DIY to the rescue!

If you have ever planned a wedding, you will have noticed that things are EXPENSIVE. I happen to be the kind of person that is not a huge fan of spending a lot of money. Call me a cheapskate, tightwad, or a penny-pincher but nothing gives me more satisfaction than finding ways to not spend a ton of money on something I can do myself.

Etsy is one of my favorite sites. Most of my ideas and dreams for our wedding came from there. And understandably, the prices can get quite high on the products sold there. People for the most part hand make everything - I'm all for paying a little extra for some of that, but here is my problem: I seem to think, "They made it, maybe I can too!" Sometimes this works out for me, but sometimes it doesn't... Thankfully what I'm here to write about today was a successful one in my opinion!

Photo courtesy of May Silk's Esty shop

I'm sure if you have been on Pinterest you have seen those adorable robes for the bride and her wedding party. Super cute, so fun and personalized! Love! But I did NOT love the price tag. So I went searching.

Gifts Intl is a great site if you need a lot of fabric at a discounted price! I got ivory for myself and navy for the bridal party. For the robes we made, a typical robe pattern from Wally World is what we used. A few days of cutting, pinning, and sewing and my mom had them done! She is a boss!

I needed them to be personal, I didn't want to just give them robes... I found a wonderful shop on Etsy (JTsAppliques) that makes iron-on appliques. She was so helpful in making sure I got the correct fabric and even gave special instructions since I wanted to put these on satin instead of a cotton fabric. Wonderful!

Overall, I think they were a wonderful gift for my girls and looked GREAT in pictures!

I have to say the best part was that the leftover from making the robes got sent to my aunt (without my knowledge) and she surprised me with table clothes for the tables in the Narthex of the church!

Another thing I did to save a little cash and add a little more of a personal touch to the wedding was crochet ties for all of the men in the wedding party. I found the pattern for the bow ties on the blog, Delia Creates! So many fun projects there and this was no different! I just adjusted the sizing a bit so it would fit the grown men that were going to wear them!

Don't those boys look dapper?

Since the groom and groomsmen were wearing bow ties I wanted the ushers to have neckties, but for them to be crocheted as well. I found a pattern on Ravelry that was very simple even for beginner crocheters!

Between the five bow ties and four neckties I spent about $10. I could not have bought one regular bow tie or neck tie for that price! And crocheting was something my grandma taught me to do so it made them just that much more special to me, that I could use a skill she taught me!