Help me get married on a budget..

[Krystal]

I really want to start planning my wedding. So far finances haven't allowed for it, feeling the pinch same as everyone else I guess.

Anyway I always had in mind that we would spend £15,000 approx. Now my choice is to spend that amount on a Wedding but probably spend the next 5 years saving for it or I can cut down my budget and get married next year (or2)

So i've decided... I need to cut back my budget.

I'm not sure how though but I want to get married more than I want a castle to be married in

If you don't mind me asking personal questions;

How much did your wedding cost overall (excluding honeymoon)

If you managed to budget, how did you budget? What were the things you saved most on?

Do you think having a buffet rather than a sit down meal is a good idea?(daytime)

Is £5,000 a reasonable amount or am I living in the clouds? I don't mind budgeting but I still want to have an enjoyable day and for my guests to enjoy it aswell.

How did you cut down guest lists? I am really struggling with this one Me and OH did a list and in total we had 96 adults and 36 children And that was it cut down, we both come from big families so it's difficult to get it smaller than that

 

[*Star*]

well we are going to do it on a massive budget. will be no where near 5k!!

we were pricing things up last night, two rings we really like from argos will about just over 100pound.
were having the church service in the afternoon, then going straight to the reception where were having a buffet instead of a wedding breakfast. then we will open the reception up at about 8pm for an open invitation for the evening do, but with no food.

were inviting about 70 people (including maybe a dozen children) for the ceremony and buffet. we'll do the toast (if we do it) and speeches and cake then.

were going to paris for a few days as a honey moon, will cost about 500 for train fares and hotel, plus what we spend on sightseeing and food.

there's more we need to look into it, and see if we realistically can do it this year, or maybe see if they will hold our deposit and book in for next year instead.

 

[Jade&Evie]

I think £5k is a lot of money for a day!

Maybe instead of a big buffet everyone could make a dish and bring it to the reception instead of a gift? (people will probably get gifts too )

Don't put a tab on the bar- it's your special day but why should you pay for everyone to get blotto?

Why not just have immediate family at the 'wedding' and then invite everyone to the main do- my cousin did that and noone felt left out because she got married the week before in a tiny (but amzingly beautiful!) ceremony and the reception was a week later- they had the wedding photos on a big wall behind the cake so everyone could see them.

 

[Suzie and Faith]

We spent £1500 including my dress... and I had a perfect day... what do you need to know... lol

 

[muppetmummy]

I'd be interested to know this too. Our budget it £3k which for a wedding isn't really much at all. We're getting married in a hotel and having a sit down meal. Most of the budget gets eaten up with that as it about £31 a head and we're expecting about 50! Its also about £350 for the registrar and £155 to hold the ceremony at the hotel.

We're not bothering with things like photographers, wedding cars, flowers (planning to get a silk flower bouquet and helium balloons on ebay).

My current headache is my dress, back in july I bought a georgous ex shop sample mon cheri wedding dress in gown size 14 (probably 10/12 in normal size) thinking i'd have loads of time to lose weight.

Fast forward a few months and I'm only 7lb lighter and will probably need a size 20 gown!!! (size 16ish). I'm now panicking about finding a dress cheap enough, I can probably afford £200 for the dress max including alterations and dry cleaning.....whch when you're looking at around £400 in a wedding shop for just a dress is a really small budget.

We were orginally gonna have a registry office do with a trip to the pub afterwards, but OHs parents wanted us to have a big wedding so are giving us £2000. Part of me wishes we'd stuck with the cheap option because now I've built up this big white thing in my head (ie, having my heart set on a proper wedding dress) but its looking unlikely we can afford it.

Weddings are stressful!

 

[Jen_N]

we spent somewhere around the £15k mark, but to be honest we never added it all up - our parents paid for most things which was incredibly generous of them and we feel very very lucky that they did.

you can definately do it on a budget - ebay is excellent for decorative items. a buffet is a good idea, people never eat as much as you think they will, and you can serve up your cake for dessert.
if you get married later in the day you'll have less time to fill with entertainment and food too
call in favours from friends - you can often find someone that has a nice car/good at hair/make-up etc
i would advise not scrimping on photography - all very well having a friend do it, and I know plenty of people who have and it's been fine, but theres always the chance it could go disastrously wrong and you are left with no decent photos (i am a bit obsessed with photos!)
making your own stationary is easy and cost effective

 

[Hazel]

In 2004 ours was about £4000. Our main savings were:
Registry office was cheaper.
No sit down meal just a big buffet with cooked foods like chilli and baked potatoes.
Cheaper wedding dress done up with more accessories.

We spent £1000 of that on photographer from Kodak thinking they would be the best and he was a real let down . If I did it again I would get a cheaper photographer and LOADS of disposable cameras.

Also I would get a dress off ebay and get it altered. I've never looked at my dress again since getting married and it's just taking up space in the wardrobe now.

 

[muppetmummy]

I forgot to say...we're getting married at 3pm so we will have the sit down meal at around 6pm, saves paying for a seperate buffet. We're also not paying for a band or DJ, we'll just play CD's after the meal and later on serve wedding cake.

