Let’s start with an easy one!

I will preface this by saying; we have been engaged since 2023, and we agreed initially to not act on the engagement and spend sometime saving, but that didn’t stop me from forward planning!

With throwing rice no longer in favour and paper confetti often considered wasteful, I opted for the most eco-friendly, and lets face it-free option. Dried flower petals! As soon as things in my garden started to bloom, I was out collecting fallen petals and begging past-it bouquets from confused neighbours and friends.

After pulling all the petals off the stems, lay them out in a warm dry room to dry. This monopolised my dining table for a few weeks.

I opted for all colours, but you can colour co-ordinate it according to your theme colours as well. I recommend throwing in some dried lavender and maybe some jasmine flowers too to make it smell nice! One thing I learned though, is that white petals rarely stay white and often go a brownish yellow, especially rose petals. Flowers like bluebells and gypsopila (Baby’s Breath) dry brilliantly and are a good size for confetti.

If you’re on a tighter schedule than me, you can absolutely dry petals in the oven on a low heat (around 80°C (100°F) Make sure the fan assist isn’t on or they’ll all fly about!

Finally store them in an airtight container with a couple of sillica packets if you have them, to avoid moisture making them go mouldy.

Yankee Candle jars make great containers

Et voila! Free, biodegradable confetti. Stay tuned for a tutorial on what I plan to put it in…

This is us. Morag and Fran. We live in the southside of Glasgow and got engaged in 2023. As you can see we don’t take ourselves very seriously.

I’d pretty much resigned myself to the likelyhood that I’d never get married, but on receiving a surprise proposal from Fran on the rooftop of a Riad in Tangier, we’re now embarking on our first foray into wedding planning at 43 and 40.

As an artist and crafts-person, I always dreamed of having a super-crafty wedding, and as a couple of limited financial means, this is perfect. From the standpoint of not spending the next year completely overwhelmed with a multitude of projects, it’s not. Don’t be me.I have a bad habit of over-burdening myself with projects. I always feel like the outcome is worth it, but it’s a struggle.

Browsing through wedding websites and Pinterest, I came across lots and lots of cute ideas and services. But with the likelyhood that we will only be able to save around £5k before the wedding in May 2026, I started considering more and more how many of these ideas I could make myself.

So here I am, your guide to thrifting and DIY-ing your own wedding! I’ll be periodically updating with ideas, advice and tutorials on on wedding craft projects to help you achieve your wedding goals on a budget!