Weddings: How to have a successful DIY Wedding

Jun 24 2009 By James Shepherd

Make your reception perfect

Your reception is likely to be the biggest single expenditure of your wedding! Good news then that with a little imagination and effort, there’s plenty you can do to make your reception memorable while making some big savings too. Whether you want to decorate your own cake, make table plans and place names, create stunning table centrepieces, chair back decorations for the bride and groom, or favours for your guests, there’s a huge choice of creative materials and equipment available.

For example, if you don’t want your cake to eat into your budget too much, buy a ready iced cake in different sizes and then tier with cake columns and decorate with a cake topper, ribbon and faux flowers!

Artificial flowers are perfect for making table centrepieces too. Even low cost ones can look as good as the real thing and will obligingly bend into just the right shape without breaking. Spray with a mist of water fragranced with oil for a beautiful scent.

And with favours now available in everything from glass and tin to organza and novelty boxes, this is one area where you can really splash out on your guests without diving too deep into your budget.

Remember, when it comes to your reception, the only limit to what you can create yourself is the limit of your own imagination.

Just be sure to celebrate your marriage in a style that suits you, and don’t feel forced into a conventional sit-down meal in a marquee or hotel if you’d rather have a bar-b-q in the garden!