Just got engaged.....now onto the planning ekkk

Yellowbug

Hi all

Im new on here (have been on before reading bits and bobs but never registered to post )

Well my other half proposed to me on monday evening, so Im in that excited stage of wanting to look at everything to do with weddings...I went out last night and bought a pile of wedding magazines lol

Im fairly creative so have lots of plans to do things myself to keep costs down etc and we are quite heavily into classic vw's so we have friends that will provide the transport (should be quite a scene on the day lol), but the more I look into it the more frightened I am by the cost of venues!

We dont go to church so dont want to have a church wedding (would feel a little hypocritical) so we were thinking of finding somewhere pretty that we can have the ceremony and the reception

Has anyone got any tips on finding venues at sensible prices? I just cant get my head round spending thousands on a wedding when we have a mortgage we could be paying off lol


All tips and help greatfully received.....and please forgive me if I seem a little giddy with it all at the moment lol

weeclick

congratulations on getting engaged!! First things with venues, check offers on local hotels or beauty hot spots - like over here we have hotels that cater for weddings as well as "castles" which look a bit better than a registrary office!

Shop around is the first big thing, if someone tells you £1000 then you find someone at £800, go back to the first place and tell them you found a better deal - and if they want your custom they WILL knock off some money!

good luck with the planning and if you need a cheap photographer let me know :P

mrscb

Congratulations.....
Holiday Inn hotels were doing credit crunch weddings £999 and incuded allsorts...
Not sure of all the details but it could be worth looking into.
HTH

Yellowbug

thanks you two

does anyone know how much the venue bit 'normally' costs?

Lish_2

Congrats on your engagement!
We were planning to have the 'big' do and hire out a 5* hotel for the weekend for about £15,000 and thats before any other costs were taken into consideration like drinks, clothes, transport, flowers etc. We both had our mind set on it but then reality set in and actually we decided we would rather go for a cheaper option and have decided on hiring a country cottage for a weekend and sticking a marquee in the middle of the garden for the reception! Also making use of our 'contacts' and getting mates rates for the bar and catering- we've already knocked off about £10,000 with this idea and so far everyone I have told thinks its a fabulous idea and far less stuffy. A couple of tips would be;
*If you dont ask, you dont get
*Always barter the price whenever you can- trust me, they will have had it before!
*Make it personal, dont follow the trend- have whatever you want and do it your own way because there is never a 'right' way to do it
*Ask for help- mates and family members are there for a reason and some nibbles and vino work well as payment!
*Shop around- this is the most money saving tip there is!

I hope you have a wonderful day whatever you choose to do! Let us know how you are getting on ) x

Yellowbug

oooohhhhh that sounds lovely

if you dont mind me asking, how did you find the cottage?
that sounds like just our kind of thing

Lish_2

To be honest- I asked on here and some lovely people posted me some links! If you type in 'cottages for hire' and also the area you want in google, there are loads that come up. To give you an idea of how much we are paying- its in the region of £3k for a few days but im sure you can get them cheaper depending on which part of the country you're in but it just so happens that I live in the very pretty (but bloody expensive!) West Country. If you want the actual link for the company we are using- let me know and I'l get it for you

Starwinky

My boyfriend also proposed on Monday evening and I also bought a load of wedding magazines last night!!! I have so many ideas floating around my head at the moment! I started off with plans to keep it small but it's getting more and more extravagant - I'm sure this must happen with everyone right!

Yellowbug

Lish wrote: »

To be honest- I asked on here and some lovely people posted me some links! If you type in 'cottages for hire' and also the area you want in google, there are loads that come up. To give you an idea of how much we are paying- its in the region of £3k for a few days but im sure you can get them cheaper depending on which part of the country you're in but it just so happens that I live in the very pretty (but bloody expensive!) West Country. If you want the actual link for the company we are using- let me know and I'l get it for you

i shall have a look on google

we also live in the west country (westbury wilts)

Yellowbug

Starwinky wrote: »

My boyfriend also proposed on Monday evening and I also bought a load of wedding magazines last night!!! I have so many ideas floating around my head at the moment! I started off with plans to keep it small but it's getting more and more extravagant - I'm sure this must happen with everyone right!

oh congratulations...must have been something in the air on monday lol


i ave more ideas than my brain can cope with at the moment...just need to get myslef focused lol

trina2010

congratulations to both of you!

star - wedding magazines tend to do that, they show you the best of the best and make you want it all. Go with your instinct and what you can afford, magazines are good for ideas but not much else!

yellow - you dont need to be too focused yet! enjoy being engaged for a little while after all it is a big step in itself, but dont put too much pressure on yourself to start planning right away and deciding everything now