Planning a spooky autumn wedding could be as simple as buying an unreasonable number of pumpkins. Instead, I’ve found myself spiralling over signage, décor, AI artwork and whether everything needed to match.

It’s so easy to fall into the ‘perfectionist’ trap of having every element of your wedding be completely cohesive. From the place cards to the table plan to the welcome sign and beyond – the amount of signage and decor feels endless! I would be lying if I said I didn’t initially fall into that very trap.

I also felt I had an ethical dilemma in this process. AI generated artwork is everywhere these days and is easier to access than it ever has been before. As a creative myself, AI has threatened my job in more ways than one, and the wedding industry most certainly isn’t safe from a similar fate. It would be easy to AI generate all my signage in a matter of minutes, but I would be going against everything I believe in. So, how do I get everything I want, while supporting real artists, without breaking the bank?

Even though we had a solid idea of the vibe of our wedding, it became apparent that most of the items we were envisioning either didn’t exist, existed with a very intimidating price-tag or were AI generated. So, it got me thinking about how to utilise what I do have – my own hands. (And my bridal party because they don’t have a choice).

I’ve committed to making almost everything myself (except the flowers. I am leaving them to professionals because everyone has their limits!) My starting point was materials, I knew I wanted the place cards and table names to be made from wood cut circles and, in an attempt, to save money, ordered these online. This was my first mistake. What turned up were the roughest cuts of wood I’d ever seen. They looked like they had been supplied by local beavers, not a craft shop.

Cue my bridesman to the rescue! Oli graciously took the beaver abominations to work with him and used the industrial sander to smooth everything out. Which gave Katie, one of my bridesmaids, and I, the perfect surface to start writing out all the names by hand. This was just the beginning of a very long list of items we would need to make over the coming months. Some might say this plan was ambitious, and they would be correct.

DIY décor certainly has its challenges but for me the pros certainly outweigh the cons. Yes, it’s a lot to have on your plate while also trying to organise all the other elements of your wedding, but it also creates a real sense of camaraderie between me and my bridal party. Maybe some of our signs won’t be perfectly straight and maybe the lettering won’t all match but nobody is going to remember that. They’ll remember sitting around tables decorated by the things we made together, laughing about the wood slices that looked like they’d been chewed by wildlife. That’s a much better story than ordering everything on Temu.