My wedding plans, any ideas appreciated

black-saturn · 30 July 2006 at 3:26PM

I'm planning a wedding which will hopefully be in August or September 2008. I havn't set the date yet but I am off to the registry office tomorrow to do this and these are the kind of dates we are hoping for.

We are on a tight budget and will be doing everything as cheaply as we can. I've just read through the wedding thread and made some notes. I can't really get 'into it' until I know the exact date for it though. One thing which makes this wedding quite different is that we are not having a reception as such. After the wedding we are going to have a family party in my parents back garden which is huge and then about 2 weeks later we are taking our children and our close family members on a "honeymoon" to Germany. Weve got a deal from a travel company for a 3 night stay for 10 people. Believe it or not this works out cheaper than hiring a hall, DJ, food etc etc.

Anyway, I have made a list of the things we want for the wedding which are as follows (please give suggestions, if I've forgotten anything let me know):

Date and Venue - Does anyone know how much a registry office wedding costs to book?

My Dress - Theres no way I could walk down the isle in a normal wedding dress as I think they look awful and I'm an old goth too. So I have decided on this one in the red - http://www.fairygothmother.co.uk/sm-16.htm Does anyone know where I can get it or one just like it cheaper?

Intendeds suit - Any ideas?

Mini reception and food - Hoping parents will sort this out.

Way of getting to wedding and party - Any ideas?

Cake - Any ideas? Please dont suggest making my own because it would be a disaster.

Bridesmaids - 3 bridesmaids. One of 18, one of 14 one of 12 wearing white dresses - ebay?

Flowers - Red to match my dress. Any ideas? There are some nice artificial roses on ebay.

Rings - Ebay?

Video of the wedding - I'll lend someone my camcorder.

Photos of the wedding - Planning on giving a few of the guests a disposable camera to capture it for us.

Have I missed anything?

Any ideas will be thanked :j

lisa_75 · 30 July 2006 at 5:04PM

Intendeds suit - Any ideas? Borrow one or shop around. many places do hire from as little as £50

Cost of registry office wedding is about £100 http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/marriages/theceremony/marriagec3c.asp#0

Way of getting to wedding and party - Use friends nice car with ribbon on.

Cake - M and S do nice wedding cakes. Decorate yourself with some ribbon and a few false flowers. I think Tesco also sell plain iced white cakes.

Bridesmaids - 3 bridesmaids. One of 18, one of 14 one of 12 wearing white dresses - Try Asda, ebay

Flowers - Red to match my dress. Ebay is the way to go or you could carry a single red rose

Rings - Ebay? Also try Argos, very reasonable

Also take a visit to the wedding forum on hitched.co.uk The girls on there will have some great ideas.

emma_b_4 · 30 July 2006 at 5:07PM

hi

we went to a wedding yesterday, couple were married in reg office then blessing in church, then 'do' at a function room of nice pub, buffet type meal (was gorgeous; full of meat ,not sandwiches) the BIL was photographer, sister sang a song at wedding (sun and moon or something was called made me cry)
the bride baked cake.. 3 tiers too impressive
bride did own favours .. got things from country baskets
no favours
wine bought from behind bar, just house red and white
friend was DJ
instead of drink on arriva\l of champers they bought every1s first drink at the bar

the day was sooooooooooo chilled out and relaxed it was one of the best weddings ever, ours is booked for next june 30th at a hotel for the civil ceremony. im going to try and 'copy' some ideas and save some money and some hassle

ps their outfits were from selfridges they went together and hired a personal shopper they looked fab

good luck with your plans x

Katgoddess · 30 July 2006 at 5:21PM

emma_b wrote:

sister sang a song at wedding (sun and moon or something was called made me cry)

If this is the song you mean? It is fabulous and make me cry the first time I heard it. (Stars and the Moon.) This is a better version.When I was little and used to sing in the church choir we sung "We've only just begun" for someones wedding.

Way of getting to wedding and party - Any ideas? A black cab? Or hire a posh car for the weekend and get someone you know to drive it for you.

elona · 30 July 2006 at 5:46PM

The dress

Could you buy a white corset and white frilly set of net petticoats and then dye them the exact shade you want?

