Ways to save money on Weddings

baby0684

I have just been looking on Mrs Thrift's money saving ideas for weddings. But the posts were quite a few years old. 2003. Now its 2010, cant believe it.

Anyway my boyfriend, now fiance are looking to get married in 2011 or 2012.

We live in Chesterfield and would like to get married in the peak district.

I am open to all ideas for saving money. So please post your ideas, experiences and thoughts. Also if anyone knows of DJs, Caterers, Florists, Dress makers (or good bridal shops) etc.

Thanks
Julie

Evansangel

If its the super long post, click the 'last page' button and it will take you to the most recent, which was within the past couple of days

x

squashy

I don't know if they are still doing them but we got married at Bolsover Castle and it was relatively cheap (for a castle!!) to just get married there and have the reception somewhere different. Not as money saving as a registry office of course, but the photos were amazing, meaning we could save a little on a photographer who may otherwise have to be extra creative in making a boring setting look nice. Also didn't need to spend anything doing up the venue as it was already breathtaking!

pie81

there's a wedding specific part of this forum I think which should be helpful?

anyway my advice is to think carefully before spending ££ on any of the "usual" elements of a wedding as to whether you really want that thing or whether you're just having it cos it's "normal".

For example we didn't have: a cake; bridesmaids; a videographer; make up artist; favours; chair covers ... Basically we decided none of these things were particularly important to us and we'd rather spend the money on a lovely venue and good food.

Of course everyone will have different bits that are important/less important to them but the key is not to have everything just cos you think you ought to!

vezza_2

There are quite a lot of castles/ manor houses in the Peak district and that area there is hardwick hall and chatsworth as well as Bolsover. How big is your wedding guest list looking, if its a small affair i went to a lovely restaurant called Little Italy i think and really enjoyed the food, it is italian though.

Would reccomend a good scout out on ebay because there are bargains to be had?

Also help from any friends, or friends of friends who do hair, make up photography etc help out more than you think.

The OH proposed 11th Sept and we set a date of 3rd Sept 2011 so cant wait feels like time is draggin although i know that it will soon start whizzing by and il be wondering where the time has gone!

So far we have booked the Church as we are a member we do not have to pay a fee for the registra or the marriage certificates etc. Also have booked the venue which is a well kept village hall in a quaint village it has a big pond in front of it and was a great find for us as we are on quite a tight budget as we are also trying to find and move into our first home together.
The village hall was only £260 and that included a main hall, adjoining hall, kitchen use, a great sound system with mics, 120 plates/ side plates/ tables and chairs!
This was ideal for us as for the wedding breakfast we are having 120 to sit down and then inviting a further 50 or so to the night do.

We are a little ahead of ourselves with a year to go but we thought if we do it in advance we could have a good search for good deals and get the bulk of the big things done and we are hoping this will mean less stress nearer the day!
We managed to get a free bar to hire as the hall had contacts with him, he may be a one man band but as long as he keeps the plonk flowing i cant see there being any problems :beer:
With the chairs at the hall being the blue school chair type we opted to cover them. Warning, you will get ripped off for seat covers at nearly £2.50 a chair we were thinking we might have to for go this luxury however a bit of perseverance a tip from a friend who had a wedding there before and some searching on the internet turned up a bargain of 1.56 a chair at a company called Cover Co Ordinates. We were a little cheeky as well and asked her if this was her best offer, she knocked another £25 off. Well chuffed, and remember every little helps.

The Mother in Law works in a fabric shop so she is taking care of the bunting and the table cloths to save hire! which has been a little bit of a life saver! They have also offered some help money wise which is going to cover the cost of the chairs.
Mother in Law also offered to pay for the dresses for her two twin grandaughters who are bridesmaids for us.
My parents have offered to sort all the catering which has taken a big bulk of the budget away so we dont have to worry about that. They are doing a fork buffet and getting in touch with the local butchers for sliced meat and using Costco and Makro for other bits and bobs.

My sister in law does cakes and has kindly said that she will do our cake for us at cost which is great, cant really ask for a freebie as she is the Maid of Honour as well.

Another one of my friends is a florist and has said that she will do the flowers at cost for me, she is one of the other bridesmaids.
With flowers being so expensive and they inevitably die i decided to go for less is more having my bouquet normal, the bridesmaids with singular flowers and the ushers with simple button holes. then a spray arrangement at the church which can then be used as decoration at the venue and we arent using any flowers apart from that at the venue.
We have decided that favours was unneccessary. For centre pieces i am using glass sweetie jars (£3.50 from wilkos) and filling them with sweets so they can kinda double up as favours. then having balloons tied to the jar top.

the florists sister and another friend of mine does hair, make up and nails and has said she would love to do these for me.
Its not always what you know but who you know

My brother is a VW enthusiast and we really wanted to go in a VW camper van, the hire costs are around the £300 mark and my bro said that he can get in touch with a friend and sort the transport for us and would treat us to it as well!

