What to DIY vs Buy for a Wedding: An Honest List With Real Prices

DIY the things that are cheap to make but sold at a "wedding" markup: centerpieces, a welcome sign, favors and a supermarket cake you dress up yourself. Buy anything that already comes in cheap multipacks, like table runners, petal cones, plain chalkboards and plastic hanging lanterns, and pay a professional for photos and food.

That split matters because the totals are big. The average US wedding cost about $33,000 in 2024, with the photographer at around $2,900 and catering at about $80 a plate (Fox Business, citing The Knot 2025 Real Weddings Study). Zola puts the 2026 average at $36,000 and found that 48% of couples raised their budget or moved money around for something they saw online (Zola First Look Report). Knowing what to make and what to just buy is one of the easiest ways to stop that creep.

The three-question rule

Before you buy a single glue stick, ask:

1. Is the ready-made version priced as a wedding item? A "welcome sign" or "wedding cake" costs far more than the same materials. A plain runner or a pack of lanterns does not.
2. How many do you need? One sign is an evening. A hundred of anything is a weekend.
3. Can you make it early? Anything that keeps for a month takes pressure off the last few weeks. Anything fresh lands right when you have the least time.

If the answer is "wedding markup, a few pieces, can be made early", make it. If it is "cheap multipack, a hundred pieces, last minute", buy it.

DIY vs buy at a glance

These numbers come from the cost boxes in our guides: our US material cost per piece, the price of a ready-made version we found, and the hands-on time for a 100-guest wedding (13 tables). Prices were checked in October 2026. For the savings per hour on 15 projects, see our ranking of which DIY decor is worth it.

Item	DIY cost	Ready-made	Time for 100 guests	Verdict
Floating candle centerpiece	$11.59 a table	$58.99	3.3 hours	DIY
Grocery store flower arrangement	$16.37 a table	$49.99	3.2 hours	DIY
Mirror welcome sign	$40.93	$281.61	2 hours	DIY
Seed packet favor	$0.12 each	$2.39	3.3 hours	DIY
Dressed-up supermarket cake	$40.44 per 25 servings	$150	3 hours	DIY
String light canopy	$161.30	$1,100 venue package	3 hours	DIY if the venue allows
Chalkboard sign	$17.40	$29.99	1.5 hours plus curing	Buy
Shepherd hook with jar	$10.96 a hook	$14.83	3.3 hours	Buy if plain
Cheesecloth runner	$2.95	$6.99 single, less in packs	3.3 hours	Buy
Petal toss cone	$0.37 each	$0.50	5 hours	Buy

Worth making yourself

The best DIY projects share one trait: the finished thing sells at a price that has little to do with what it is made of.

Centerpieces. This is where DIY pays off fastest, because you repeat a simple design across every table. Floating candle centerpieces cost about $11.59 a table against $58.99 for a boxed set, which is roughly $616 saved over 13 tables for an afternoon of work. If you prefer real blooms, grocery store flowers arranged in your own vases come to about $16.37 a table versus $49.99 from a florist.

One-off signs. A mirror welcome sign is the clearest win on our whole list. About $41 in materials against $281.61 for a custom one, and you only make one. The same logic applies to a seating chart on a mirror: about $87 to make, $322 to buy.

Favors and paper. Small things for every guest look like a mountain of work, but each one takes a couple of minutes. Seed packet favors cost about 12 cents each against $2.39 ready-made, so 100 guests save you over $220. Batch them in front of the TV a month or two out and they are done.

The cake and the lights. Two bigger items surprise people. A plain supermarket sheet cake you dress up yourself costs about $40 per 25 servings, compared with about $150 for the same servings from a bakery. And a string light canopy runs about $161 in lights and hardware, while the venue lighting package we priced was $1,100. Check your venue's rules on hanging things before you order.

When DIY is not worth it

This is the part most DIY lists skip. Some projects save you a few dollars for hours of work, and a few cost more than just buying the thing.

Chalkboard signs. In the US, a homemade chalkboard saves about $12.59 over a ready-made wood-framed board, for an hour and a half of work plus several days of waiting while the paint cures. When we priced it in the UK, the DIY materials came to £23.18 while a framed chalkboard at B&Q was £10.99. If you want a chalkboard, buy a plain one and put your energy into the lettering. Our chalkboard sign guide is still worth it if you want a specific frame size or already own the paint.

Aisle hooks with jars. Our shepherd hook aisle markers save under $4 a hook against a set with glass jars. Cheap kits of plastic hanging lanterns sold in multipacks beat the DIY price outright. If you want real glass and fresh flowers, make them. If you just want something along the aisle, buy the kit.

Anything sold in multipacks. Cheesecloth table runners save about $4 each against a single runner, but plain runners in multipacks cost less than cutting your own. Fairy light jars save under $2 a jar against a 12-pack of ready-made lanterns.

Petal cones. Petal toss cones save about 13 cents each. Rolling and filling 100 of them takes around five hours. That is a lot of evenings for $13.

Lawn games. Plain cornhole sets sell for about $100 to $140, about the same as or less than our homemade boards cost in materials. Generic giant tumbling tower sets go for around $38 to $57, close to or below what the lumber costs. Make them only if you want them personalized or as a keepsake.

Hire it out

Photos and food are where DIY goes wrong in ways you cannot fix later. A friend with a good camera is lovely, but they are also a guest, and nobody gets a second try at your first kiss. Catering for 100 people means cooking, keeping food at safe temperatures, serving and clearing, often in a venue kitchen you have never seen.

If $2,900 for a photographer or $80 a plate is out of reach, cut hours and courses instead of doing it yourselves. Book a photographer for the ceremony and portraits only, or serve a buffet or a family-style meal. The money you save on centerpieces and signs is exactly what helps pay for these.

The costs that don't show up on a receipt

Even a good DIY project has costs our tables leave out:

• Tools. A glue gun, a printer and ink, a cutter. If you have to buy a $25 tool for one project, take it off the saving.
• Your first piece. Plan to make one practice piece and waste a little material on it.
• Storage. Thirteen centerpieces and 100 favors need boxes and a dry corner for weeks.
• The day itself. Someone has to set everything out and pack it up again at the end of the night. Give that job to a named friend, not "the family".

How to decide, project by project

Pick two or three projects that save real money and that you will enjoy, and buy everything else without guilt. A good mix for most couples is one centerpiece idea, one sign and one favor, made well ahead. That covers the biggest savings and keeps the last month free for the things only you can do, like seating plans, final payments and actually enjoying being engaged.