You’ve been in love with your partner for years and finally decided to tie the knot. Congratulations! For many couples, there will be one (major) obstacle — the budget.
We’ve all been there — weddings are expensive, and people put much pressure on themselves to deliver the perfect one. But, it costs like hell, and we’re not just talking about the venue. A lot of money will go to the attire, food and drink packages, gifts, and let’s not even mention the decoration. But, thanks to this guide, you will have your dream wedding without breaking the bank.
We’ll cover everything from simple and cheap — yet cool and unique — wedding invitations to DIY photo booths, decorations, and everything else that will make your wedding a dream come true. Most importantly, it won’t cost you an arm and a leg.
The DIY wedding ideas on a budget in this article are handcrafted and authentic but not that expensive, with only a bit of elbow grease and time invested. But, that’s a currency we favor when it comes to having a great wedding.
Wedding invitations
Wedding invitations include elements that mark the theme of the celebration. They are like the first impression of the celebration so that your guests get an idea of what the event will be like. They could be costly if not done cautiously, as most graphic design studios charge more for every extra detail. To achieve your wedding idea on a budget goal, you should go digital!
Cheap DIY wedding invitations such as :
- personalized design
- music
- and video
will be your best allies. With only one click, all the event details will be available to your attendees. In addition, these invitations have many advantages. Just think about the money (and time) you will save with the digital invite!
You can also print your invites from the comfort of your home using a wedding invitation printable. For instance, you can purchase several pre-made wedding templates from a store for DIY editing.
You can also have a template already customized with all your details and print the rest at home. Here, you need to keep the cost of ink color in mind. We find a beautiful white invite with a cute black font amazing, since it only requires a white and black printer.
Wedding signage
Most wedding guests love a wedding signage since it makes them feel welcomed and appreciated. While you can find plenty of wedding signage, we find wooden pallets ideal when making wedding signs.
To save your wedding costs, you can even pick pallets up for free at several garden centers and then paint the details you wish to add. Other wedding signage that you can use to save your wedding costs include the following:
- Chalkboards
- Portable garment racks
- Wooden directional signs
- Framed glass sign
We recommend adding signs to your wedding decor right away! They are excellent for warmly welcoming your guests and showing them where they should be heading. Below are some stunning DIY wedding decorations on a budget that will be easy to make.
Chalkboards
Try chalkboards! It’s more of an old-school and unusual welcome sign option, but it fits into the fun and festive low-budget DIY backyard wedding decorations. If you use it at night, you can encircle it with fairy lights to add a little magic! Use the ones you save for Christmas decorations instead of buying new ones.
Palettes
Palettes are excellent DIY wedding decoration ideas that will show you another way to create an attractive and unique welcome sign. All you have to do is get white paint and write “Welcome to the wedding of…”, add a comic or emotional marriage quote, or include a wedding timetable if your celebration will last a whole day.
Decorate it with colorful balloons matching your chosen wedding color palette to create a vibrant and flowing effect. For floral accessories, you can either go with natural seasonal flowers that will surely not cost you too much or buy artificial peonies (or other flowers), which come in many colors.
Portable garment racks
Believe it or not, you can use these as the most elegant yet cheap DIY wedding decoration. And we all have them at home for those extra clothes we want to keep on hand. Just spray-paint it with gold to give it a metallic finish and attach a large white cardboard with your names and wedding date written.
You can deck the top corner with some greenery and beautiful and budget-friendly baby’s breath and consider it done and dashing!
Wooden directional signs
This minimal, eye-catching, and low-budget rustic wedding décor DIY is as simple as joining three or four pieces of old wood planks together on a pole. They can be in the shape of arrows showing which way the reception or the ceremony will take place: the bar, the candy station, or the dance floor.
Framed glass sign
For this DIY wedding idea on a budget, you will need a large piece of framed rectangle glass like a cupboard door. Write your names and dates on the glass with a white pen and paint the back in a chosen color.
You can use a larger brush and not paint the entire glass area but make a background for the text. Ideal for chic weddings that are, fortunately not unattainable even when the budget is tight.
Confetti
A very original DIY wedding idea on a budget that the guests will appreciate is making paper cones and filling them with rice, petals, or confetti. The ‘confetti shot’ is one of those absolute wedding must-haves; fortunately, making your own confetti cones for invites is simple and quick.
