Welcome to DIY Bride! I’m getting married in May and I’m a do-it-yourself bride, so I’m always starting and finishing a project, and I love it! My fiancé constantly asks, “are you crazy?” and I just smile and remind him how much money we’re saving! Since I have so many ideas and can’t possibly use them all, I decided to share them with you. So get out the glitter and heat up your glue guns!

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July 21, 2008

Whimsical Garden Centerpieces

Few things are as beautiful and economical as an outdoor garden party. Just place some tablecloths on picnic or fold-up tables, hang a couple of paper lanterns or white streamers from the trees, and create these beautiful garden centerpieces to mimic the outdoors:

Sounds easy enough, right? Don't worry, it is!

Materials:
Glass vase
Fountain stones
Silk flower buds
Silk flower pre-made bouquet

Directions:

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Posted by DIYnista at 1:54 p.m. | Comments (0)

July 15, 2008

Now That's "Charmin"

Wow! Talk about Do-It-Yourself…

Have you heard about the wedding dress design contest that was held in NYC a few weeks ago? It was sponsored by Cheap-Chic-Weddings, Charmin and Ripley's Believe It Or Not. The contestants were only allowed to use toilet paper, tape, paper and glue—yes, I said toilet paper! And the results were amazing! The winning designer was Katrina Chalifoux, who won $1,000 for her creation. In addition, her dress will be on display in various Ripley's Believe It Or Not locations across the country along with the 2nd and 3rd winning designs.

Take a look, here!

Posted by Desiree at 3:41 p.m. | Comments (0)

July 8, 2008

Bridesmaid Bonding Project

Do you long for the days of the Bedazzler? Maybe that's just me, but I really enjoyed creating special accents on my outfits growing up. Now that I'm almost 30, I'm nowhere near as creative with every outfit. That's what accessories are for!

In college I did make my own jean skirts (even made some for a few friends), which brings me to my idea for today. Here's a project for brides who want to tap into their domestic side and create a nice little bonding experience with their bridesmaids. You, too, can make your own jean skirt just like this one:

Let's get started:

1. Choose a pair of jeans in your favorite wash. (Don't use skinny jeans.)

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Posted by DIYnista at 10:20 a.m. | Comments (0)

July 3, 2008

Ring In Your Wedding!

Having trouble finding the perfect ring bearer pillow, or just looking to save a few bucks? Why not do it yourself? Follow these easy instructions to create a pillow that matches your personal wedding style!

The first thing you'll need to do is find a small pillow (it doesn't matter what color it is, you can always cover it up later!). Take a trip to your local craft store and buy fabric, ribbons (different colors and sizes), beads and flowers. Be creative, you can find a bunch of neat materials in craft stores. If you don't end up using them for the ring bearer pillow, you can always use them on your next project! Oh, and don’t forget to make a trip to the dollar store—you never know what you may find!

If you need to cover your pillow, find a light-colored fabric (I used a silk pillowcase to cover mine!). Measure the fabric to fit the size of your pillow, cut and sew.

Before you get out your glue guns, be sure to experiment. Play around with different ribbons to see which colors you like best. I originally started making my pillow with only one solid pink ribbon. Although it looked okay, I decided to add a layer of sheer ribbon underneath and on top of the solid color. It gave it a totally different look! Also, be sure to experiment with the placement of beads, flowers, sequins or any other items you decide to use before you glue them on.

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Posted by Desiree at 3:49 p.m. | Comments (0)

June 25, 2008

Tea Light Party Favors

Last November I threw a birthday party for my friend at a club in New York City. I don't usually like to plan these types of parties because you can't put too much creativity into it. Despite the limited options, I wanted to give the guests a little something to go home with. Since the theme of her party was pink, I decided to create a pink party favor to go along with the pink drink the club provided for her guests. Everyone loved them, and they were actually useful after the party!

Materials:
Tulle*
Tea light candle holder*
Scented tea light candles
Sheer/satin ribbon

Directions:
1. Cut a rectangle-shaped piece of tulle.
2. Cut a 5-inch piece of ribbon.
3. Place your tea light candleholder in the center of the tulle. Then place your scented tea light into the candleholder.
4. Gather the ends of the tulle together and pull them straight up. Tie them tightly with the ribbon.
5. Add a favor tag with your monogram, event info or just tie a bow.

*Purchased from cudge.net.

Posted by DIYnista at 2:35 p.m. | Comments (0)

June 19, 2008

My DIY Wedding

Hi Everyone! I'm back and married! It was so beautiful, and the weather was perfect. I wouldn't have changed a thing. I know you're anxious to see how my wedding projects turned out, so I've posted some pictures below.

