Wedding Chic On The Cheap

[~*Plushroom*~]

So it's summer and all the big events are upon us, be it special nights out at home or away or weddings/christenings to go to.

I've got one to go to in 2 weeks so thought I'd chart my progress on doing this as cheaply as possible on here for others to join in.

What needs to be done:

1- Sort out my skin - well actually just the spot that errupted a week ago and still isn't gone.
2- Cut my hair - it's growing out and a mess.
3- Dye my hair - for the first time ever for a wedding I've been told to go as me, not a toned down version - so my hair will be blue (which handily gets rid of the red in my hair now, and matches the bridesmaids dresses!)
4- Pick an outfit. Due to the weather this is tricky.
5- Sort out accessories.
6- Figure out make-up that will last all day, be easy to do, and look like 'me'.


So far I have:

-Started using quinoderm on my face again, it stings but is great at fixing problem skin. (Cost £2.79)
-Bought my bleach and peroxide to bleach out the red from my hair. (Approx £2)
-Bought the blue dye to go on next. (£2.92)
-Started breaking in my shoes for the event. (Free as shoes were a christmas pressie)
-Looking through the wardrobe to plan out possible choices (free again unless I can't find anything suitable)

This is all made harder by the fact that my OH decided to only tell me on Sunday that oh his holiday time may be for next week so I have to get everything sorted before friday as chances are I'll be at the bloody base for that week! :mad::rotfl: You have to love how men don't even think that this may be important to know, even when you've told them you've got to cut and dye your hair :rolleyes:

Failures so far:

Haircut - was going to use the saks voucher but my local salon decided not to answer the phone all of yesterday and now they are booked up for today which was the only day other than monday that they were doing this offer. So £1 and precious time wasted.

To fix this best I've e-mailed my old college which has a salon to see if they are still open even though it's coming to the end of term. Finger's crossed they get back to me by tomorrow or I'll call in. OH has already said that if I can't get an appointment at hairdresser until next week he'll bring me back to herts for the day to get it done (Smart move as he changed his holiday times last minute without telling me - unless he would like to attend the wedding with a red scarecrow!).

Accessories wise - only one thing to do, make a feather headband like the ones at this site - http://urbanupdater.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/feathers.jpg
These are expensive to buy but cheap as chips to make - feather found on walks through town (I'm using crow feathers) and a pack of 6 headbands were £1 in poundland). Just have to pick up superglue and use some material from my sewing box and I've got a posh hair accessory that won't fall off or get in the way.

Spent so far: £8.71 (Even though £1 of that turned out to be a waste).

So far it appears that wedding chic can be done cheaply and fast - but who knows what will happen tomorrow eh!

[~*Plushroom*~]

Second disaster so far - college hairdressers aren't open again until September :eek:. So tomorrow will involve a quick trip into town to check the price of the smallest and least snobby looking hairdressers.

So far things are going okay in the mission to go to a wedding without spending the earth, but it does seem to take a lot more effort than if I had say £150 to spend on everything. But I'm still determined to keep to this, why should you have to spend out a fortune for one day (Unless you're the ones getting married of course, then you may want to spend more than the £30 I've allotted myself!)

[Bronnie]

What sort of haircut are you getting , Plushroom?

I would be paranoid going to a random hairdresser, but my hair is very thick and needs careful cutting. Can anyone recommend a mobile hairdresser to you? They're usually cheaper.

Very impressed with your ingenious idea for head dress thingy! I'm so lazy now about these things!!

[goanmad]

Plushroom, that fascinator you're making sounds fab!

Must admit I ignored the thread at first 'cos anything with "wedding" in the title makes me wanna run off (perhaps I should have been born a man!):rotfl:

Looking forward to reading more about your pursuit of cheap chic (my favourite subject).

[~*Plushroom*~]

What sort of haircut are you getting , Plushroom?

I would be paranoid going to a random hairdresser, but my hair is very thick and needs careful cutting. Can anyone recommend a mobile hairdresser to you? They're usually cheaper.

Very impressed with your ingenious idea for head dress thingy! I'm so lazy now about these things!!

http://img.lavamus.com/images/bio/1152.jpg This is the haircut I want, it's easy to dress up and down and should be light enough for the summer. Annoyingly around here it's quite a posh area hairdresser-wise (lord knows why) so even our mobile hairdressers are pretty pricey. I've ruled out 3 of the hairdressers already on price, and one is where i used to work so no chance I'm going there :rotfl: But there is a nice little one that I haven't tried so I'm going to pop down once I come off MSE and ask them for a quote. My hair is pretty calm and naturally stright so random hairdressers aren't that much of an issue to me luckily.

If it wasn't for June's copy of Instyle I wouldn't have even thought about making a feather headband, but they had one with black feathers in for £49 and I just realised that that is far too easy to make to warrant £49 (I'm spending less than that in total!).

Plushroom, that fascinator you're making sounds fab!