Use colorful paper to match your remaining décor; roll it, glue it, and fill it with handmade confetti made from wrapping paper strips, tissue paper, ribbons, or dry petals.
You can place them on each chair before the ceremony or put them on a tray or basket so your guests can grab one and toss it in the air to mark your first moments as husband and wife.
Balloons
Make balloons part of your cheap DIY wedding decorations! Use balloons in metallic or satin tones and combine them in different sizes; the result will be spectacular and affordable. Use them to embellish the arch or the newlyweds’ table backdrop, or attach them to flow above the center of each table. You can find some with numerals on them, so they can even replace the table numbers.
DIY Photo booth
With just a little imagination, you’ll be surprised that you can create the same type of fun with less funds. Instead of hiring a photo booth, you can make yourself a decorative background and add a few affordable props to design a selfie station.
- Poster background
- Vintage setting
- Flower wall
- Fringed background
Lately, photo booths at weddings have become very popular. It is a reserved area for guests to take fun photos and take them home as souvenirs of the event. Below is an explanation of the aforementioned DIY wedding decoration ideas:
Poster background
All you need is a well-decorated poster as a photo backdrop with the distinctive elements of the celebration to match the remaining decor.
Vintage setting
Another option is to place an elegant curtain with some decorative elements, such as a small coffee table you can take from home, place a lovely vase with some flower arrangements, and put an armchair next to it.
Flower wall
If you opted for an outdoor wedding, you must include a flower wall in your DIY wedding decorations on a budget. Just fill a standing pocket planter with pots of flowers, use white cardboard to make a personalized photo frame with your names and wedding date, and let your guests strike a pose! The flower pots can double as wedding favors.
Fringed background
Find colorful and glittery fringes and hang them as curtains. Try finding iridescent ones for that extra shine, and your photo booth will be ready in a minute.
For DIY weddings on a budget, you can use things you already have at home, yet you will create an innovative scene for guests to take photos.
To make the captured moment more unique and special, include a Polaroid-style camera that reveals photos instantly; it will be a hoot. Your guests will love the spontaneity of the photos — an excellent commemorative souvenir of the celebration!
Sparklers
Something so simple and affordable cannot be missing from your wedding because the result will be spectacular. This DIY wedding idea on a budget can be best used at night — the guest can form a passage of lighting sparklers where the newlyweds can make their first steps as a married couple.
Sparklers can be lightened during their first dance or any time during the party — the photos will be amazing!
Decorative garlands
Some of the most popular and cheap DIY wedding decorations are garlands. They can be made with papers of different colors and shapes. You don’t have to be a master craftsman to create the most original decorative garlands; find some useful how-to videos online.
Doing the above will give that special touch to the aisle, and you can use them to deck the arch or turn them into table runners in case you want long rectangular tables rather than round ones. The overall effect will be outstanding!
You can also make garlands with Polaroid photos as a low-budget rustic wedding decor DIY. Use jute ropes and wooden clips to attach the photos and hang some green leaves to add to the rustic vibe. Here, you can be as creative as you want.
Wedding letters
Another of the best-known cheap DIY wedding decorations is wedding letters. It will be very stylish to decorate any corner with letters forming your names, words such as ‘love’, or your initials. Unleash your imagination, and you can get a personalized and original decoration for very little money. There are several ways to do handmade lettering.
- Floral: A very pretty way to make them is with cardboard, green foam, and flowers. Make the letter shapes with cardboard, put green foam bricks in, and stick the flowers directly into the foam.
- Glittery: Another option is to make them out of cardboard and paint them with a lot of glitter. Here, you can let your imagination fly and choose the shapes, colors, and combinations you want for your wedding letters.
- Made of wood: If you have a carpenter friend, relative, or neighbor, ask for help to make your wedding letters. It will be the perfect addition to the low-budget rustic wedding decor DIY.
DIY Backdrops
If you intend to make decorations that can be impactful, you should craft your garlands and backdrops. We find tassel backdrops ideal since they’re made from tissue paper and easy to make. If you want to get more creative, you can make hundreds of paper cranes and suspend them en-masses around the wedding venue.
Do away with the DJ and skip the live band.
