It’s a story I share frequently. So why not share it again, right? It goes something like this: For our wedding, Danny and I had decided we wanted pies in lieu of a wedding cake. I’m still quite satisfied with that decision — it suited us perfectly. We decided we — my mom, aunt, and I — would bake them ourselves. I heartily recommend that you don’t ever make that same decision. Because I spent the entire afternoon the day before my wedding rolling out uncooperative pie crust with one of my bridesmaids, and my mother and aunt didn’t pull the last pie out of the oven till 1:30 in the morning.

My advice for you today is simple: As you plan your wedding list, create a to-do list that is within reason. I tried to DIY basically my whole wedding. As in, hand-craft everything. And while it’s absolutely wonderful to hand-craft your wedding, you shouldn’t bite off more than you can chew — which is what I did. I bit off plenty of stress and anxiety, and I spent a good bit of the week leading up to my wedding literally in tears because I was so afraid I wouldn’t get everything done.

Well, I did get it done, with plenty of help from my wonderful family and friends. It wasn’t easy though, and at times, it was the opposite of enjoyable and joyful. That isn’t how you want to tear down the homestretch to the happiest day of your life.

So when it comes to hand-crafting your wedding, here’s what I suggest:

1.) Choose only the projects that are most meaningful to you.
2.) Set up a schedule to complete your projects — and stick to it at all costs.
3.) Delegate tasks to friends and family, but only when they offer to help; don’t make them feel like DIYing your wedding is their second job.
4.) Deactivate your Pinterest account a couple months before your wedding so you won’t be tempted to add any new projects. (Pinterest didn’t even exist when I was planning my wedding. I still found a way to keep planning new thing.)
5.) Give yourself a cutoff date, maybe five days before the wedding. Anything that isn’t done by then doesn’t need to get done. You’ll prioritize carefully to meet your deadline — and then you’ll enjoy the days leading up to your wedding instead of spending long nights hunched over the table with a hot glue gun.Happy planning!

~ Laura