I t goes without saying that Indian weddings are an expensive affair. Couples are increasingly looking beyond spending mindlessly, and opting for a more intimate affair that reflects their personality better. While you can get a wedding planner to do it all for you, it has become common practise among brides and grooms to scan boards on online media sharing sites such as Pinterest and YouTube for ideas on how to make their wedding more unique. Do-It-Yourself wedding preparations make weddings memorable, reduce costs by significant amounts, and can be a great way of engaging guests in some pre-wedding fun.

DIY décor

Wedding décor often ends up taking up 10-30 per cent of your entire budget, but hiring the most opulent set decorators won’t guarantee you a fairytale wedding. It is possible to understand and be creative about your venue with relatively inexpensive options to get a similar awe-inspiring effect. Shiva Sharma, who organised her wedding at Fireflies Ashram, Bengaluru in April 2016, got her friends to decorate the entire place with orange garlands and had the wedding mandap underneath a big banyan tree at the venue. The bright flowers combined with the beauty of the big, leafy ashram had the place looking gorgeous with very little effort. Media professional Karuna Ezara threw her wedding bash at the lawn of her home and decorated it with colourful bunting sourced from an NGO she is associated with.

Themes and colours

While you may need professionals to take over bigger events in your wedding itinerary, there is no reason why your friends and family cannot pitch in and help out in organising smaller events such as a mehndi, a wedding shower or a pre-wedding bash. Popular ideas this season include organising a pre-wedding party around the couples’ favourite television show or activity. For instance, you could have a Stranger Things wedding shower, or a Star Wars -themedwedding. Organising a picnic around the mehndi or bachelorette function is a great idea. Colour-coordinating your wedding to give it more character is another way of standing out. White receptions are gaining popularity, as are fresh colours such as teal and turquoise for smaller functions.

Innovative food decoration can also make a wedding memorable. Centrepieces can be designed and sourced beforehand; ideas abound on pinterest. Don’t depend on the wedding decorator to come up with ideas, do a recce online before speaking with the decorator. Utilising edible cutlery and eco-friendly plates, and going back to old-school traditions are trends that are catching on. Sharma, whose wedding was themed around nature, had food served on banana leaves, and minimal plastic was used for the occasion.

Online inspriration

Whether you’ve got the chiselled look down pat, or cannot wing your eyeliner to save your life, there will always be arguments in favour of picking up some skills before your wedding. There are several make-up bloggers who will give you handy tips on strobing and contouring, as well as other must-haves for your make-up kit and skincare essentials that don’t burn a hole in your pocket. Handmade flower jewellery is also gaining popularity for smaller events leading up to the event.

Hashtag your wedding!

Create a hashtag, and get all your relatives and friends to post on Facebook and Instagram with it. Candid photography will surely be taken care of - all you need are people with good phones and an eye for capturing detail.

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