nicole's Maltese Wedding For Under £3,500
Sharon's Budget Wedding Under £2,000
Tracey's £600 DIY Wedding
Liz and Anthony's £4,000 Wedding
Sarahs Budget Wedding Under £1,500
Sharzilla's 1940s Themed Cheap Wedding

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