Must admit I ignored the thread at first 'cos anything with "wedding" in the title makes me wanna run off (perhaps I should have been born a man!):rotfl:

Looking forward to reading more about your pursuit of cheap chic (my favourite subject).

Hopefully it will be, going to get on with doing that next week once I've got the glue to use!

I'm with you on the running from a wedding thing, but I do like this couple and would like to see them married.

Finger's crossed I have a positive update to post later! May go and look for some more feathers too.

[goanmad]

Absolutely gorgeous hairstyle. I think it would look even more stunning in blue. :T

[~*Plushroom*~]

Absolutely gorgeous hairstyle. I think it would look even more stunning in blue. :T

That's what I've been thinking for a while, with any luck I can get my mop cut this week.

Suppose I should get off MSE and go ask eh!

[~*Plushroom*~]

Success! I got myself off MSE and trotted off into town to look at hairdressing prices - even the snobby ones. One wanted £31 for a wet cut and another wanted £26 for a cut and blow dry. So I went to the smallest salon we have that's hidden away from the others and asked and was quoted £17.50.

Even better when I asked if they had any appointments they had one at 11am this morning so I am now sitting here with my nice new haircut.
Cost £18.50 total as I asked them to straighten it - not because my hair is wavy or anything, but for a pound to be shown how to straighten short layered hair I think it was worth it. I got the hair cut from the picture i put on there, but an inch and a half shorter for both the hot weather at the moment and it means the cut will last longer than it would've.

Hairdresser was lovely and didn't feel the need to gossip like some I've had so I could just let her get on with it after she asked questions about length, fringe, parting...god I have a fringe! Haven't had one of those since I was sixteen!

I have now revised my budget for the wedding to £35 to add in the tip for the hairdressers and some hair products from poundland, but so far still cheap compared to what some pay to attend a wedding.

Also got the gift sorted - they didn't want gifts or money, just everyone there - but how could I pass up a beautiful old frame from the charity shop for £1 that they can put a wedding photo in.

So I have now got £5 left to spend on any extras I could need. Next to do is make the feather headband and pick a dress. Shall take pictures tonight so that I can look at the complete outfits easily. There's no reason to buy a new dress for one day when you have several at home already (Got a gorgeous strapless green one in primark last month for £2).

[goanmad]

Well done for being so brave! What else do you need to get now?

[~*Plushroom*~]

Well done for being so brave! What else do you need to get now?

Well I need to get some tissue paper and gift wrap for the picture frame, and buy some more sensible underwear - frilly ruffled knickers will show through on any of the outfits I've chosen out :rotfl:and it just seems wrong to wear a thong in church! :D

Then I have to bleach and dye my hair, which I will do tomorrow afternoon so it'll have settled down by next saturday, finalise the outfit, make the headband, wrap the gift, and pack everything up in a bag ready for the day - including make-up!

It's been a lot of running about so far but it's pretty cheap to do everything, just going to be very tired after this :D

After tomorrow I'll be able to post an itemised list of everything I had to buy for the wedding, costs and time taken.

Shall also start posting photo's soon, hopefully friday.

[Bronnie]

Love the hairstyle....think the price is amazing too! Well done!

[~*Plushroom*~]

Love the hairstyle....think the price is amazing too! Well done!

I know, never had a wash, haircut, blowdry and style for that cheap! Think I've got myself a regular hairdressers now, unlike the £31 for a wet cut one two minutes down the road! :D

[Bronnie]

Wow! That was for a wash and blow as well? My bill is nudging £50 for that and that's in a small town salon.....i'm saving a lot now I'm growing my hair!! Mind you I suspect the wet cut price of £31 is supposed to be a bit of a deterrent to try and encourage you to have a blow dry too. I susopect a lot of salons want you walking out of their door fully coiffed (if that's the right word!!)

[goanmad]

Well I can recommend Poundland for tissue paper, they've also got quite a funky range of gift bags in our local store at the mo.
Not sure about seamfree knickers but if you've got an Ethel Austin their undies can be quite good.
Really looking forward to seeing photos. I'm gonna be off-line this weekend so shall take a peak on monday!

[~*Plushroom*~]

Right so it's the last day before I head off to the base. With all this stress I haven't had time to get excited about going to Silverstone tomorrow!

So how have I done:

Green dress (£2 Primark but counts as £0 as bought long in a sale rail before being invited)
Purple tights (£1 Primark)
Black heels (Free as they were a Christmas gift)
Quinoderm cream (£2.79 Lloyds Pharmacy)
Headbands (£1 for 6 Poundland) Will work out moneysaving as once I've finished making my headband I will make up a few more using my supplies and sell them.
Glue for feathers (£1 Poundland)
Hair dyes and gel spray (£6 various stores)
Haircut (£20 including tip)
Gift and wrapping (£2 various stores)

Total £33.79 (Though some money will probably be made back from the headbands I'll make in a couple of weeks).