No offense to professional DJs, but this is another big area where you can easily DIY, especially if it’s not on top of your priority list. For instance, if you only care about having some cool music playing in the background as you eat dinner and interact with your guests, you can easily accomplish this by creating your wedding playlist.
Rethink your catering
If you’re looking for creative ways to slash costs on your wedding catering, consider offering your guests light bites instead of a sit-down dinner. However, ensure your guests are served a good amount of food so no one goes hungry.
It’s very easy to put together a nice dinner menu of affordable foods for your invites. You can find a non-traditional wedding caterer for your entire reception fare.
Serving up some tasty nibbles from a hot dog cart or a taco truck won’t only be delicious but among the things your guests will remember for many years.
You could also get creative and savvy by holding a brunch wedding. If you aren’t aware yet, breakfast foods are slightly affordable, and your invites aren’t as likely to become rowdy at an open bar, making it an excellent cost-cutting solution.
Lighting
- String lights
- Paper lanterns
- Candles
You will understand how important light is once you see the difference between before and after. That is why you should pay special attention to this irreplaceable detail and include it in your list of DIY wedding decoration ideas on a budget.
String lights
Light up your wedding with string lights! You can find them in different lengths, sizes, and colors that look wonderful for an outdoor wedding. Attach them to a pole to make a rain-effect string light backdrop and put a layer of thin curtain or tulle in front of them to build a blurring effect.
The above DIY wedding decoration idea on a budget will, without a doubt, create a very vintage and romantic atmosphere when it gets dark.
Use your Christmas lights and borrow more from your friends so you don’t get too many. Create a starry-night-sky effect by attaching the lights on two opposite sides above the reception space, and enjoy the romantic atmosphere.
Paper lanterns
This inexpensive lighting idea will give so much liveliness to your celebration, especially if you decide to include colorful paper lanterns of different sizes. Hang them in the ceiling — they will look like giant balls in vibrant shades that will perfectly enlighten your venue.
Are you dreaming of an affordable and unique wedding venue like a barn, library, or museum with sky-high ceilings? Plain white paper lanterns will be the best fit since they will give the whole space a warm and cozy vibe. They will look like magical light bulbs floating in the air! It will be one of those low-budget rustic wedding décor DIY ideas you will unquestionably not regret.
Candles
You will need lots of candles for every single corner of your wedding venue! They give that intimate and idyllic mood; the best thing about them is that they won’t cost you much. Whether you choose tea lights all over the tables, different-sized pillar candles placed in glasses or jars to decorate the newlywed’s table.
You can also place battery-operated flameless candles inside lanterns to enlighten different parts of the wedding venue; these are the main must-haves in your list of DIY wedding decoration ideas on a budget.
Wedding arch
These installations that are an integral part of the wedding ceremony can cost a lot of money. However, don’t worry as they are undeniably a DIY project that won’t give you a headache.
For this obligatory DIY wedding idea on a budget, you will need a strong, wooden H-shaped base, two dowels attached to the base, and a long flexible plastic pipe to fit on the dowels, and you will have your DIY wedding arch.
Spray-paint it with your chosen color and embellish it with artificial or seasonal fresh flowers; add feathers, greenery, or curtains, and your wedding arch will be ready for your vow exchange ceremony.
Take advantage of your network.
Think about friends, close family members, and consider their various skills and talents. Can you pick a few who can come through on your special day? Whether it’s asking your cousin to design for you the wedding invite or your neighbor to make your wedding cake, you’ll save some bucks by pulling in help from your loved ones.
Seeking some assistance from some of your talented friends on your special day will give you room to personalize some elements of your day while eliminating the need to hire professionals to assist in some areas.
Don’t forget your bridal party too! Get the gang together so they can help you craft DIY wedding decorations to help you save some bucks.
Do your hair and makeup.
Have you considered doing your own makeup and hair? You’ll be surprised to find out that there are plenty of ways to figure out what can look good on you.
If you want to appear like you on your special day, there’s no better way than doing your hair and face. Doing your makeup and hair will save the extra costs of having your hair and makeup done at a salon.
Wedding favors
If you need to offer your guests some small token of appreciation on your special day, consider offering things you can easily afford. For instance, you try offering the following:
- Pack some sweets
- Potted plants
- Fan your guests
If you’re determined to give your guests a small token of your appreciation, ensure it’s not something they’ll throw away as soon as they return home. However, if you are having a wedding on a budget, you want to avoid being caught in the trap of buying expensive wedding favors.