 

[Hazel]

My MIL made our wedding cake which saved us a few quid . You can get wedding cakes from marks and sparks, hire a cake stand and get the decorations like silk flowers and the little bride and groom for the top off ebay.

I sooooo wish I had internet when we got married and had used ebay more as I reckon we could have saved loads of money that way.

 

[Suzie and Faith]

We made our own favours - we bought some organza (?) fabric from a fabric shop, used dinner plates as templates and made them into little bags - in each one we put 2 heart chocolates - which we bulk bought online. Ta daaaaa tied ith a teeny bit of ribbon

We bought these cheap flowers http://www.sarahsflowers.co.uk/loose-flowers-and-bunches/roses/cat_59.html about £4 a bunch and tied a chunky ribbon round it

 

[Krystal]

Thanks Star - I like the idea of getting married later in the day. We'd be doing the same in terms of a honeymoon. We're thinking a train across to Paris then an overnight sleeper to Barcelona as we both love the city ( I don't fly LOL) I definitely think rings is somewhere we can save, we don't need to be spending a fortune.

Jade; I actually like the idea of asking people to bring a dish, both mine and OH's family are full of middle aged women who love cooking and would be in their element running around organising that I'd love to have a tiny little wedding with just immediate family and then a do later on but OH wants all his family there which is understandable. However if he ain't going to supply me with lots of money he's got to give somewhere hasn't he. I might mention it to him. I definitely won't put a tab behind the bar, at my first wedding the bar took £37,000 from day to night My family quite obviously drink too much of the expensive stuff, they can buy their own

We spent £1500 including my dress... and I had a perfect day... what do you need to know... lol

Everything

Muppetmummy; Can you not get the dress let out a little hun? May cost with a proper seamstress but better than buying a new one altogether My OH's parents will definitely pay towards it, in fact when we were looking at £15k they mentioned giving us half... but tbh I don't like asking or relying on their money as kind as it was so I would rather plan with what we can afford and if they offer us anything it's a bonus

Jen; Thanks for that, My uncle has a beautiful big posh Jag and i'm sure he'd be happy to drive me in that, gonna put that on my list. Thanks I have already seen some stuff on the net for cheap DIY favours, I was thinking I can always get bits like that on a month by month basis building up to the wedding

Thanks Hazel, the photography is one thing I am struggling to come up with a way of saving money, I don't know anyone who does that and it's such a big chunk of it but like Jen said I may regret not having them done

Edit to add... you lovely ladies keep replying everytime I go to post so I am going to post this then read the others you have done in meantime

 

[Krystal]

My MIL made our wedding cake which saved us a few quid . You can get wedding cakes from marks and sparks, hire a cake stand and get the decorations like silk flowers and the little bride and groom for the top off ebay.

I sooooo wish I had internet when we got married and had used ebay more as I reckon we could have saved loads of money that way.

Yeah I like that idea for a wedding cake, one of my aunties loves baking so sure she would do me one or at leat decorate the M&S one to make it look beautiful

We made our own favours - we bought some organza (?) fabric from a fabric shop, used dinner plates as templates and made them into little bags - in each one we put 2 heart chocolates - which we bulk bought online. Ta daaaaa tied ith a teeny bit of ribbon

We bought these cheap flowers http://www.sarahsflowers.co.uk/loose-flowers-and-bunches/roses/cat_59.html about £4 a bunch and tied a chunky ribbon round it

Thanks for that link going to check it out, I think it's the little things I can save on cos that's what usually pushes budgets over, the things you don't really think about

Keep em coming! i'm so ecited, if I can do a proper budget with all these ideas i'm sure we'll be able to set the date soon

 

[beanie]

removed

 

[Bloom]

Im planning my wedding and im aiming for about 6k

You have to prioritise whats important to you.

Im getting married in a castle and its costing about 1k which i know is a lot and a big part of the budget but i fell in love with it. Im having a sit down meal and wine for about 80 and a buffet in the evening which is coming in at about 3k.

I have quite a big family too but have cut it down to close friends and family for the meal and then everybody to the evening do.

I got my dress in the jan sales.

Im not having wedding cars.

 

[niblet]

Our wedding cost just under £4000, and we had 100 guests and a sit down meal, two bands playing and a buffet thing in the evening, so we still got everything we wanted.

The things we did on the cheap were:

Rings were from ebay. We got lovely 18 carat gold second hand vintage rings for £70 each.

Wedding service was at a Register Office, but it was a really pretty one in a park. That cost a total of £105, including the fee to give notice and the fee for the wedding certificate. And they were really lovely and made it really special.

Wedding breakfast and evening reception/buffet at a Freemason's Lodge instead of a hotel. This really was totally ace, and the best money saving thing we did. It might be worth looking at slightly unusual independent venues like this, it was so much cheaper. The food was really really good and they were willing to do anything we wanted. For example, the sit down meal was supposed to be four courses, with crackers and biscuits, but instead of having that with the meal, we asked them to bring it all out on platters in the evening, so the evening guests had something to nibble on. We made 150 fairy cakes the day before the wedding and had them out with the crackers and cheese and things, so it cost virtually nothing for the evening bit. We got some local cutesy bands to play in the evening for nothing, which went down really well, and we made cds up with all the songs we liked for the disco, then just let them play, with friends elbowing in if they wanted specific songs playing, which worked out really well. All in all the entire reception and evening do including three drinks for 100 guests came to £2000 and it really couldn't have been any nicer if we had spent £10000 at a posh hotel.

