I don't think I can go an entire day without seeing a DIY project highlighted on Pinterest or Facebook or Instagram. Now don't get me wrong - I love a good DIY project. I enjoy the opportunity for creativity that choosing to DIY provides. You can be charmingly simple or richly complex and the chance to "stamp" something with your own identity can really be meaningful. When planning our wedding, I found DIY projects were a way to make our celebration unique by embracing our individuality. After reading so many magazines and blogs, wedding design details seemed to become terribly formulaic. Choosing to DIY specific elements gave us a way to break the mold!

*One of my favorite DIY projects: Creating these hair combs using lace pieces from my mom's wedding veil! It meant so much to me to have something of hers when I walked down the aisle.*

However, it wasn't easy at first to choose when to DIY. When Kurt and I were still early in wedding planning, I had researched various elements we could potentially DIY. I had examples from some of my favorite wedding blogs of how to decorate a cake from Whole Foods, or how to assemble a bouquet from grocery store flowers, or how to stock your own bar for the reception. I remember a conversation he and I were having about one of these projects and realizing mid-sentence that he was looking at me like I was crazy. Without recognizing it I had thought about trying to DIY too much of our wedding, and while that may be great for some it wasn't for us.

As we considered our "focus 3" we didn't dismiss DIY. Instead, we used our "focus 3" to identify projects that were the most authentic to us - creating our own playlists, designing our own invitation suite, and focusing on smaller, more detailed elements like table numbers. By limiting our DIY projects we were able to focus on those items that were most meaningful to us, and the results were very satisfying.

Over the next few weeks, I'm going to share four of these DIY projects with you, the steps we took, and of course how they turned out!

As you think about DIY, what drives you to tackle these projects? Share your thoughts in the comments below!