~~~*Wedding Thread*~~~

[suzie1011]

i'm so tempted too. i keep having the problem of trying to please people and knowing that i shouldnt have to.

i have worked everything out, and we have already gone over our budget! im gutted. i cant seem to manage to pay the minimum price. anyone got anymore budgting tips? im stuck. im already doing the cake, flowers, favours, stationary (including invites) and decorations myself. anywhere else i can save money? our biggest spend is the catering because we cant find any venue that will let us do our own and the outfits. the groom, best man and usher are wearing kilts and it really expensive the bridesmaid dresses are costing quite alot too

 

[mum2A&L]

do you know people with contacts?

My dad is on the committee at his bowls club, so we are hiring their hall. Its not as big as other halls, or even your typical wedding reception location, but its cheap! He recons we should get a good deal on the food - and the person who is going to do it may even be able to do decorations at a bargain price as well.

the wedding its self is going to be small and intimate. Its at the registry office, and is going to be my 4, our parents and brothers and sisters (15 in total, but that includes two carers for Adams dad who need to be there). We are going for a meal afterwards and Adams old boss is very good friends with someone who owns a very classy restaurant near us and we are seeing if we can get a good deal on that. If not, im willing to show restaurants other restaurants quotes to see if they will better it (at the moment im haggling for a couple of free bottles of wine at the table if i pay 100% a few months in advance!!).


About the only thing im having problems locating is a DJ i don't know any dj's suitable for a wedding.


Ebay is great for bits and bobs. if you have the spare cash, buy as you go!!


our budget is £3000, but thats it we put a minimum amount in. ive got another grand for 'treats' if you catch my drift!

 

[suzie1011]

our budget is £3000 as well. but really i'd like to have that as my max. i dont really know anyone but i will try haggling. never done it before so im kinda nervous lol

 

[mum2A&L]

im saving money on my dress as im not having a full dress. ive been looking at bridesmaids dresses for me instead of brides . there is also a place near me that will custom make you a dress for under £100 - they are designed to be dresses for things like posh work do's, but im going to give them a ring and see if they have designs like what i want.


we have sat down and wrote 3 lists. things that are important to us and we have to have (for me its providing cars for the 15 people on the friday, i want to be able to do that), a list of things we would like but it isn't the end of the world if we don't have (favours for the kiddies that are comming), and a list of "wow, thats a great idea, but really not necessary" items (chocolate fountain!! ).

also we have split our budget in 4.

1 - getting married (reg office)!!! clothes, rings & left over towards cars = £1000
2 - wedding breakfast & drink & left over towards cars= £1000
3 - reception & cake= £1000
4 - any other extras that we don't 'need' = up to £1000 but it depends on how much spare cash we can save at the stat of next year.

if it is realistic or not we will see, but its changable. if we save somewhere we will send the money to another section, and this is VERY basic.

haggling is fun! be cheeky, you only plan to get married once and you never know what extras you could get with out trying.

 

[LilysMummy]

Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Just booked my room for the wedding night

My mum just said she wanted to buy my cake but Im making my own (cupcakes) so she said she would pay for a room for the night if we wanted. Here is the room Im staying in

 

[muppetmummy]

That room looks lovely We get a room chucked in for free with our wedding package.

Our budget is £3k too. We're not bothering with cars or a photographer so that will save quite a bit of money. My dress is an ex shop sample from ebay...£70! Bargain! Just needs to be altered and dry cleaned

 

[abcd1234]

by the way, just wondering, has anyone else thought about eloping? has anyone done it? did it really cut the hassel and price?

Thats actually my ultimate romantic fantasy, to just run off and come back as man and wife!!!
We've got a meeting with the guy who'll be marrying us on monday, we have to have about 6 "talks" just to be certain we understand what marriage is and we're ready etc, i'm actually quite looking forward to it, it's the same guy that christened Tally and he's very sweet and married himself so he understands it all in a was a priest couldn't.

