DIYing Your Wedding Day // Is it a good idea?

Now before you pass any judgment regarding the title, I am a big fan of DIY...with some exceptions. I am a firm believer in making your wedding day unique and making it "so you" and one of the best ways to do that, is to DIY.

As a wedding vendor myself, I am also a firm believer in hiring professionals. Not because I want to get bookings and get paid (although that is an added bonus), but because planning a wedding is stressful. And hiring a professional directly relieves that stress (if you've got good ones!).

So I am a firm believer in both. But there is a fine line between DIYing and hiring, so here is my rule of thumb.

Never DIY if...

...it is going to add stress to your life.

...you don't have enough hours in a day to complete it.

...it has to be put together (even if it's a quick set up) on the wedding day (unless you have a wedding coordinator who can and will set it up - friends and family ARE NOT included)

...it needs to be fresh or will spoil within a week.

D Park Photography

The week before your wedding and the wedding day are all about relaxation. The planning should be done (minus those last minute RSVP's that you'll never get away from) and you should be enjoying some time with your fiancé and with your ladies! And on your wedding day, your dad doesn't want to be running around in the hot sun, assembling your arch. Of course, he will do anything for his little girl, but let him enjoy the FULL day!

With that being said, I am going to give you some examples just in case you need them:

Never DIY if...

...the project involves flowers. Flowers means you need to put it together the day of the wedding or they will get droopy and sad. And no one likes a sad centerpiece.

...the project involves refrigerated items. You're not going to have 200 favors sitting in your fridge r a wedding cake that feed 250 for a month before the wedding because you need to eat too!

....the project doesn't fit in your car. Because that means, it will have to be assembled when you get there...on the wedding day.

But it will save me money, so it's so worth it!

Believe it or not, DIYing doesn't always save you money. Yes, it may seem that printing your invitations at home is less expensive, but have you seen the cost of printer ink and nice paper??? And the number of hours you may spend getting it just right add up too!

Time is money.

So if you are thinking about DIYing anything at all, add up the number of hours you'll spend, the cost associated with it, the stress it will add to your life and then you can make a sounds decision. Is this project really a great idea?

Inner Thighs of Steel

Written with love, by Nikki Lian

Although you may be feeling like you’re getting a full body workout working through your exercise routine, sometimes certain areas of our body can lag behind.  Unfortunately, one of these body parts happens to be the inner thighs.  If you’re having some what of a similar problem, here are a few exercises you can add to your leg routine that will pick up the pace of this stubborn area.

Reverse Jane Fondas

One of my older clients calls her side leg lifts “Jane Fondas” so the name stuck.  A modification of this basic exercise is what I call a Reverse Jane Fonda.  Lay on your side, and put your top leg over your bottom leg with your foot flat and knee bent (see below).  Instead of raising your top leg, you’re raising your straightened bottom leg, targeting your inner thighs.  You may have done this particular exercise in a recent pilates class.

Sumo Squats with Kettle Bell

You don’t’ necessarily need a kettle bell to do this exercise, but if you’d like to add a little weight to your workout you can (or you can use a dumbbell).  Like a plie squat, get into a wide stance.  With the kettle bell in your hand and your feet slightly turned out, go into a deep squat.  We don’t turn our feet out all the way on this one because we want our butt to get as low to the ground as possible.

Fire Hydrants

You can probably tell from the picture why we call these Fire Hydrants.  I like to add these in sequence with a lower-body floor exercise such as Butt Blasters and Jane Fondas.  Down on your mat on all fours and keeping your knee bent, lift your leg (as if you were a dog doing your business on a hydrant—sorry but it’s the best way to describe it)!!  Bring your knee back down to starting position.

Side Lunges

Side lunges are basically a stretch you are doing over and over again.  Take a big step out to the side, keeping your feet squared.  The leg that is planted keep straight, and the other leg bend until you feel a stretch in your inner thigh of the leg that is straight.  Once you feel the stretch, push back up with the foot that you stepped with into starting position.

I like to do each exercise on one leg first, and then switch to the other side.  I’d recommend 12-15 repetitions each set for three sets.  You should start feeling it after the workout and if you don’t feel it’s enough, add weight!!  Leg weights are great to use and are usually adjustable to your comfort level.

A special shout out to my client Beth, who actually likes working this body part out the best and is making tremendous progress!!

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All photos courtesy of Bleudog Fotography

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