Wedding plan!! help!!

[stephlw25]

Ok this will sound really daft but i am clueless when it comes to planning a wedding!!!

Me and OH are getting married next year (hopefully febuary!) but i just dont know where to start and when exactly should i start planning and organising everything??!!! is it too soon yet to be thinking of it???

Also we are kind of on a low budget, as this is the case OH's parents said that we will probley have to get married in a registery office as that would be cheaper??!! i am not totally against this however did anyone else have a church wedding etc on a low budget?? and is it possible?? people keep telling me that i have no idea how expensive a wedding is??!!! see im stressing about it already!!!!

Im not fussed about a sit down meal and therfore would like to get married in the afternoon and just have a buffet at the reception!!

There just seems to be so much to think about and organise!!! just wish i was rich so i could have a wedding planner and let her do all the work!!!

Someone help me please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol


Steph

 

[Tara & Liam]

hi steph

we got married in April 04. We had a registry office do and then back to sil's for a buffet. we hired a bouncy castle for the kids. and we had a great time. we would of loved to have a big expensive do, but we did what we could on the money that we had, and do you know what, it was still one of the best days of my life.

we just wanted to be married and we had a lot of fun that day.
xx

 

[michelle82]

I get Married on the 26 May 2007 and already have the venue(we're having a civil ceremony) reception is at the same place. The cake, chocolate fountain!! yum yum, flowers, disco, photographer etc booked.

If your on a budget start looking for people and places now as you'll get more of a choice and be able to get what you want for the right price. I mean you'll be amazed at the price differences in things.Like our disco is just over £250 but we had a quote for £175 and another for over £400!! Same with a lot of things they all really have a variety of prices. Our wedding cake is 3 tiers, but we are having a 4th dummy tier which is free as we are getting the choccie fountain from the same place. The cake is about £300 but if you want sugar flowers on it, then its at least £75 extra! for some flowers that get taken off and prob thrown away.

I would suggest using the internet and really shopping around. I would think though that either a civil or church wedding would be on the same price line you would need to speak to the local church and registrar to find out for definate. I know a few people that got married late afternoon then started with the reception straight away so that they didnt have a sit down meal.

Happy wedding planning!

 

[Lucy]

Hi Steph

I do think you can have a church wedding on a budget, from memory (we got married in 2000)we were asked to give a donation to the church - this might've been a wee bit more than the standard charge of a registry office I don't think it's a figure that would make it out of the question? I could be out of date though.

I would write down how you want the day to go and then start finding the suppliers of each of the things on your list and contact them for quotes and availability - Feb 07 seems like ages away but by starting your planning early will ease the pressure on you and you will have the pick of all the things you want rather than just whoever can fit you in, plus you'll have more time to find a good deal. It also gives you lots of time if you wanted to make stuff yourself, we made our own order of service and invitations as it saved us a fortune (materials from http://www.craftcreations.co.uk

I bought the odd wedding magazine when I was planning our wedding and it usually had a breakdown of things that you might want for your day which helped me compile a list of things I wanted to find out the cost of etc.

My sister is getting married a week on Saturday and has kept hers to a low budget, she is have a buffet instead of a 3 course silver served "wedding breakfast" and her cake will be the dessert. They are buying in the wine from oddbins although they did think about a booze cruise to France but ran out of time.

Just to get you started things to think about are:
Rings
Outfits (including make up, hairdresser, shoes, underwear etc)
Flowers (bouquet, buttonholes, decorations)
Venue
Meal
Booze
Cake
Photographer
DJ/Disco/Entertainment
Cars/transport
Invitations/Stationery
Honeymoon

I've heard that getting married on a Friday is cheaper than a saturday as the suppliers are in less demand but I'm not sure how true that is.

My sister used http://www.confetti.co.uk to help her plan her day.

I'm a firm believer that you should do and have what makes you both happy - there's no set rules saying you have to have an old Jaguar taking you to the venue (my sister is using a taxi firm) so whatever budget you have you will have a magical day.

Sorry for the long reply! Hope it helps

Lucy
34 + 5

 

[stephlw25]

Thank you soooooo much for the replies has helped me a lot!!!!

Lucy you are now my offical wedding planner!!! ha ha only joking!! thanks for the info and link, really helped!

Michelle cant believe the £75 extra for the sugar flowers!!! how mad is that!!

Davina sounds like you had such a great day and i totally believe you when you say the bouncy castle was just for the kids!!!!!

 

[Hypnorm]

i got married in 2004 and it cost just over 1500 for the whole thing - i got married in church and had one bridesmaid.
I didn't have the bells as they cost extra
i got my wedding dress from oxfam! £25.
only had a reception - no evening disco pub did decorations and cake as a package.
bridesmaid had her own dress which fitted in perfectly.
Husband hired a kilt - no idea how much?
We printed our own invites and kept our recpetion list to a real close friend and family - and said the wedding everyone was welcome.
so you can do it cheap - a friend of mine just spent £15000 on her wedding - sorry but think that is such a waste .

good luck

 

[Urchin]

BHS have an excellent wedding wear collection.

I got married in a Registry office, by a woman who read the loveliest romantic poem, I wouldn't have wanted a church wedding anyway!

We just had the wedding, then a meal in a hotel function room for about 40 people, then went to the hotel bar for drinks/party.

So many people said to me after how lovely and relaxed it all was...best wedding EVER!

By the way, it was planned in 2 weeks as I was pregnant and had only just got back in the country after a year abroad. Plan it now if you want but if you go low-key there's no need to decide everything right away.

 

[stephlw25]

i a friend of mine just spent £15000 on her wedding

wow that is one expensive wedding!!!!