I think i've finished our centre pieces now, i need to make them up properly and show mym um as i may still add an extra candle in the centre, i'll take a picy when we make them up.

I think Dave has finally booked our old london bus!!! It'll take the guests from my parents house to the church then from the church to the reception, we're not sure what to do about transport for us though, neither of us wants anything big and it's jsut not me to have a traditional wedding cars. I was thinking about hiring a taxi (yes seriously) to take us, like try and find a private hire one which is a nice car and then go to the reception on the bus.

Muppetmummy, i got my dress ex display too, it was half proce at £400, no where near as good a bargain as yours but i'm in love with it!! It was like fate or something as it fitted me perfectly in size and length so only need a few marks removing then it's good to go

 

[Suzie and Faith]

Awww I'm SO jealous! This time last year I was up to my eye balls in planning!

My tip is ENJOY every second of the day, it'll go so fast.

And no matter what things you do or don't get it will be so special xxxx

 

[suzie1011]

we are going to look around a recpetion venue on friday. wooo!

i've saved money on a photographer. i dont actually know any but we have advertised for final year students at the local colleges to come do it for us. we are offering to pay them £100 and £100 extra for all the prints in albums etc. we have also said they can use copies for thier portfolios. i was so impressed.

have found a fantastic fake flowers shop right near me and really well priced so i will begin flower arranging soon.
we have decided that the more we do now the more relaxed we will be in the run up.

OH bumped into the rev canon that he used to work with (he's in charge of all the churches in our parish. OH told him we were getting married and the Rev Canon said he will see what he can do about discounts because Rob worked for the church for 8 years. so we may be able to afford the really big chruch near us (st Nicholas) because thats the one Rob used to work for. im so excited

 

[LilysMummy]

GIRLIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think Ive found my dress.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Lace-Up-Back-Prom-W ... dZViewItem

Ive loved the Alfred Angelo version which retails about £799 this one will be about £77!!!

Ooooo Im all excited but I need to loose a shed load of weight (started after xmas) so when do I order my dress??? How much can it be altered once I get it home. Ooooooo so many questions lol!

 

[mum2A&L]

its lovely! and at such a bargain price how could you say no!! as for when to order and stuff, im not sure. I would give someone localy who would be able to adjust it for you (yellow pages job me thinks) and see what they say.


Im waiting till after i have had Lewis to start looking for dresses. I want to be a size 14 - 16 when i get married. Im currently a 16 - 18 not including pregnancy growth i recon - i was a 18 before i fell pg, but ive lost loads of my bum, face, arms, legs etc. Ive got about 6 months after having him to lose the weight, but it just seemed to fall off me last time im hoping it does the same !!


but saying that ive found a few dresses i like and i want your opinions:

http://www.sexyher.co.uk/product-CO8805-205.html# (this is my fav)

Or these ones - if they will do them in white or ivory or cream =

http://www.sexyher.co.uk/product-CO8002-204.html

http://www.sexyher.co.uk/product-CO8824-388.html (really not as sure about this one though......)

they do them made to measure for a little bit more so i could get a really nice fit. A lot of the girls at my work use them for their dresses for the xmas do.



what ones do you prefer? I don't want a full dress - i don't see the point as im not having a 'full' wedding its going to be such a small afair and the reception isn't till the following day i don't want a full dress. But i might be lazy and wear the dress for the friday when we get married and then again for the sat night

 

[mum2A&L]

ive had a look at the made to measure dresses on the site im looking at getting mine from, and it says to allow up to 45 days for delivery if it needs to be made

i would check with the place you want to get yours done and see how long it takes to make them

 

[abcd1234]

hey girlies
i intend to buy my bridesmaids dresses from a wedding shop
how far in advance do i need to buy them as they will need to be made up ?