If you look around, you can easily find countless cheap wedding favors that tick all the boxes of worthy gifts.
Pack some sweets
One thing guests love about receiving candy as a favor is that they can snack on it while waiting for dinner. They also like to avoid having to bring anything home after a night of parties, dinners, and dancing that will just get lost in their car.
Homemade chocolates, truffles, cookies, or another type of tasty treat will cost you a little more time and a lot less money, which makes them the impeccable cheap DIY wedding favor idea. Just be sure to use your creativity to package it to match your decorations.
Grow some potted plants.
If you have a green thumb, this idea is fun for DIY weddings on a budget. Just make sure you have plenty of time to start growing the plants. Who knows? You might inspire your guests to start their garden, and they will be reminded of the good times they had at your wedding every time they see their growing plants.
Fan your guests
Fans are the ideal addition to DIY backyard wedding ideas. You can give guests a homemade fan to keep them cool during the summer ceremony and reception. You can print a message or photo on heavy cardboard and then staple it to a handle. You could even print your wedding program on the fans so the favors do double duty.
Table centerpieces
The decoration of the wedding tables is a very important part of the total wedding décor, but that doesn’t mean you have to splurge on it. The centerpieces can easily be decorated with recycled elements you might have at home, or you can borrow or do them independently if art is your forte.
- Glass features
- Table numbers
- Flowers
Glass features
Gather all your interesting-shaped glasses at home to turn them into vases for the wedding tables. If you need more, visit the flea market or thrift stores and buy different drinking glasses for tea candle holders.
Don’t forget about loved-by-all mason jars! They are indispensable to all DIY wedding centerpiece ideas and are easy to incorporate into your table décor. Just wrap them with a jute string, some colorful ribbons, or simple greenery, and add a candle to them.
This investment is minimal, but the outcome that is achieved turns out to be very delicate. The trick is to create a set with different heights and glass textures.
Table numbers
Buy simple glass photo frames and print out numbers that you will later stick on the frames, and your job is done! Another way to do it is to include different types of green leaves between the two pieces of glass (where the picture should take place) and then write on the glass the number of the table. Simple, creative, and cheap DIY wedding decoration!
Flowers
Decorate your wedding with seasonal flowers! Yes, you may love roses, but if it’s winter, you can only buy imported or greenhouse roses at a very high price. There are many DIY wedding decoration ideas on a budget with seasonal flowers, or you can even use dry flowers to create an exquisite floral arrangement for the table centerpieces.
Go lively with wildflowers, ivy, smooth stones, and other super affordable elements that will keep the beauty at the tables and your money in your pocket!
Homemade wedding food
If you are having a small, casual, and intimate celebration, you can prepare the entire food by yourself, of course, with help from your friends. Some of the wedding food ideas on a budget include:
- BBQ
- Salad bar
- Charcuterie boards
- Fake wedding cake
BBQ
Have your pre-made skewers or burger patties ready one day before, and let the boys do this casually while listening to music and sipping beer.
Salad bar
Make a buffet with various salad ingredients so guests can build their salad. Include fresh and roasted vegetables, seeds, seasonings, and extras like cheese, croutons, or nuts.
Charcuterie boards
Add some color and liveliness with these artistic and clever DIY wedding food ideas on the budget! Gather all the wooden boards you can get and fill them with mixed types of cheeses, meats, crackers, and nuts. The point is to arrange them properly so they look like a real piece of art.
Fake wedding cake
Using a fake wedding cake for photos and a real second cake is an inexpensive and brilliant trick. Alternatively, you can skip the wedding cake and include a candy bar filled with DIY sweat treats like cupcakes, doughnuts, truffles, puddings, and more.
Conclusion
It is time to get out of the standard and give your wedding that special touch everyone is looking for. But before that, you must be aware that planning a wedding without going overboard is one of the biggest challenges.
Set your inspiration and imagination free with these DIY wedding ideas on a budget, and start your crafts today! We hope you’ve found the DIY wedding ideas for your upcoming wedding helpful. Above all, have a blissful event without breaking the bank. Won’t you?
