DIY

Do your own wedding makeup! Or go makeup-free. Photo by Amanda Summerlin.

We’re all about wedding hacks this month on Glö, and today we’ve rounded up a list of our favorite ones, from all across the internet and our own experience in wedding land. From food to tech to some really simple ones to keep you comfortable in your own skin (and shoes), we’ve got all the wedding hacks you could ever need for saving time, money, and stress at your wedding.

1. Wedding Cake Hack from A Practical Wedding: This one is pure genius. It’s pretty much common knowledge that you can use sheet cakes in place of a fancy tiered cake to save major money on your cake, but here’s a way to turn even the plainest grocery store cake into something chic, cute, and totally on point using a few flowers and some ribbon.

2. Self-catering, Potluck, and Other Wedding Food Hacks: Speaking of food hacks, Bon Appétit has this handy guide for partially self-catering your cocktail hour by prepping good cheeses, meats, and dips ahead of time. This is a great way to ensure your appetizers are high on quality but not high on cost, which is pretty much the dream, right? A Practical Wedding also has this great guide to having a potluck wedding that is stylish and delicious, and deciding if a potluck is right for you. Genius. And if you are really ready to take the plunge on hacking your wedding food, consider Offbeat Bride’s complete guide to self-catering. Not for the faint of heart.

Rent this $1,200 dress by Marchesa from Rent the Runway for only $175.

3. Consider Renting a Dress: Grooms and their posses rent tuxes all the time, so why not rent a couture wedding dress? Rent the Runway has some truly amazing options at a fraction the cost of purchasing a major label wedding gown. There are also companies that offer rental services for bridesmaid dresses, like Union Station. Your ladies will thank you, because trust us, they won’t wear it again no matter what you do.

4. Break In Your Wedding Shoes: This might seem obvious but of course the best way to keep your feet comfortable is to wear shoes you’ve broken in. This goes for heels, of course, but also flats and men’s shoes. Weddings are long. Would you spend eight hours hiking in brand new boots? Exactly. You can also consider scuffing the soles of your shoes with sandpaper or even adding dance soles to prevent slipping. Solemates can prevent heels from sinking into grass, too.

5. DJ with an iPad or iPod: For some reason, rumor has gotten around that this hack will ruin your wedding. Glö staffer Dana did it for her wedding and had a positively raging dance party. It just takes some skill and a little planning (like, um, most things?). Here are her tips:

• Assign one person to the playlist, and ask them to act as MC for the reception.
• Make sure they are the only one that touches the iDevice, because you do not want anyone taking that over.
• Rent amplification, because no one will dance if they can’t hear the music.
• Be sure to set the music to crossfade for several seconds so there are no weird gaps or silence.
• Dim the lights. Duh.

And that’s really just about it. More questions? Offbeat Bride has an even more extensive guide, including tips on using Spotify.

6. Get Married in Your Own Backyard: Think you have to have a huge estate in the family to pull this wedding hack off? Think again. Houzz recently did a great slideshow (and call for submissions) of backyard weddings from their readers, and the results show that you can have a wedding in any backyard, anywhere. You’ll save so much money on a venue, you can even consider upgrading your yard a little for the wedding, and that’s actually an investment you can enjoy long after the guests have left. Don’t have a yard at all? Consider public parks or generous friends’ spaces.

7. Bring Dryer Sheets: Seriously, these can take care of so many wedding emergencies. They eliminate static, get rid of armpit stains, or even use them as a quick replacement for a lint roller. All You has even more unexpected uses for them, including polishing chrome. Okay, maybe that one’s not for your wedding, but still: who knew?

8. Beautiful, Makeup-Free Skin from A Practical Wedding: Brides, do not let anyone convince you that you must wear makeup at your wedding. And of course you can just do your own! The point is to look like yourself, and if that means a fresh face, than why do anything else? If you want to go makeup free for your wedding, or go the DIY route, consider following these tips from A Practical Wedding to keep you skin as fresh and beautiful as possible.

Try a hip custom stamp to put on All The Wedding Things from Hoot Owl Press on Etsy.

9. Have a Custom Logo Made Into a Stamp: This is another one that Real Glöbies and Glö staff have rocked at their weddings. Have an Etsy vendor design and make one for you, or a local graphic designer can design you a simple wedding “logo” and then have it made into a rubber stamp (this can be done online or at office supply stores for under twenty bucks). Then use that stamp on all your wedding paper goods, including programs, menus, welcome bags, you name it. High impact visual cohesion for almost nothing? Yes please.

10. Our Favorite? Use Glö: Okay, this is maybe a bit of a cheat but seriously, using Glosite.com for your wedding website, invitations, and guest management is the best wedding hack out there. You will save hundreds on paper invitations and postage, plus you can custom design you wedding invitations (or glövites, as we call them). Hosting multiple events but not everyone is invited to every single one? You can invite certain guests to only certain events, and manage all your RSVPs in one place. Want to see exactly how useful that can be? Check out this Real Glöbie destination wedding with events in Nigeria and Maryland, with multiple events and great organization. Plus, with our latest API feature, Glö’s features are available on other websites. So sign up for a free 21-day trial now, and get Glöwing!

Have a favorite wedding hack? Or maybe you tried one of these? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook!