Does DIY Save You Money?

DIY

DIY

Author Rene Krejci

Many of the modern brides today are DIY brides which means “Do it Yourself”.  A DIY bride wants to personalize her wedding her way and no one else’s.  She wants to save money everywhere she can.  Many DIY brides think that by doing the planning, designing, printing invitations etc. themselves that they are saving tons of money.  Are they really saving money though, or does it cost more than to hire professionals to do the job?

On average, weddings cost between $10,000 and $30,000.  There are weddings that cost way more, but this is average throughout the United States.  Calculating whether doing it yourself costs less does require a little research and planning.  One of the first things you should do in determining whether or not you should do a lot of things yourself, you should research on what it would cost to hire someone for all areas in your wedding.  These would include; DJ/Band, Photographer, Videographer, Florist, Cake baker, Caterer, Linens, Décor, Favors, Invitations.

Today, I’m focusing on DIY invitations.  Let’s get busy.

Carlson Craft

Carlson Craft

Invitations can cost a lot of money.  There are reasonable invitation retailers out there that are very reasonable and affordable.  If brides aren’t aware of those reasonable and affordable retailers they decide they should just print them themselves and be done with it.  Let’s do a breakdown of the cost by doing it yourself and hiring a professional.  Let’s say you are planning on inviting 100 guests to your wedding.  You need 100 invitations, 100 outer envelopes, 100 inner envelopes, 100 RSVP cards and 100 reception cards. These items are usually included in an envelope for a wedding invitation. My example is from above.  The price is from Carlson Craft Invitations.  I picked a simple invitation.  For 100 invites, with all the items included, comes to a total of $349.16 plus$98.00 of postage. That gives you a grand total of $447.16.

Printable Wedding Invitation Templates

Printable Wedding Invitation Templates from MGdezigns Studio

For doing it myself I’ll need ink for my printer = $80.00.  I’ll need 4 DIY kits = $139.96 ($34.99 each for 25 invitations with response cards, reception cards and envelopes).  The grand total with invitations plus postage equals $317.96.

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The winner is doing it yourself by saving you $129.20.  However, there is one downfall, and that is time.  It takes a long time to print invitations yourself.  You also have to make sure you print on the correct side. You also don’t have any room for mistakes.  Any mistakes with alignment and typos and possibly printing on the wrong side can add to your cost.

I was a DIY bride and I did help my sister print her own invitations.  When my sister got married there were no kits.  We had an advantage with buying discontinued invitations from a paper supply store that was a local business.  We did save money but we did not save on time. We had a lot of mistakes due to alignment problems.  It is much easier now for the DIY brides of this generation.

Gartner Studio

Gartner Studio

Not all DIY kits come with everything you need, so you’ll have to really do your research and shopping carefully to compare.  The DIY kit I used for the price comparison example was a complete set from Wilton.  It included the reception cards.  The photo above from Gartner Studios did not include the reception cards in its kit, and the price was a little more.

Just remember that your time is valuable.  You can certainly save a lot of money doing things yourself. Weigh out the pros and cons.  If it starts becoming stressful, then it probably isn’t worth your valuable time.  At that point hire a pro.

Do you have any ideas to  to share? Let us know in your comments.

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Renee Krejci is a wedding planner and owner of RCK Weddings & Design, LLC.  She has been planning, designing and coordinating weddings and events for 14 years. She is a wife and mother of 2 living in Virginia. Renee was a DIY bride and loves giving tips and ideas to aid the DIY bride.

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Categories: Budget Saving, DIY Wedding, Home, Wedding Invitations, Wedding Planning, Wedding Tips, Wedding Trends

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Date: March 14, 2014

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