You And The DIY Wedding
A wedding pro recently asked me:
Do you know anywhere I can advertise that doesn’t cater to DIY brides? I’m an invitation designer and feel that I’m losing market share to the DIY projects out there.
This is a great question and I’ll answer it here for everyone.
DIY is here to stay
Whether it’s in your favor or not, DIY is here to stay. Engaged couples are choosing to have more control over the details of their wedding. And, some times, this has very little to do with budget.
They want to be involved in the planning process and they want a very personal experience for their guests. Hence, the Do-It-Yourself phenomena. Couples will select a few (if not all, god forbid) of the wedding day details to do on their own. This may stem from any of the following:
- a hobby
- a desire to control
- a personal touch they desire
- budget constraints
DIY is here to stay. So, how do we work with it instead of against it? It’s a challenge of many segments in the wedding industry. The invite segment has been one that has been hit the hardest with the DIY trend.
DIY in the media
As a result of this trend, most magazines and blogs will have articles on DIY projects or DIY details at a real wedding. Media has to give the readership what it desires. And, because DIY is a part of a significant number of weddings these days, media would be foolish to not give readers what they want.
NOW – there is definitely a market of high-end luxury weddings that does not have any DIY. (However, keep in mind what I said earlier about DIY not being a budget consideration for some. Just because the wedding is high-end doesn’t mean that they will not have some DIY elements.) This is a specific niche and one that could be a good match for your business. You’ll have to examine whether your products and services cater to this luxury clientele in design, quality, styling, and pricing. And, then seek out the luxury publications.
Picking & choosing DIY projects
I think the thing to keep in mind is that even tho a site or magazine may feature (from time to time) something about DIY, not everyone is making their own invites. Style Me Pretty, for example, will feature a DIY wedding – but not all readers are making their own wedding invites. The couple may choose to make the table runners – but not the invites. (Others may opt to make the invites, but not the runners. It’s a mix.) A site like Oh So Beautiful Paper features beautiful wedding invites. Its readers are a mix of people looking to make their own invites (and want inspiration) and other readers who want to buy invites. Most magazines and blogs are featuring a mix of DIY and non-DIY. (Obviously you wouldn’t want to advertise or be featured on a DIY-only site or magazine if you are an invite designer.)
My best recommendation is for you to find the magazines and sites that are suitable to your market and design style and focus on those – regardless of whether they feature a DIY project from time to time. Not everyone is looking to make their invites.
Educating potential clients
I think you have great points here, Michelle! We we first launched, we got a lot of the DIY crowd that was more driven by budget (nothing wrong with that, I was a budget-driven DIY bride!) but we’ve moved toward catering to couples who are DIY in that they are very creative and want parts of their personality to shine through. This has been an excellent fit because we connect on that creative level, but there is still a need for a professional videographer and they want things professionally documented with artistry… Perfect because videography is not an area to DIY!
This is such a great article Michelle. Thanks for including your advice and tips about sharing your process and how you education your clients. Wonderful information!
Great topic, as usual.
While I have no love for the DIY push in a lot of the wedding magazines, I often get calls from couples looking for rescue from a DIY invitation project gone bad. Once they’re elbow deep in assembly issues and bad paper cuts, it’s time to hand off to a pro. I’ll happily take the work.