A San Antonio DIY Wedding: How to Plan Your Dream Day

In the economic roller coaster of daily life, planning a wedding can seem like a fantasy. But while the wedding of your dreams may seem out of reach, the truth is that if you keep your projects manageable and take on most of the heavy lifting yourself, you may just be able to pull off the wedding of a lifetime. In today’s blog post, I’ll be sharing with you Sarah and Tony’s San Antonio DIY wedding. Their backyard bash was truly something worthy of Brides magazine. Best of all, they pulled it off on their own. I’ve got all the details of each of their projects, plus some tips for how you can create an equally stunning event for your own wedding day. So, get ready to take notes: this is the year you make your DIY wedding a reality.

A San Antonio DIY Wedding: The Basics

Guest Count and Bridal Party

Let me start off by giving you the scope of the event. Sarah and Tony got married on November 16th of last year. Their guest count was a total of 18. Unlike some small weddings I have photographed, they did have an extensive bridal party, with six bridesmaids and four groomsmen plus a ring bearer and a flower girl.

Venue

The event was held in the backyard of their home. Tony built the deck, which served as the outdoor venue for the couple’s reception. While the deck addition did cost approximately $10,000, one could argue this was a home improvement that will greatly benefit the couple when it comes to the value of their home down the road.

Catering

The food was entirely catered by 2M Smokehouse. Plates and silverware, while disposable, were on the high end. The gorgeous wedding cake was designed and provided by the bride’s sister, Ashley Pizano, who is an extraordinary baker.

Decorations

The decorations for the event were entirely crafted and designed in-house by the bride and her creative family. That includes all bouquets and centerpieces. The most extraordinary decoration of all is the book altarpiece that served as the focal point for the family photos. I’ll discuss this in greater detail later on in the article, but note that this was completely designed and created by the bride. Indeed, the only outside vendor onsite was the photographer – me!

How do you start planning a San Antonio DIY wedding?

Sarah began planning her wedding at the end of August. Yes, you read that correctly. Sarah pulled off the wedding of a lifetime with only three months’ planning.

So, how did she begin? As with most things in life, it all began with ChatGPT. ‘It took me about two days to find my vision of how I wanted it to look. I used ChatGPT to generate mock images of what I envisioned and that really helped me settle on what I wanted as far as the decorations and theme.’

I think the lesson here is that Sarah was very selective on the projects she undertook. She devoted her time to the book altarpiece, and a few other decorations, and didn’t care as much about her tablescape or catering. Sarah delegated projects when she could – such as the wedding cake which was designed by her sister. By concentrating her effort and money on one big project, Sarah was able to focus on that project’s completion.

What was the biggest challenge for planning Sarah & Tony’s DIY wedding?

There are very few couples who would try to do a massive construction project alongside planning a wedding. Nevertheless, Sarah and Tony worked together and were able to get everything done by their wedding day.

Unfortunately, Tony was furloughed right in the middle of their wedding planning process. This added considerable constraints to their wedding budget. However, this also freed up time for Tony to focus on the building side of things himself.

Their list of projects was seemingly endless. In addition to the wooden deck which was used for the reception, the couple also built the raised bed garden. This garden was used for the ceremony and included a covered pathway for the bride and groom. The total budget for the wedding was approximately $10,000 for the building project and $1,000 for the food and decorations.

How did Sarah and Tony come up with their wedding theme?

Sarah and Tony’s wedding may be DIY, but the level of planning was well above any basic backyard barbecue. What sets their wedding apart is a cohesive theme that ties every element of their event together. From the wooden coasters to the natural textures of the ribbon around the bouquets, everything is united by an organic, rustic theme.

Here is Sarah to explain her wedding theme: ‘We wanted (our wedding) to be rustic, but new beginnings was the underlying theme. Our candles and cake were supposed to look like birch wood. My birthday is in December and my ‘birth tree’ is the birch tree, which symbolizes fresh starts and new beginnings. This is what our wedding symbolized for us. A new chapter in our relationship if you will.

So, what advice would you give to couples out there looking to select a theme for their wedding? ‘My last word of advice to the couples out there who want to DIY their wedding: choose a theme that really means something to you, because planning and putting together your own wedding 100% is not easy, and it helps to have something really meaningful you want to see come to life.’

DIY Wedding Book Background

Believe it, or not, you can make this gorgeous book background on your own. Here are the details from the bride herself:

‘The book background was all done by hand. I had initially seen a couple of them being sold on Facebook Marketplace and thought, ‘Oh, I love that!’, so I began talking with my sister-in-law on how we could make it happen. We found someone who was getting rid of a lot of books, and took that opportunity to get all of the books we needed for the wall. From there we referenced the photos of the ones we saw on Marketplace to get design ideas on how to fold the books and place them.’

‘Ultimately, we went with about seven different folds and regular open books. The folding took just over a week since we would fold in the afternoons when I got home around 6pm plus a lot of glue! I would recommend just buying the jug of Mod Podge glue which worked for me. Putting it all together took an entire afternoon, which I did the day before by stapling the books in place using a $13 staple gun I got from Home Depot. I glued down the flat pages using the Mod Podge.’

