15 new ways to DIY your day

1 “Instead of place cards, we collected pebbles from the beach where my fiancé proposed and wrote people’s names on them in gold pen.” Cerys, 24

2 “Our budget for flowers was really small, so we planted up pots of herbs as table centres – the lavender and rosemary smelt amazing!” Gemma, 28

3 “Instead of a sweetie bar, we had an ice cream bar. We had a table full of toppings and sauces, and our caterers brought out the tubs of ice cream after our main meal.” Ffion, 30

4 “I asked three talented aunts to each make a tier of my wedding cake – they all did different flavours and were really pleased to be asked.” Lucy, 28

5 “We loved the idea of a wishing tree, so made one using twigs sprayed silver and displayed in a pot. Simple, but it looked really good!” Danielle, 27

6 “Canapés and champagne at our drinks reception was going to be really expensive, so we served homemade scones and cups of tea for a vintage-look afternoon tea instead.” Sarah, 24

7 “My fiancé’s grandad grows roses, so we asked him to dry the petals for us to make confetti. It looked really natural and colourful in our photos.” Janine, 29

8 “I loved the idea of a bouquet I could keep, so made one myself using vintage brooches I collected from antique shops before our wedding.” Fran, 30

9 “My parents made us elderflower champagne for our drinks reception – it tasted really lovely and didn’t cost anything near as much as the real thing!” Hannah, 30

10 “I’m Welsh, so instead of a wedding cake, made a tower of different Welsh cheeses. We served it at the evening reception with crackers and chutney and it didn’t last long at all.” Beth, 27

11 “My fiancé and I had loads of fun making sloe gin before our wedding day, and gave it as favours in little miniature bottles which we bought online.” Helen, 25

12 “We had an Oscars-themed wedding, so had our own popcorn stand. We made big containers of sweet and savoury popcorn the day before and had pretty stripy containers so guests could help themselves.” Maddy, 24

13 “We got our photographer to take a picture of us on our wedding day holding a chalk board with ‘thank you’ written on it and used it to get thank you postcards printed.” Katie, 25

14 “Champagne was out of our budget for our drinks reception, so with the help of a friend who’s a barman, we made a simple cocktail that we served to guests instead. It tasted great, and I loved how personal it was.” Caren, 28

15 “I chose a very plain wedding dress, but made it my own by creating a pale blue sash with a corsage using materials from a haberdashery.” Amie, 28