Another thing is not getting carried away with tiny little things like invitations. No one will remember them probably apart from you. We got outs from WH Smith for about £4 for ten. We went to Hobbycraft for the table decorations and had helium balloons instead of flowers on the table. We bought a disposable helium dispenser thing for £30 and it worked out loads cheaper than decorating the room with flowers, and you can put your bouquet and your bridesmaids bouquets on the top table to make it look pretty.

You can definitely have the perfect wedding for £5000. Hee! Have fun!

 

[Suzie and Faith]

Can you find someone studying photography near to you who is after the experience and therefore wouldn't charge as much? We just got family and friends to do ours and we got some good ones

I made all the invitations, the order of services, the table decorations etc etc.

Ooh and we did ours in 9 weeks from start to finish!

I did get my nails done the day before but my SIL did my hair and I did my own make-up.

My dress was on a sale rail - RRP £900 I got it for £325 I hired the 'hoop' underneath for £10 from the bridal shop I got my dress from. My shoes were white flats that cost me £5

My MIL made all 6 of the bridesmaids dresses and my MIL and OH made the cake

We bought wine for the 'toast' but other than that guests paid for their own drinks.

Ushers bought their own suits/used their own - though MIL made waistcoats and ties
Matt's suit was from Matalan

Rings we got from argos (lol) and we got them engraved (total about £100 for both). We will, one day, buy new wedding rings, if we can ever afford something posher but the white gold bands are all we need

I bought small token thank-you presents - my bridesmaids got necklaces but they were nothing fancy.

We had a buffet which was about £6.50 a head - something like that and there was more than enough food! We got married at 1pm and went straight to the reception and the food lasted all night - we just put a few extra bits out as it got later.

My brother is a DJ so that was the music sorted... lol.

Erm, i'll add anything else i think of

 

[Suzie and Faith]

oooh and Matt's eldest sister happens to be a vicar so his sister married us! Was lovely She looks like the vicar of Dibley and the service was so personal and lovely

 

[Loola]

My wedding is costing about 5k. I have made my own invitations. Bought loads of stuff from ebay, I have vrey pretty but cheap centre pieces. It can be done - in my case it has to be done as I just dont have any more than 5k to spend (in fact I dont even have that but I do lots of overtime!) I had to buy the £1000 dress though!

Im getting married at 3pm too, so just an evening buffet for my guests. Im also having a student photography from the local college doing my pics for free! My friend (who is an ex cake maker) is making our cake for free! and a friend who is a graphic designer is doing a video of the day for us for free too, so we are very lucky!

 

[Krystal]

I am having the same headache. We are going to get married in a registary office, just me and OH (obviously), the girls, Pete's parents, my grandpa and sis and a few close friends (though this might change and we might cut it down more). Then I want me and OH to have a nice meal somewhere as I have heard too many brides say their day just flew by and they didn't get much of a chance to sit down and enjoy it. Then later on we will have a blessing by a Humanist registrar (I would love them to do the wedding but its not legally recognised), where we will invite everyone, and then I want a massive hog roast and party afterwards. That way I feel I get the best of both worlds, a quiet wedding and then a bigger do.

Thats sounds beautiful Beanie, ya know I absolutely love the idea of just me and OH go for a meal together, it sounds so romantic I would but don't think OH would be quite as willing, I think cos I have had the big white wedding and also because I don't have my Mam with me anymore I'd much prefer a tiny little do, in fact i'd rather go to a registry office and just announce we were married to everyone later but OH wants all his (large) family to be there and he wants the big wedding, I guess I have to respect that because I understand why he wants that


Niblet - thanks there are some really good ideas re the reception, tbh I know that is something I have to look into, I was originally wanting to get married in a castle not far from here and that was most of my budget so I haven't looked at alternatives but thats what I need to start doing I think A couple of people have mentioned the disco thing (just your own cd) and think thats a great idea too. Just a question though... how did you choose the local bands? Did you go and watch them fist in a club or something to see how good they were?


Aww Bloom.. i fell in love with my castle too I guess the only way I could possibly afford it though is byt cutting it down to a really really small day time like you did. Guess I need to speak to OH about how much we can cut back on people we invite

will answer rest in a sec, need to read them first Thank you all though, you've been really helpful

 

[Krystal]

oooh and Matt's eldest sister happens to be a vicar so his sister married us! Was lovely She looks like the vicar of Dibley and the service was so personal and lovely

Aww that is so nice You've give me some brill ideas, although i'm not very creative in terms of making things but some of my friends are and they'd be happy to helo me i'm sure


Loola; How did you get the local photography student to do your pictures? Did you know him already or did you go to the college?