(Pt. 1 is stuff I made for the ceremony. Pt. 2 to follow will be stuff I made for the reception.)

We saved a ton of money by doing the following things ourselves. Keep in mind that I no idea how to do most of these things before the planning began … but it’s amazing what you can learn if you read the directions (aka google it)!

1) Flowers: $50 at the San Francisco Flower Mart.
We went there together, 2 days before the ceremony, and I prepped them using vases that our hotel generously provided. The day-of (yes, when some people think The Bride is supposed to be either pampered or ordering her friends around like slaves), I wrapped the stems in ribbon. Ta-dah!


A little of this during my wedding day prep (between the hair & the make-up) resulted in these:

I also spent a few minutes wrapping extra flowers for the guys’ boutonnieres:


Other stuff I made: gifts for b’maids & g’men. (Full disclosure: I’ve made jewelry before.) I hoped that everyone would appreciate something handmade more than anything I could buy them. It seemed to work.


I also took the ceremony decorations in hand. Upside of a really pretty location: you don’t need that much other “stuff”. But since I’m stubborn:
Programs, made on a template from AyleeBits.com, printed on extra paper from our invitations. At Kinko’s.
Paper pomanders, made from instructions on OnceWed.com.

Bubbled for the recessional, decorated with extra ribbon & a hot glue gun.

I want to be clear: I started most of these projects very early. Making things helped to keep me sane — having something to do with my hands kept my brain from spinning off into Crazy Land. And I liked not having to worry about a) the expense, or b) what some unknown vendor would drop into my lap on the day-of. I hope these resources & ideas help!