DIY bride spent just £3,600 on her wedding day by making own dress and desserts

A money-savvy bride spent just £3662 on her big day by making her own dress, decor and desserts.

Victoria Croker, 31, saved thousands by crocheting her dress by hand, baking a variety of dessert meringues as well as creating her own centrepieces.

The tattoo parlour general manager learned to crochet from her mum Laura Figlioa, 57, and her hobby helped save her thousands for her wedding day.

Victoria, from New York, also used the leftover material to make a pair of sandals for herself and her husband's tie.

Victoria said: “It was always my dream to create my own wedding dress, I got to make it to my own specifications, and it was super comfortable.

Victoria with mum Laura, who taught her how to crochet, and husband Travis at their wedding (Mercury Press & Media Ltd.)

"I was inspired by a few different crochet artists but I made the dress entirely by hand, I didn’t have a pattern for it.

“With the off-cuts left over from the yarn, I managed to make myself some barefoot sandals for the day, my husband’s tie and pocket square.

"I also upcycled an old umbrella I had and got some yarn for that at a thrift store.”

Victoria also crafted these centrepieces for her wedding from materials she bought from US craft shop Michaels and the Dollar Store (Mercury Press & Media Ltd.)

Victoria was quoted more than £1500 for flowers and catering, and with dress prices in New York averaging out at thousands of pounds, she decided to put her skills to the test to slash the overall costs.

In total, Victoria spent 220 hours and just under £260 on speciality hand-dyed yarn creating her dress.

To keep her dress hidden from her husband Travis, 27, she created the dress at work.

All 65 wedding guests were impressed with Victoria's DIY dress.

She said: “My husband said that I looked like a princess, whilst others said that I looked like the Disney Princess Belle throughout the day.”

Victoria also created her own centrepieces with plastic flowers from US craft shop Michaels and bells from the Dollar Store.

Victoria and Travis had a beautiful wedding for a fraction of the cost (Mercury Press & Media Ltd.)

She was initially quoted £360 for desserts and decided to save even more by spending eight hours creating 200 meringues in a variety of flavours.

Victoria only spent £30 - giving her a massive 90 per cent saving.

She added: "I'd say that I absolutely saved money on my wedding, especially with the dress, as in New York they tend to costs thousands."