Wedding Tips start here...

System · 23 August 2003 at 1:01AM

Hi there,
We got married 5 weeks ago (tomorrow), my tips are aas follows, although some already posted....
1. Wedding cake £55 for 3 tiers of sponge from M&S-all cake eaten, so this was a BARGAIN.
2. My daughter(8) and I had wrist corsages instead of boquets, at around £8-10 this was far the cheapest option and we carried them all day. The florist can include pretty stuff that brings your colours together.
3. We had our reception at home in a marquee, sounds expensive, but check out the unlined marquees and cost caterers- this can be a lot cheaper, more personal and you can then take advantage of all the cheap booze offers on around the shops throughout the next few months!!
4. If buying booze from supermarket, arrange free glass hire.
5. We had disposable cameras-results were brilliant and unique. Just allocate someone to take a few more serious shots!!
6. Arrange for a London Style cab as a wedding car. My jouney cost £4 ew and was a tad cheaper than£180 for tarted up limo
7.Honeymoon cruise booked at a discount of 40% because we booked early. Check out free upgrades and specials for honeymooners-always ask direct to company and not agent.
I know I sound like a right tight git, but for a second wedding when money is scarce we had a laugh trying to get good deals. It seemed to us that a lack of dosh made the whole event less fraught and guilt free as there were no overdrafts to repay
Have fun...

silverlady_2 · 23 August 2003 at 1:19AM

I found my local Asda doesn't only sell the usual supermarket type flowers but it actually has a florist . It's not advertised anywhere in store but on several occasions I've had bouquets, baskets of flowers made up for presents and they have all been wonderful and a lot cheaper than in a florist shop.

Good luck

Galstonian · 23 August 2003 at 2:56AM

Oh yeah, the biggest money saving tip for getting married is to make sure you stay that way. If weddings can be costly its all dwarfed by divorce.

But you knew that anyway.

System · 23 August 2003 at 12:16PM

I got married three weeks ago today. It cost us including the honeymoon £3000.

The way we saved so much was get all your friends/friends friends to help. We had a mate who did the food for free all we had to do was give him money for the actual food (cost about £150 fo 40 people). Another friend did the flowers free so that cost about £20. My mum friends own an apartment in the canairy Islands so we got that cheap, we shopped around for flights and saved £200. I would have loved to go somewhere really exotic but we couldn't afford it, and for what we actually did on honeymoon it would have been a waste to go some so nice because we didn't really leave the pool, instead why not save up for the following year and go.

We had a marquet (two big party tents bought fo £50 each) Fully decorated like the pro's by my family, we used strawberry netting in the ceiling which was 30p a meter.

For the cake we had three tiers the top was a thorntons chocolate cake whcih mum decorated which more chocolates, the other two tiers where covered in fairy cakes which mum cooked and the whole family decorated, which was ideal because as soon as we cut the cake people could help themselves to a cake as and when.

The dress I want was £1500 and I got an exact copy made and two bridemaides dreess made for £600, could have done this a bit cheaper by getting girls dresses from Moonsoon factory shop, but because saved so much money elsewhere we could afford it.

My headdress was from BHS for £10.

Shoes I chose trainers so I can Still where them.

If you can buy stuff you can use again.

Good luck

Em

Greenstuff_2 · 23 August 2003 at 2:53PM

I got married in 2000, it was a brilliant day and no one knew how much we had cut corners.
I'm trying to think of some of the things we did, my favourite was the buttonholes.
The British heart foundation sell fake roses for £1 (a lot cheaper than the cheapest button hole) they are lovely and look real.
They have a tiny tab that says British Heart Foundation on them which you leave on so your guests know and it really sets a good mood.
They dont wilt or squash when people hug so look as good at the end of the day as the beginning, and I still see them on photo frames etc., where people have kept them.
You can either go into a shop if you need a few or phone head office, they will send you a box full, you pick how many you want and send the rest back with a cheque.
Other charities have other flowers so you can certainly find one that matches your scheme, or simply choose your favourite charity.