Mine said for my July wedding i'd need to start ordering them around now, however they were on dont tell the bride and managed to get the dresses made within a week so i think time scales are wide just to allow for them to be ordered and altered. I ordered mine a few weeks ago and they should be here by feb

 

[suzie1011]

hey girlies
i intend to buy my bridesmaids dresses from a wedding shop
how far in advance do i need to buy them as they will need to be made up ?

every shop will tell you that you need to get them 6 months in advance but bascially they are making sure they wont have to work too hard.if you dont want to pay extra you can get them ordered up to 6 weeks before hand. you can still order them after that but it may well cost you extra (and you might get an earful from them as to why you havent ordered sooner unless you have a good reason.

GIRLIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think Ive found my dress.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Lace-Up-Back-Prom-W ... dZViewItem

Ive loved the Alfred Angelo version which retails about £799 this one will be about £77!!!

Ooooo Im all excited but I need to loose a shed load of weight (started after xmas) so when do I order my dress??? How much can it be altered once I get it home. Ooooooo so many questions lol!

I love Alfred Angelo. there is a dress by him that i would love to get married in but i could never afford it. if i were you i would order my dress now! there is nothing worse than finding the dress, putting it off then its gone. trust me i've been there!!! even if its still there it may not keep the bargin price tag.you'd be surprised how much it can be altered. as yours is already a lace up dress they would maybe put an extra panel in the back which means it can fit approx a size 10 to 16 in one dress! with a bit of nipping and tucking it can fit you perfectly. the advantage of this is that if your weight fluctuates (like me) putting on a couple of pounds wont hurt because they just wont tie the lace as tight on the day. works like a charm!
if you get a decent seemstress she can do it around 8 weeks before the wedding. most of them will charge around £80. if you cant find one in yellow pages or dont know of any, go into a bridal shop and ask if they have an independant seemstress, most of them do, then ask for her number. most of the seemstresses in bridal shops have a deal with the shop so they can get so many customers, but the seemstress herself is often self employed.


hope this helps. i should probably mention now that i've been waffling for ages that i own my own wedding planning business, hence me being in the know

 

[abcd1234]

We went to see the Deacon last night (the guy who will marry us) it was exciting, and a bit scary. He asked us why we wanna get married and my mind went blank lol, theres so many reasons but not one came to me at the time.

He also asked loads about our family etc, because it's a catholic wedding they've gotta have all this proof i'm baptised and not been married before etc. I'm nice and easy and straight forward, but Dave's form was a mess by the end of it, you've gotta have ALL previous names and we couldnt decide what "father" counts as, the guy who's sperm made him and hasn't seen him for 22 years or his mums current husband?? We decided it was her current husband.

I'm trying to think of what songs or hymns to have for the service. There was a beautiful song in church last week but i'm not usre if it's an appropriate one for a wedding, wish i could remember what it's called but it just made me think of Tallypoo and Dave the whole time, even my mum commented on it. I was also thinking of asking the choir if they could sing a more contemporary love song as people enter the church, but with the organ to make it almost churchy, but god knows how much this would all mount up to.

 

[abcd1234]

Damn i was the last person to post in this but here i go again lol

We've picked out wedding invitations finally!!! I cant wait to get them, we're printing them ourselves and i cant wait to get going over christmas!!

We've also picked out wedding rings now and are thinking about what to get engraved on them!!

It's all so exciting lol

 

[Bee]

Yay!

I need to make our invitations - keep forgetting

 

[suzie1011]

i'm going to make our invites too.

we have seen the venue for the reception and im not convinced. there is just something about it im not keen on but i cant put my finger on it. i really want the social club and have convinced OH to at least go and have a look. so yay!

 

[abcd1234]

we were going to make ours but we realised these are exactly what we want and to make them would cost £60 and these are only £75, plus with uni and everything im not sure i could make them as id insist upon making every last one myself lol.

we're personalising ours with ribbon the colour the wedding is as at least i feel like i kinda helped make them

 

[Bee]

Ours have ribbon too - the wedding colours

We have a bit longer to make them though. I was going to get them done before I go back to work but haven't had the chance