There are many blogs out there warning you of the dangers of DIYing certain aspects of your wedding. And while I agree that many things should be left to the professionals, with a little practice, pre-planning and common sense, it doesn’t have to be that bad.
If you know you’re good at crafting and have a floral market near by, then sure, DIY your bouquet. I did and it was everything I wanted.
If you or a family member are really good at baking, then do a trial run at a wedding cake and see if it works for you. I have photographed SEVERAL weddings with amazing DIY wedding cakes.
My point is, while many of these blogs are right to tell you to proceed with caution when it comes to wedding projects, many things on their list are actually doable for many brides.
BUT, there are certain things that just should never be DIY’ed–even by professionals. Doing these will lead to major frustrations and a less than favorable out come, regardless of your skills. So here are the 4 things you absolutely shouldn’t DIY at your wedding.
Photography
You may think I’m a bit biased here, because I was a wedding photographer for many years. But trust me on this one–this is something you don’t want to attempt unless you want an album full of selfies.
It is possible for you to do some staged photos with a good camera and a tri-pod, but there’s just no way you can capture an entire event that you’re one of the major starts of.
Maybe you want to outsource your wedding photography to a friend, but I wouldn’t recommend that either. Wedding photography is work. It takes a lot of planning, experience and 100% focus on the event. If your friend is photographing your wedding, then they won’t be able to fully enjoy it.
Save yourself any trouble and heartache in the future and hire a photographer.
Flim
In the same vein as photography, please don’t attempt to do your wedding cinematography yourself. We did because Youtube convinced us me that it was easy.
Let me tell you though, that it certainly isn’t.
Now, I really should have known better because I worked in the industry, but I wanted to give this a try anyways. Stephen and I love watching our wedding video, but to be honest, it isn’t good.
Wedding videography requires the right equipment and people who know exactly what they are doing. And as you can see in the video we have, the person manning the camera for a while, had no idea what to do.
Again, this isn’t the end of the world for us– we were overall happy with our wedding. But if you don’t want this to be you, get a quality videographer for your wedding.
Hair & Make-up
This may seem like the easiest thing to do, so why not save some coins?
This was something that I thought I could do and in hindsight I wish I had just hired an HMUA. There are so many moving parts on your wedding day, that you’ll quickly find out that you just don’t have the time to do it yourself.
Every time I sat down to try and do my hair or my make-up, I was getting called away to approve this-that or the other. and before I knew it, we were 30 minutes out from walking down the aisle and I still wasn’t ready.
Having a professional HMUA there would have ensured that my hair and make up got done–even when people kept coming at me.
Fireworks
While sparklers add a fun element to your big day, some people take it a bit too far and try to do actually fireworks, by themselves, for their wedding.
I remember hearing about serval instance in which a wedding caught fire because someone thought DIY fireworks was a great idea. It’s just never a good idea. The safety of you and your guest is way more important.
Opt for wedding sparklers instead, and be sure to dispose of them properly when you’re done.
There are many things that you probably don’t want to DIY for your wedding, but these are the 4 things that you should absolutely NOT try and do yourself. Learn from some of our mistakes ya’ll!
What would be on your list of things not to do for a wedding? Let me know below!
Don’t forget to pin this post!
As a wedding photographer myself, I’d definitely have to agree with the first two. I photographed for my family, and my husband and I really couldn’t enjoy either of my cousins weddings because of it. (Also won’t really be able to enjoy my moms wedding, because not only will I be in it, but she wants me to photograph everything other than the ceremony so she doesn’t have to pay the resort -__-)
As a person who did my own make-up and hair however, I can see the benefit of having a professional in this category but not sure its a make or break. My cousin also did a unique version of things where she had professionals for her first look/bridal photos, and then had friends/family do it for day of.