Bridesmaids dresses were a problem for me because each bridesmaids is going to be in a different colour (hot pink, Turquoise, Lime and Purple) so getting the same dress in four different colours was a problem as it meant i couldnt go in the sales on the high street. so Ebay it was i suggest hiyuankitty as the dresses are simple elegant and only £35 made to measure.

I also bought my wedding shoes from there they are funky rainbow ones that i will wear again, they were £20 inc p+p.
Am thinking come jan im going to go wedding dress hunting in the sale and then like has been suggested before to try everything on and then if i find the one i love and its too much to go to ebay! there are some bargains to be had.

My best tip would be to make a plan and spread the cost so its affordable. Mum has already started buying two bottles of wine a week that are on offer for the wedding breakfast. and has been looking for bargains for decorations, cake slices etc.

If any one has any suggestions how i could make my centre pieces look funky and cool yet elegant so people realise they are centre pieces i would welcome any ideas as this is the only part that mum says she doesnt agree with.

ok i think i have rambled on for long enough! eeek so excited to be marrying the man of my dreams and cant wait for it to come!

thorsoak

It sounds as if you are going to have a wonderful wedding - with all family and friends piling in to help - which, imo, is the best sort of wedding to remember! May it be the start of a wonderful life together - and may all your plans go along swimmingly!

wkdhoney

Our wedding came in at under 5k for everything.

We got married in a church and made our own pew ends but didn't decorate in any other way.

We had the reception at Chester zoo and decorated using laterns I bought off ebay (£4 each bought in bulk) tea lights and petals. Nothing else.

For favours we had a sweetie buffet.

Food was a BBQ and dessert was the wedding cake (which came in indivdual portions)

We had 40 in the day 130 in the night. Our photographer cost £350 and we were given a cd with all the photos so we can take advantage of the snapfish offers.

We had hair and make up done at my local salon and they gave us a bottle of fizz while we were getting ready (lovely)

My top tip would be to buy what you can off ebay, gumtree, preloved, freecycle ect. Use peoples talents! DH Nan knitted us a little wedding cake with the bride and groom on top. So cute and drew lots of comments.

Flowers were from Sarah's flowers.

We didn't have a buffet in the evening but just had bacon or sausage sandwiches. We also had the wedding at 2pm so didn't need to serve food until wedding breakfast at 1800.

HTH

Hermia

My tips are:

1) Get your talented friends to contribute something to the wedding rather than give you a wedding present. E.g. At my aunt's wedding the invites and place name cards were done by my cousin who has done several calligraphy courses. A friend of mine had a wedding where almost everything was contributed by the guests.

2) Don't buy a wedding dress! My friend got married in a white bridesmaid dress. It was pretty much identical to many wedding dresses in the shop, but cost sooo much less. Another friend got married in the most beautiful white beaded dress that she bought in the Monsoon sale. It wasn't a wedding dress, but by the time she had added the flowers and accessories it totally looked like a wedding dress.

onlyroz

Have a small civil wedding, just inviting close family and 2-3 friends each, and then throw a bigger party in the evening. Don't worry about big white dresses and fancy penguin suits, flowers, music, brides maids etc etc. Just wear something pretty/smart (as appropriate depending on whether you're the bride or groom). Registry offices are the cheapest wedding venues, but you should be able to hire out somewhere a bit more interesting for an hour or two (wedding ceremonies don't have to be long) for a few hundred GBP

luckys_mum

My advice isnt of a material nature, venues, food etc. Make a plan what you and your future hubby want and let no one alter your arrangements. There is always someone who will want extra guests invited, different flowers from the ones the wedding party have, a better venue, but are not very forthcoming with the extra money to cover such requests.

Your wedding day is about the bride and groom. Have what you both want as much as you can afford and learn to say no to outside requests.

ellay864

Just wanted to say that even though you've had a lot of replies I'd still get yourself over to the weddings forum....we're a very friendly bunch over there and just LOVE talking weddings...it does get a bit addictive! You will get loads of advise on request but you'll pick up so many tips of things you hadn't even thought of just by having a nosey on there. People will often just post up special offers they've seen and throw in all kinds of ideas - not just money saving but sometimes just little quirky touches that wouldn't cross your mind. And we now almost insist on photos lol so you get to see real life examples of what people have done on quite limited budgets