The wedding ceremony in the Bahamas

The actual ceremony was on the beach, but the reception was in a large gazebo-shaped structure with hideous chairs, so I commissioned several family members to help me transport the chair covers and sashes to the Bahamas. The coordinator wanted to charge me $5 each! With 35 guests, you do the math. Of course, I went the more frugal route. I ordered my chair covers online and had them shipped to my place.

Check out the chair covers—don't they look great?! They were $3 each at chaircoversonline.com.

Instead of renting suits, all the men bought linen suits, including my husband. Wow, that feels so strange to say!

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Posted by DIYnista at 11:08 a.m. | Comments (4)

June 2, 2008

Tell Your Story

Hey there! My name’s Desiree and I’m interning with the web department here at Bridal Guide. I love putting my creativity to use by working on hands-on projects, so I’m very excited to help out DIYnista and blog for all of you!

Your wedding is a day you’ll never want to forget! Most of you will be hiring talented photographers to take gorgeous photos of you on your very special day. But where are you planning to store your photos later on? Here’s a great way to make your wedding day last a lifetime.

Shutterfly is a company that hosts online photo showcasing. The site allows you to make your very own PhotoBook, which you can fill with pictures of your favorite memories. And the best part? It’s fun, and SO easy (I signed up on the site and started a page just to see how the process worked. Now I’m addicted!).

Once you sign up, you can personalize your album by choosing different backgrounds, fonts and colors. When you’re done choosing the basics, you can start adding and rearranging your photos. To make the process easier, it’s a great idea to gather all the photos you’d like to use beforehand. That way, you can upload them all at the same time, and you won’t be searching around for that one specific photo you may have missed.

Be creative with this project and give it your own personal touch! Shutterfly has a few photo editing tools that can help make your images look much more eye-catching. You can crop your photos to give them a more artistic look, or change some of your color images to Black and White or Sepia, for example.

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Posted by Desiree at 3:35 p.m. | Comments (0)

May 30, 2008

Got Gocco?

Exciting news! Bridal Guide and the real brides over at Weddingbee.com have teamed up to bring you their personal wedding planning stories. Today, Miss Tiramisu shares her DIY invitation project.

Hello! I was honored to be asked to guest blog over here at Bridal Guide, and I thought I'd share with you my biggest wedding project so far: the invitations!

My invitations were the first wedding DIY project I tackled. I had high hopes for them, but wasn't sure that I was up for making them myself. However, after a little searching, I couldn't find anything to purchase that was just perfect...and that meant I'd have to do it myself! Enter: GOCCO.

Gocco! Gocco? This word didn't enter my vocabulary until I became a bride-to-be. A Gocco, for those of you who don't know, is a magical little printing machine that can be used to create wedding invitations, stationery and tons of other paper projects. It can even be used to print on fabric and other surfaces, but I haven't gotten that adventurous yet! I purchased my machine on eBay after reading about all of the gorgeous wedding projects the bee bloggers over at weddingbee.com were making. I got the PG-5, which looks just like this:

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Posted by Miss Tiramisu at 10:02 a.m. | Comments (2)

May 12, 2008

Honeymoon Break

I'm a married woman now!

I just wanted to drop you a quick note to tell you and apologize for not updating these past few weeks. I was busy getting ready for the wedding. It was a lot of hard work, but well worth it. Everything came out just as I imagined it. I'll post some pictures as soon as I get the chance, but right now I'm off to enjoy my honeymoon!

While I'm away, Lori from the "Here Comes the Wedding" blog is going to post one or two projects she's been experimenting with for her friend's bridal shower. She's looking for ideas, so if you have any, share them here.

See you when I get back!

Posted by DIYnista at 11:58 a.m. | Comments (0)

April 2, 2008

Charger Plates

Papyrus has gorgeous printed paper that can be used for more than just wrapping.You can create simple artwork by cutting out squares and placing them in frames, or centerpieces by placing paper squares over pasted styrofoam cubes. You can also use the paper as a beautiful accent for an elegant dinner party! (On the cheap of course.) Chargers add a touch of class and often pull together the average table setting. They are also about $20 for four—and that's the cheaper end of the spectrum. Here's how to make your own chargers:

1. Cut 4 or more 10" x 10" squares of cardboard. (These are your chargers believe it or not.)
2. If you aren't really that skilled with cutting cardboard evenly, you can purchase plain double-face corrugated sheets. They are about 15 cents each at any craft store, or you can find them online here.
3. Wrap your first sheet of cardboard as if you're wrapping a present. Once you have just enough paper to wrap the cardboard, unwrap and measure the paper.
4. Use the same dimensions for all the sheets of paper. One of my favorite prints is Butterflies On Red. This contrasts well with chocolate-colored plates. (Mypapershop.com has great paper plates in a variety of colors and free shipping.)

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Posted by DIYnista at 4:16 p.m. | Comments (0)