Ideas for cheap wedding?

jo_b_2 · 9 March 2007 at 9:13PM

caslates wrote: »

I'm getting married next year and my boyfriend & I are not exactly wallowing in cash so are wondering if you savvy people have any good ideas of how to keep the costs down?

Make yourself a nice cup of tea, set an hour aside and have a good browse through this Wedding Ideas Thread

Be warned - it is very long but it has lots of useful links and ideas.

My personal favourites are:

1. Set up your wedding list at Debenhams and you get a free £50 giftcard - regardless of whether anybody uses it or not.
2. I used www.weddingpath.com for a free wedding website
3. Having a wedding somewhere more out-of-the ordinary but cheaper, like Gretna Green, isn't actually a bad idea!
4. If you don't want to go as far as buying a second-hand wedding dress, you can still save £££s by buying the extras (tiara, veil etc) from eBay.

Good luck with the preparations!:)

houndour · 9 March 2007 at 9:25PM

We made our own flowers (with the help of my mum) the day before the wedding. Not sure how tight your budget is, but we were being quoted £400+ for 1 top table, 5 normal tables, 1 bridesmaid bouquet and 1 bride bouquet. I did get the bouquets done professionally, but I went with a small local florist and was charged £75 (instead of £120) for the brides and £30 (instead of £50) for the bridesmaid. I then bought 120 white roses for £65, plus spent maybe £20-30 on trays and oasis and then nicked loads of foliage from friends and families gardens (with permission).

I had a relatively cheap photographer (£650). And I think my photos are great

But then maybe I'm biased.

https://www.hitched.co.uk is a great forum for getting ideas, I spent everyday planning on there. They also have a for sale forum.

There are also a few websites out there that sell second hand dresses...there are some proper classified ones so you can try the dresses before you buy (unlike ebay where you're committed to buy without trying).

Hope that helps.

zulubabe · 9 March 2007 at 9:33PM

bought my wedding dress today from the charity shop - it cost £300 but have been told it originally cost £1500 - it looks beautiful & can't wait to wear it - even if the big day is 2 years away!

My big tip for wedding photographs would be that if you know anyone who is a good photographer then buy yourself a good camera and get them to take the photos - you end up with fab photos & a good camera!

LisaT186 · 9 March 2007 at 9:56PM

Definitely check out hitched.co.uk they have a great forum and loads of online suppliers, I'm sure I saved a fortune using recommendations from there! They have people that import wedding dresses from the states that work out cheaper than here and they are all the branded ones.

Cakes - it seems to be Marks and Spencers ones are the favourites, to decorate use some flowers to match your theme unless you are a good cake decorator yourself.

Although I didn't have many 'talented' friends, where possible we asked for their skills as a wedding present, we managed to get our car and chauffeur given to us and my make up was also done as a present from a beautician friend.

A friend of mine had a relative make all her invitations as a gift.

A buffet tends to be cheaper than a sit down (although we still had a table plan), be strict on guest numbers no long lost people just close friends and family. Favours - make your own or go without. Look out for bridesmaid outfits in the sale on the high street.

Shop around lots, but take the time to enjoy it, it can become tiring!!

Good luck and give us a shout if you think we can be of any more help.

inkie · 9 March 2007 at 10:46PM

If you are wanting a church wedding, then rather than going for your parish church which can charge for bells/organ/choir/etc, etc- why not try a non-conformist church - their weddings can be much more personal and not 'out of the book'. I am a minister and conduct weddings and do not charge - I just put a plate out at the4 back for church funds, which guests at the wedding put a donation in - they pay, not you!

moozikgal · 10 March 2007 at 2:39PM

My partner and i are getting married in June on his birthday and are doing a relitvley small do with family and friends. Ill just go over what we have done or are doing

My dress was from debenhams in the sale for £18

for favors we have got everyone a tube of love hears, home bargains are doing 4 packs for 35p so less than 10p per favor. we are also putting these with something else like a tea light holder from ikea with everyones names written on them. the tealights are 9p each and a nice pen will set you back a few pounds.

we are having a registry office do and then going to a local pub who have put on a really nice buffet for us for £9 per head. at about 8pm we are leaving the pub and coming back to our house for a relaxed evening of bacon butties and eye toy games!

for cakes, we are making cupcakes

flowers we are buying from ebay, a link which i found on this site. a shop called the bridal workshop. they make button holes, bags, hair clips the lot all to your colour.

our total including rings is just over £1000.

hope some of these ideas help

moosetastic · 10 March 2007 at 3:23PM

we managed to have a lovely wedding on a very small budget. My top tip is EBAY!!!! especially at this time of year. Lots and lots of bargains to be had, from cake stands to guest books to bridesmaids dresses.

I bought my wedding dress and my shoes from Ebay. My dress was made to fit me and cost £220! It was gorgeous. My shoes were £6!

My other top tip is to buy things now if you can. In a few months the new ranges for this year will be out and you will pay top dollar for them! Try and see if there any sales in wedding shops near you, I managed to get my veil for £8 from a wedding shop near me when they had a clear out to fit the new seasons stock in. Confetti is a great site, and hitched.co.uk is good as well.

Hope everything goes ok for you and good luck!!

Tiger_greeneyes · 10 March 2007 at 7:58PM

I only had 9 guests so we had a sit down meal in a nice local hotel - we were there for hours and the whole thing cost £180 - and that included alcohol. Mostly mine

My wedding cake cost £37 from Valerie Patisserie in Knightsbridge - they're a really lovely exclusive bakery. I only had one tier and they iced exquisite detail onto it, it was gorgeous

My outfit was about £100 (including shoes) from the High Street, and rings were about £250.

I didn't bother with favours or anything like that and there were already flowers in the registry office. I bought four instant cameras and the guests took photos for me to have developed.

It was a lovely day and very relaxed as there wasn't much to go wrong.

I'm getting married again (not this year though, the house comes first) and I love some of the tips - thanks for sharing!

savingpennies · 10 March 2007 at 8:27PM

Our wedding was 20 years ago this August but it cost very little. Our most expensive items were the wedding rings: i wanted something unusual and modern.
I wore a lovely outfit I had bought for my cousin's wedding the year before (a very expensive county wedding and my outfit cost a fortune).
My friend provided the flowers from her garden and created a lovely bouquet and button holes.
No bridesmaids.
My father had a very nice car and we bought ribbon off the market to dress them up.
We asked friends to bring their cameras and bought then lots of film, so didn't need a photographer.
We booked a meal at a local restaurant and bought eveyone lunch. The restaurant was great: we'd said it was for an informal wedding and they were very helpful providing a table for the cake and keeping one of the rooms just for us and our guests.
The wedding cake was a present from my husband's cousin and his wife (she made and decorated cakes for a hobby).
Favours? I'm not even sure what they are and why they are seen as necessary. I can't remember a wedding where they were given out. Are they another money making gimmick created by the wedding industry?
This kind of wedding doesn't suit everyone but friends and family still comment about how lovely it was and how it stands out in the memory against all the traditional weddings

milliejon · 10 March 2007 at 9:19PM

I got married 2.5 years ago on a very tight budget. My biggest tip would be to have an evening wedding. We got married at 4.30pm at the beginning of Sept (so the sunlight was great for the photos) then went straight to the venue for the meal and party.

I would agree about candles for centrepieces. I got mine in the New Year sales and kept them safe for nearly 9 months and still found them when I needed them(!).

We also had lots of pressies from family. My brother in law paid for the cars, my sister in law made the cake etc.

I hope you have a lovely time organising the wedding and a fantastic day.

Ideas for cheap wedding?

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