First, get yourself a wedding planning book and/or app that will help you keep track of any and everything for the big day. These tools are great for helping you keep track of your budget, including what you expect to spend vs. what you actually spend; your thoughts & ideas on things such as, decorations, foods, personal or written vows, etc; keep track of your appointsments, including dress & tux fittings, cake tastings & ordering dates, ect. Literally anything you can think of for your wedding and pre and/or post wedding day events can be put into the helpers.
Wedding Planning Books and Keepsakes:
Your wedding planning book can also serve as a keepsake, especially for DIY weddings. Simply, keep reciepts from everything purchased in a page protector or folder insert, take and print pictures of ideas for possible flower boquets and/or arrangements, cake toppers, dress styles, wedding and/or reception decorations, the building or location of wedding and/or reception, and bridesmaids at dress try-outs and fittings. Also, request single copies of Save-The-Dates and other invitations and/or favor tags to keep as a keepsake. Another special way I have seen this done is to actually make your own wedding planning book out of a scrapbook. Like I said, it can be a helpful tool and a keepsake of all the planning memories and fun you had along the way.
Wedding Website & App:
When I am "on-the'go", there is a website that I like to use to help me keep track of things too, weddingwire.com. This site also comes with a free app that you can download to a tablet or smartphone and carry with you where ever you go. Wedding Wire has all sorts of tips and tidbits. I LOVE it!
Second, delegate tasks to close family members & friends who are willing to help. DIY weddings can become stressful and over whelming at times when you try to do everything all alone. Assign tasks such as mailing invitations, picking up place settings, decorations, and flower arrangements to a trusted individual after discussing specific details with them. Also, have both the bride and groom's mother compile a list of family members and addresses for invitations.
Strapped for cash and paying for your wedding yourself? Ask parents and/or close family members to help with wedding costs. Ask each set of parents and/or grandparents to chip in $50, $100, $200 or any amount of money. Also, ask siblings to help with the printing costs of invitations, small decorations, or the guest book and pen. You may be surprised at how much people help with.
Next, enjoy shopping around. Don't make your mind up in one day. Take a day for you and the girls to hit up shops and other stores to compare prices. Also, shop around on the internet. Ebay.com, amazon.com, and orientaltrading.com almost always have great deals when buying in bulk, which is perfect for weddings.
When doing your own catering or having family members that are catering, join a SAM's Club. You can buy more for less and get what you paid for. This has been a HUGE help for me. We also bought our napkins, plates, and utensils at Sam's. It saved us A LOT of money.
Last, keep it simple! You've heard the saying that "a little can go a long way", well in weddings less can still be simple and elegant all wrapped in one. Use your surroundings as decoration and don't thing that inexpensive means cheap or cheap looking. Dressing things up with simple touches will almost always look better than something gaudy.
Have fun and enjoy your wedding and all it has to offer because, hopefully, it only comes once and once it's over, you're going to wish it wasn't.
For Questions on how to join the above mentioned websites, or for additional information, please leave me a message or comment and I will post tutorials and extra help for anything needed.
I hope your wedding has all the bells and whistles!