Sometimes TKMazz have suits - or you could try an upmarket charity shop and then get it dry cleaned.

november · 30 July 2006 at 5:53PM

black-saturn wrote:

My Dress - Theres no way I could walk down the isle in a normal wedding dress as I think they look awful and I'm an old goth too. So I have decided on this one in the red - http://www.fairygothmother.co.uk/sm-16.htm Does anyone know where I can get it or one just like it cheaper?

Try ebay also. I got a full length gothic/medieval (mainly black with some purple as that's what I wanted) dress for my wedding and a 'gothic fairy' dress (Dark Star) for evening 'do' on ebay by searching under 'gothic'. Both together cost less than the price of the dress on your link. Not sure about the same make but you may be able to get something in the same style.

My intended got his jacket from Jack in a Box but that wasn't cheap at about £85. However he got his shirt from Student Tailor (online also) and that was only about a tenner. Put together with a pair of Next trousers he has what looks like a gothic suit

(not sure if your intended wanted gothic also but mine did

). If he just wants a plain Suit Next are actually not that bad - my son's is from there.

Rings - Argos or Goldfinger? Ours are Goldfinger but I suppose it depends on whether cheap means about £100 odd or £20 odd. If really budgeting how about picking some nice silver ones? We thought of that - plain silver bands are really cheap. In the end though we went for white gold from Goldfinger.

Dora_the_Explorer_5 · 30 July 2006 at 6:22PM

Hiya BS, many congratulations and best wishes for all the happiness you deserve. You probably won't like my suggestion

. You're an ace budgetter and saver so...............cash in your ISA so you don't have to do everything on the cheap.
Make it a day to remember - stretch limo, fancy cake from the cake shop, gorgeous flowers for all from the florist, no-one in second hand clothes. It's the one day in your life you can have a wonderful splurge and not feel guilty, and you deserve it. Don't do yourself out of it because you've been used to being very careful with cash for such a long time. And don't forget to post a picture of the happy day. Hug and xxxx D

margaretclare · 30 July 2006 at 7:21PM

I'm very glad that a few brides have gone for darker colours.

When I got married in 2002, second for me, third for him, I didn't feel that, as a widow, any of the 'weddingy' colours were appropriate for me. As it was January I had a simple long-sleeved long dress in moss-green silk velvet made for me, also an over-tunic in black gauze with gold embroidery all over it. It shone in the church lights, and the velvet swished as I walked. DH did a double-take as I walked up the aisle towards him.

You have to register intention to marry at the register office, £30 each, and we were interviewed separately to make sure we knew each other. Although we're a native English couple in later life, we had to comply with regulations to prevent forced marriage or marriage just to stay in this country. Then the wedding costs as well. However, we were lucky there. Because we're members of our local Methodist Church, the ceremony was free - the Methodist church doesn't charge its members for a marriage.

Our wedding, including a 3-day honeymoon in the Cotswolds and lunch in a local pub/restaurant for 18 of us, came to a little less than £1K in all.

Margaret Clare

Miss_Cinnabon · 30 July 2006 at 7:27PM

Hi try http://www.thedarkangel.co.uk/, the prices are good as well, there is alot of red wedding dresses on ebay just type in red wedding dresses in the search or you could look under gothic dresses.

Good luck with your wedding.:j

black-saturn · 30 July 2006 at 8:46PM

Thanks for the suggestions. I know it should be the day of my life but we have 2 years to save this money in and were starting from scratch. I'm going to prioritise things and book them as we go along. Does anyone know when you book these things do you have to pay for them there and then or nearer the day?

I would really love to wear a black wedding dress. It would really be my dream. But the problem is this is my boyfriends 2nd wedding and his first wife got married in a black wedding dress. I know it sounds silly but I don't want all his family saying I'm just like her or things like he always goes for the same type. So I decided to wear a red one instead.

Thanks for the suggestions though. Keep em coming.

LizD_2 · 30 July 2006 at 8:56PM

Congratulations!

If you wanted single stems for flowers, you could just buy a bunch the day before from a market or Tesco/sainsbury's etc.

Asda do jewellery, not sure about wedding bands, but might be worth a look.

My wedding plans, any ideas appreciated

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