Bride saves thousands by hand-crafting her own wedding

Portia Arthur

February 3, 2016 12:15 PM

The only things Marrianne, the bride didn’t make were the wedding outfits her dress was a gift from her parents and the couple’s wedding car, a 1960 white Chevrolet Bel Air.

Marrianne spent eight months preparing for the wedding

From the invitations to the flowers, to the favours, Marrianne Mercer made everything herself, even the three-tiered wedding cake.

The graphic designer spent eight months creating her Do-It-Yourself wedding, sewing 300 metres of bunting, creating 600 paper flowers and making 100 candles.

She made lanterns out of old baked bean tins and confetti from flower petals she dried in her airing cupboard.

The 32-year-old from Tonbridge, in Kent, even made her own veil, buttonholes for the entire wedding party, including her 35-year-old husband-to-be David and the pillow that carried their rings.

Altogether their big day cost just over £9,000, most of which was for the venue hire and food, and is less than half the £20,500 couples typically spend on getting married.

And Marrianne managed to recoup some of the costs by selling her handmade sweet stall to another bride, along with half the bunting, which cost just £100 to make.

She received so many compliments that she decided to write My Handmade Wedding a step-by-step crafters’ guide to saying “I do”.

Marrianne, who works for the publisher Search Press, said: “David and I had been to quite a few weddings that were rather large and overwhelming. We wanted something smaller and more personal which gave me the idea to make everything myself.

“We publish craft books at work so I took a lot of inspiration from them and the internet proved invaluable.

“I would just Google everything I needed and was able to buy the materials cheaply online.

“It was quite daunting at first but once I had mastered different techniques, it gradually got easier. The worst moment was when I went to put the wedding cake in the oven and the tin nearly didn’t fit.

“I was lucky to have a very tolerant fiancé and lots of help.”

Marrianne’s mother Linda, a former textiles teacher, helped her to make the bunting while her father John took a hammer to some old baked bean tins to make the lanterns.

Her mother-in-law Alison Miall helped to make 100 candles as wedding favours for their 96 guests.

Friends helped make paper pom poms to decorate St Mary’s Church in the Kent village of Leigh and the nearby village hall where they held the reception.

The only things Marrianne didn’t make were the wedding outfits her dress was a gift from her parents and the couple’s wedding car, a 1960 white Chevrolet Bel Air.

“It did take up my evenings, lunch breaks and weekends but it was well worth it,” she said.

“It gave me an amazing sense of achievement and satisfaction, knowing I had made so much and that it had cost so little.”

Source: express.co.uk

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Portia Arthur