System · 23 August 2003 at 8:55PM

When we got married we saved money by not having an iced wedding cake, but having a large chocolate cake which we served as dessert. It looked much more impressive than an iced one, and by the time everyone's drunk and eaten their way through the meal how many people want a piece of fruit cake as well!

System · 24 August 2003 at 1:22PM

::)Hi there,

My wedding was 8yrs ago but cost a total of £650 exc. honeymoon. I had spent years going to big affairs where the couple hardly spend anytime enjoying themselves and seeing to everyone elses needs. We were inspired some friends and more or less copied them.

I picked a pattern for my outfit & the bridesmaid and had them made up. Andy bought a suit in the Next Christmas sale. We booked a local 5 star hotel. We invited 25 relatives & friends inc. partners (my family is huge and Andy's tiny so this seemed the best way to do it). We had a late afternoon reg. office ceremony (one of the most beautiful offices in the country) with photos by a local photographer. We had an open bar at the hotel & people seemed to respect this & didn't go hell for leather with the booze! We had a beautiful 4 course dinner with wine in a Tudor room at one huge table. Everyone was able to talk as a group or amongst their immdiates. We finished about midnight and had our honeymoon suite paid for by all the cousins as a wedding gift.

We went to Trailfinders and booked our whole honeymoon to Thailand through them (2 islands and the mainland). They were totally brilliant! Every flight was upgraded to business. All the hotel rooms were upgraded, champagne & flowers & fruit basket for free in all the hotels. We did it as a pick & mix and saved a lot of money & got exactly what we wanted. We had a month of first class holiday! The Thai's were also very hospitable and the staff in the hotel had been told it was our honeymoon.

It was better than I could have imagined & all for a budget. There is no way I would want to do the big shindig.

tonyivb · 24 August 2003 at 2:59PM

I definately agree with the people who say go for any other day apart from Saturday... not only will it be much easier (& possibly cheaper) to find/book any hotels, halls, photographers etc.

I got married in Guernsey on a Friday so most friends & family made it a long weekend holiday as well (the hotel gave them special rates). We decided on Guernsey as I being British and my wife Dutch it was a good 'in-between' location and it had an upside as it is a duty free territory so no VAT & lower booze prices

Music - The ceremony was in a civic hall who had a list of local people who would play the piano/organ but they were all unavailable (it was August. We asked one of them (the music teacher from the school) if there were any talanted students and he put us in touch with someone who played the piano for us for a small fee. She did a great job and it was her first 'paying' performance so she was chuffed as well.

Photos - I agree with the disposable camera idea but I would say do not rely on them. I would use a proffesional but try and agree that YOU are to keep the negatives, otherwise you are going to have to go back to them every time you want reprints. We eventually got our negatives and just popped down to Jessops and got them put on a CD so we can run copies off on the PC or e-mail them to people.

Good luck with everything!

Tony

donkeyotay · 24 August 2003 at 3:28PM

We saved a fair bit of money by asking family & friends, w/ appropriate talents, for help instead of buying wedding presents.

My sister made all the inivitations & place settings; a friend who is a professional cake maker, made the cake and the wedding car was provided by another friends father who loves showing his classic car off.

The savings were several hundreds of pounds.

Good luck.

System · 24 August 2003 at 5:40PM

We got married in 2001 (I was 6 months pregnant at the time!) and although my father paid for most of it, I still dont think it came to over £3,000. We did do a lot of things "on the cheap". My dress was around £300 from BHS (just a size 16, nothing in maternity), so were all the bridesmaids dresses and all our shoes, tiara's, and accessories. The cake was made by my aunt, (a caterer), who donated it as her gift to us and she also done all the buffet food. Our reception was held at a local football club/bar, which didnt really cost us anything. The deposit was £100, but as long as nothing got broken/damaged you got that back. My hubby's suit was a present from his parents so was a couple of hundred (only child!), but that was the most expensive thing other than my dress. The car was from a friend of the family who owns his own business and our wedding took place in a local 16th Century Manor House, which didn't cost us anything other than the normal registrar fees. We have yet to have our honeymoon though!Good Luck with your wedding!

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