 

[nicki]

Hi Steph,

Our Yellow Pages has a page in it with a list of everything you need for a wedding, I guess they all do?! if that helps.

We got married In Aug '04, engaged March '03 and started looking for venues straight away. Hotels will often ask you pruchase rooms along with the main reception room so can get expensive. We were lucky that the hotel we had our in is part of a golf club too so they didn';t charge extra. My mum also haggled on the price ( it was quite a small hotel, only had about 10/15 bedrooms, I expect larger hotels wouldn't budge on the price but its def. worth asking)

We also got married on a Friday coz things are cheaper & they are even cheaper on Thursdays!

Basically we shopped around (I say we, I mean I!!!! ) and loads of quotes off people b4 I booked anything. Our photographer was retired so was alot cheaper than other companies and our videographer was quite cheap as it's his second job.

I also made alot of things - table decorations, place names, favours etc. You can cut alot of corners if you want to, I guess it all depends on what you like and want.

If you want to PM me about anything I'd be glad to help if I can.

Nicki.x

 

[Minxy]

I was planning my wedding for september (which is on hold now because of unplanned bump!) but found the chat forum on Confetti.co.uk invaluable. Similar support to this really, all the brides to be are really helpful and have top tips to save money. HTH Zoe xxx

 

[stephlw25]

Thanks for all your help, nikki i will have a browse through the yellow pages later! lol

littleminx thank you for that website, i will check that out very soon!! sounds very helpful!

thanks again ladies your all so great!!!!! lol

 

[Imi-Maddie's-Mum]

Hi there,

Well here goes... I can't get married to my partner as i am still married (Ex hubby a pratt n won't sign papers!!)

I got engaged on xmas day 2005, got my ring new years eve, and because we are military we decided today we are going to get blessed... on sunday!!!

Im getting blessed in church for a small donation... so you could always marry registar officce and bless in church??
Printing my own invatations on computer and got an evening gown in a sale and getting it altered for £6 cypriot pounds (about £8 English)

A friend is doing the photography and were just having drinks in the mess, i found that a friend of a friend always pops up and helps out!!
(A friend of mine, her friend is doing my hair!!!)

Planning ahead is always a good idea, it gives you time to shop around!!

The link www.Brides.com is good, it lists everything !!!

Here's a few more :

www.WeddingPlans.com
www.Weddings.co.uk
www.WeddingDay.co.uk
www.wedding-service.co.uk/invitiations.htm

Hope it all helps ... take care,

Imogen
xxx

 

[petchy]

OK a few ideas for a budget wedding:

1. FOOD
have you and your OH been living together for a while already? if so you probably won't need yet another toaster and all the other standard wedding gifts as you are probably likely to have most things already. so why not tell the guests that instead of a wedding present you would like them to bring a bottle of wine and some food for a buffet (can plan in advance who brings what as well) - my friend always said she'd do this for her wedding if they ever get married and i think it is a wonderful idea! and a wedding cake doesn't have to be bought - maybe you have a member of your family who is a whiz in the kitchen? a standard fruit cake is pretty simple to do (see internet for recipes) and decorating it with some icing and fresh flowers would be pretty and inexpensive. you could also make your own table decorations with matching flowers (it is not as hard as it sounds!)

2. DRESS/MAKE-UP/HAIR
there's always (as someone else suggested) the option of buying second hand or from a charity shop. or you could get a nice cream or white plain(ish) evening dress from the high street and if you're at all crafty or know someone who is you can buy some beads, ribbons, lace and/or other pretty things to customise it with, or embroider on it... the sky is the limit! put some fresh flowers in your hair (who needs a tiara), matched to your wedding bouquet and the flowers on the cake/tables. Maybe you know someone who is great at applying make up that can help you with that on the day?

3. INVITES
make them yourself with some pretty handmade paper for example. there's loads of inexpensive pretty card making supplies around these days! (ok can't resist a sales pitch here... i'm a graphic designer and illustrator and if you need some designing to print off at home on nice paper from your home printer let me know! cheeky me, sorry!!!)

just a few ideas there, i'm sure us ladies on the forum can come up with many more between us!!

 

[stephlw25]

Imogen thanks for the links, they look very helpful and will browse through properly tomorrow!

Petchy, yes we have been living together 2 years in july so like you said we dont really need the typical wedding gifts of a toaster, kettle etc etc. Really good idea about the guests bringing the food etc! and yes very good sales pitch !! will keep you mind!!

Thanks for helping me out ladies even though its not pregnancy/baby related in the slightest!!! lol

 

awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww what a romantic topic.... wish i had a wedding to plan DAN!!!!!!!!!!

maybe one day........

any ways. i so dont want the normal type of wedding, i want mine done out side in the forest, and have reception party in a close by log cabin. if i will get a wedding like that, who knows, but i want a fairytale wedding for sure.

sorry steph havent really helped lol

 

You want the same type of wedding as me then Elaine.

One question...how the heck would you book someone to marry you in a forest? Who would you ask?

 

[Skidoo]

I think what you'd have to do is go to a Registry office for the official bit and then you could have anyone you like do the ceremony in a forest. I was looking into this as I wanted to get married on Hampstead Heath. But we're going to have a baby and buy a house together instead ;o)

 

you can privately pay some one reg to do wedding to do it, same principle as getting married on a beach really. lots of people do that

 

you wud not catch me any where near a reg. office. forest or country 200 year old church or no where lmao

 

[stephlw25]

LOL elaine!!!!

Ill give Dan a few hints Elaine to get his arse in gear!!!!!
Hey does it happen to be your birthday soon??!!! ( ) maybe Dan will give you something like a nice diamond ring to wear on a certain finger???!!!!!!! lol

(Poor Dan weve scared the sh*t out of him now!!!! )