Motivational Monday | Angie + Ben’s DIY Dreaming, Decision-Making & Doing!

I think it’s safe to say that amazing bride-to-be Angie has earned herself a place as one of the WeddingMix DIY bride muses! Not only is she making her DIY dream wedding a reality with the help of her fiancé and enthusiastic bridal party, she is having a pre-wedding blast along the way! Check out her DIY tips and helpful photos to get inspired by her crafty and cute DIY wedding process. 

My group of girlfriends and I routinely have “Pinterest Parties” where one of us hosts dinner and features a craft for everyone to create for the evening. Now, when Ben (my college sweetheart) popped the question, one can only imagine how thrilled I was to 1) marry this man AND 2) begin DIY’ing this wedding! Knowing how much my friends would be supportive and enthusiastic about helping me through this process, I made it a priority that they had an equally special experience being part of my bridal party and DIY wedding.

First off, I had to ask them with care and style! I’m currently very interested in felting, so after deciding what my wedding colors would be, I began creating little fortune cookies with a note asking each of my ladies to be a part of my special day. Along with the felt cookie, I handcrafted cards with memorable photos and a personalized, handwritten note sharing what I appreciated about each of the ladies. Side note: I found myself nervous asking each of my friends to be in my wedding and earned a deeper appreciation for how Ben must have felt when proposing to me. Talk about nerve racking!

As time went on, my amazing Matron of Honor organized a day of wedding dress shopping, with an impeccable timeline which lent itself to a magical day. My maids made sure we had a delicious post0dress shopping lunch spot planned out too! Did I mention I found the dress? It was the 8th one I tried on, and there was an unanimous agreement (with tears) that this was THE dress. At the risk of Ben seeing this post, I’m sharing only one photo of a detail of the dress!

That morning, before we left for the appointments, I invited everyone to our apartment for some light breakfast and mimosas before we headed out. I can’t reinforce enough how important these ladies are to me and that I want them to have an enjoyable experience too! So with some planning, searching for discounts and an eye for detail, I began creating these ladies some “surviving the dress shopping experience”-bags! Side note: Having “time” is crucial to pull off these little bags, mimosa bar and breakfast set-up details, as I was able to find many items on clearance, discounted or otherwise on sale. I was fortunate to have had this vision/dream from the first week of being engaged. Little things add up quickly, therefore one mustn’t rush these projects or you’ll feel the impact in your wallet.

A friend told me early on that it is important to consolidate all your big ideas into your top 10 (or so) that you’d be sad not including on your wedding day. I followed her advice and created a visual draft of what my primary projects would be and have displayed them in my craft room as a reminder. This has been helpful in me planning craft nights where my girls can help me focus on one project at a time.

As we approach the 3rd month of our engagement, I am pleased to say that I’m feeling stress free, and appreciating all the help that is being offered to us! We’ve created and sent out our save the dates, as well as updated our wedding website. Ben was especially helpful with offering up the idea of magnet save-the-dates and putting postage on all their envelopes too! Cheers to wedding planning!