I don't think I've particularly skimped here, but I have worked hard shopping-wise to get the best deals. If I had had more than a week to do all of this (Thank you OH for your last minute change of holiday time! :rolleyes::D) I probably could have gotten it under £30.

I shall post photos of the clothes later on today, but now I must go bleach my hair so I can apply the blue dye later.

[lisawood78]

Where's the pics?!!?
:-)

[~*Plushroom*~]

Photo's of everything are coming tomorrow as my internet went down when I was uploading them the day I was leaving for my "holiday" and due to a lot of sleep deprivation I haven't the energy to do it properly right now! So they should be up by tomorrow lunchtime!

[Lobell]

Really interesting thread, Plushroom. I look forward to seeing the pics.

Oh, and I love the hairstyle...I have been growing mine just becasue I have no idea what I want to do with it but I really love that cut so I may have found my next hairstyle!!

[~*Plushroom*~]

I just wrote a very long post with the photo's summing up how the experience went, and of course MSE lost it :rolleyes:

So for now I will repost the photo links and do the summing up again later on. Can't believe that, spent 10 minutes typing that.

Dress: http://s190.photobucket.com/albums/z201/likklegothicgirl/?action=view&current=DSC02634.jpg

Shoes: http://s190.photobucket.com/albums/z201/likklegothicgirl/?action=view&current=DSC02636.jpg

Feather headband: http://s190.photobucket.com/albums/z201/likklegothicgirl/?action=view&current=DSC02637.jpg

[goanmad]

Stunning, Plushroom! Bet you looked fabulous in that ensemble. The headband/fascinator is inspired...well done!:T

[~*Plushroom*~]

Stunning, Plushroom! Bet you looked fabulous in that ensemble. The headband/fascinator is inspired...well done!:T

I do love the headband, sadly I don't think it'll work for everyday use. But I will be wearing it again and again.

So like I said yesterday MSE lost my long post summing up the experience of trying to do an impressive look on the cheap, so I shall try again today!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

There were a few problems that arose during the week I was doing this experiment, nothing major but the following did happen:

1- There was an air bubble in the dye tube meaning it was only half full, so cue a trip to the nearest Wilkinsons from OH's base to buy more after I had partly done my hair. Not impressed by this, have since e-mailed the company and been given an apology and offered free colour remover wipes (Will be politely declining these because I don't need them, won't use them, and I had to waste £6 extra on dye because of their tube problems so will probably not buy from them again).

2- The weather was cold and wet on the day of the wedding so had to switch out the dress in the photo for a red dress I picked up years ago in a charity shop as it was long and warmer and saved the green one for the reception. Not the biggest problem in the world, just glad I had organised a back-up dress incase the weather turned on me (as it did).

3- New shoes needed breaking in more than they had had. No big deal but feet were sore the next day!

Overall I think 3 mishaps is pretty good as this was all organised last minute really, I did end up having to spend £6 extra on hairdye which took me over budget but it was worth doing so just to make sure I didn't look silly on the day.

I've heard of people spending a lot more on being a wedding guest than this so under £40 is still very good, and once I make the rest of the feather headbands up I will sell them on and make a little of the money back so it's also an investment really.

All in all, a wedding outfit on a budget can be done, and it doesn't have to look cheap. The tips I have come across from doing this are:

1- When you see nice outfits dirt cheap in shops, even if you don't need it right now, if you know you might end up with a wedding coming up pick it up. My red dress was £3 in a charity shop a couple of years back and the green one was bought in Primark for £2 in May. They haven't taken up much room but made things a lot easier.

2- Make a list of what you need. Do you need new foundation, tights, stockings, etc. Make a list and cross things off ASAP so you don't leave it to the last minute.

3- Plan an alternative outfit incase of weather changes - I would have frozen in my green dress if I hadn't had a spare option.

4- Keep things simple.

[Bronnie]

Clever girl:T

Love the colour of the dress and the shoes are fab too,really versatile.

If you sell enough headbands do you think you could come out of the Wedding making a profit or is that a bit twisted!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well done Plush and well done for getting the photos on...I keep promising but must make the effort to find out how to do it, it does really bring the fashion threads to life.

[~*Plushroom*~]

Clever girl:T

Love the colour of the dress and the shoes are fab too,really versatile.

If you sell enough headbands do you think you could come out of the Wedding making a profit or is that a bit twisted!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well done Plush and well done for getting the photos on...I keep promising but must make the effort to find out how to do it, it does really bring the fashion threads to life.

I love those shoes to pieces! That's why when they aren't being worn they get wrapped up and put away, it's rare I can find nice shoes as at a size 4 they disappear from stores fast!

I was thinking that myself, twisted on not it is a possibility that I could end up either breaking even or making a profit - albeit small. I will check online and compare how much everyone is selling the headbands for and see how well I can do out of them. May as well use them up otherwise I'll have 5 headbands I won't use floating about the house.

As for photo's, I know there is a simpler way to put photo's on here using imageshack but I completely forgot that earlier - ah well, photobucket will do!