‘When it to the placement of the books, I just tried to place the different designs where I thought they would look best, and tried not to place the same design next to each other. I also had to consider the size of the books, because we had varying sizes since these were free books and didn’t have the choice of being too picky. The frame itself was built by Tony out of 2x4s and two, 4×8 sheets of plywood.’

DIY Wooden Coasters

While most couples do give gifts to guests as a thank you for helping to celebrate their big day, just remember that you don’t have to go overboard when it comes to swag. If you’re looking to keep your costs down, DIY food items are often much more appreciated than any beer koozie you order on Amazon.

But, if you want to go above and beyond like Sarah and Tony did, then it’s time to get crafty. Sarah employed the talents of a friend who has a wood engraving business. The process started with Photoshop. ‘I made the design myself and that took me two to three days working in Photoshop to make a monogram I really liked. I started off by looking at various monograms and fonts to find a starting point and then edited it from there to make it more whimsical.

‘The coasters were actually done by a coworker of mine that has an engraving side business! He took about two weeks to make the coasters and the cutting board for me.’

DIY Flowers

Just about every bride makes an attempt at making her own flower bouquets. And while you can save a ton of money by tackling your own florals, there are some tricks of the trade you need to know before you do battle with your own bouquets. Here is how Sarah began the process.

‘The flower bouquets were a slight challenge! I initially used Chat GPT to make mock bouquets out of different flowers to see how I wanted them to look. Ultimately, I found what was most difficult was finding the fresh flowers I wanted in November. I did get some dried flowers from the Pearl and ordered dried eucalyptus from Amazon. However, the rest of my flowers came from HEB!’

‘So, the night before my wedding my sister-in-law and I were figuring out how to put together the bouquets. We found that it’s a lot harder than it looks! My hot tip for the ladies out there who want to make their own is to start with your tallest pieces and put them in the back and then work your way forward to the smaller pieces that will eventually make the front of your bouquet.’

‘Tying them was another challenge, we wrapped ours in some burgundy cord that we used for our bracelets. This was more difficult than expected because it had a really silky texture so it made it hard to tie off, but we did find a method. Looking back, I think hot glue would have probably worked well to keep the end of the cord in place.’

DIY Wedding Cake

Finally, let’s talk about that beautiful wedding cake. While Sarah and Tony technically left the cake to a professional, here is how she planned the cake from start to finish.

‘Ashley made a chocolate batter with chocolate chips in it and then made a strawberry filling and put chunks of strawberry in the filling for the layers of the cake. The design was all her! I gave her a reference photo that showed a cake with a heart that looked like it was carved into the cake.’

‘Ashley suggested to make it a little tree stump to go along with the rustic theme, and I loved the idea. She had me draw a heart with our initials and then transferred that to the cake. The rest of the design was all her free hand drawing on the cake and she used a Swiss meringue buttercream as the icing since I like that type of icing the most.’

Final Thoughts

Sarah and Tony’s beautiful wedding is proof that you don’t have to spend a lot, to get a lot on your wedding day. The main take away from their wedding is that it takes time to plan and that you’ll have to handle most of the design dilemmas yourself. DIY means just that: do it yourself. Be prepared to have a lot of things go wrong, and to have to learn a lot along the way. To overcome any obstacles, just make sure you have time on your side and a backup plan ready in in case of emergency. And if not, you’ll still walk away with some interesting stories to tell your kids down the road.

Meet Sarah and Tony

I couldn’t end the article without telling you how these two lovebirds met, could I? While it seems like Sarah and Tony have been joined at the hip forever, they actually met through an old roommate of Sarah‘s when he brought Tony to a party at her house many years ago.

Their proposal was romantic and comical, all at the same time. It took place in front of the Coliseum in Rome. As Tony was getting down on one knee asking Sarah to marry him, a vendor tapped him on the shoulder asking if he would like to buy a selfie stick. This is the photo that Sarah’s sister-in-law took of their proposal, and in Sarah’s words, ‘We felt it perfectly embodied Rome with all its romance and shenanigans.’ As the Italians say, life is beautiful.

Enjoy the images, and I’ll have more photo adventures for you next week. The blogs are back, baby!

Vendors

Bride’s dress – Couture Alterations
Hair stylist – Eclectic Hair Studio, Brittini Fernandez
Groom’s wedding ring – Happy Laulea
Bride’s wedding ring – Zales
Caterer – 2M Smokehouse
Cake – Honey & Mace Bakehouse, Ashley Pizano
Woodworker – David Galuhn, Smoking Heart Products

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If you find this article on ‘A San Antonio DIY Wedding’ useful, then check out these articles:

Looking to say ‘I do’ in Austin or San Antonio? Drop me a line and let’s chat about how I can help you. I have hourly rates, and all photo shoots include editing and high-resolution files.

To view more images from my wedding photography portfolio, please visit my website – KellyWilliamsPhotographer.com