My wedding plans, any ideas appreciated

Jay-Jay_4

We had mini boxes of chocs on each place setting instead of favours, went to Woolies and spent a tenner for 20 boxes of Elizabeth Arden chocs. Not neccessary but was a nice touch.

The_Saving_Man

black-saturn wrote:

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

My sis did this at her wedding, and it was really good. She plonked a disposable camera on every table at the wedding and printed up on the computer a note from her and my brother-in-law, asking people to take pics and show what a good time they're having. Most of the time, these are the best photos from the day. If you do this, look out now for 3 for 2's or BOGOFs in Boots, Tesco, Asda, as this can save you a lot of money.

It's also nice to have an 'official' photographer and video guy. In terms of my sis's wedding, we got a cousin who's a talented and enthusiastic amateur in and that saved a bomb. I would suggest you do something similar with the photographer. Take someone who's either a student or a recent graduate of photography, as they need he gigs and will probably give you a good price if they can use some of the pics in their portfolio. Just make sure you check out their portfolio beforehand, as every student has a different style, and by the sounds of things, someone who takes less conventional photos might be right up your street. If you're lucky get either your student/graduate to recommend a fellow student/graduate, and then try and get a combined price!;)

Hope that helps.

black-saturn

Wow, thanks for the suggestions again.

I've just ordered some notelets off ebay which ask people to keep the proposed date free. At least then I will know that no one will book a holiday.

Rachie_B

i wouldnt send save the dates out til about a yr - 18 months beforehand though either as they may get lost / put away somewhere and forgotten about lol

we had save the date magnets so everyone had them on their fridge !

black-saturn

Rachie_B wrote:

we had save the date magnets so everyone had them on their fridge !

Great idea thanks.

newlywed

We had M&S celebration cakes and everyone asked who made the cake!

We bought a stand on ebay and i sold it after the wedding, same with the cake knife - got back half the money I'd paid so still cheaper than hiring the stand. We decorated the cake with sugar craft flowers (from ebay).

We had a buffet meal and in the invitations asked anyone that wanted to contribute food towards it to telephone a duly nominated friend. Then we did a trip to france for the booze and saved loads (especially if you book this ages in advance on the ferry and go off season eg not school hols). We had an immense amount of food and no-one thought twice about bringing food and everyone commented how lovely the spread was.

We got paper tablecloths and napkins from the internet to decorate the tables, along with silk rose petals (ebay) and plastic wine glasses (Party Plastics). That meant it could all go in the bin and there was less to wash up!

leni

Hi

I'm a level 1 qualified cake decorator and by 2008 I'll be fully qualified :j I've just done a wedding cake for a same sex couple who wanted something very undertstated (my first wedding cake) and I charged £80 for a cake they brought me a photo of that should have cost £250 - why not have a look for novice cake decorator at your local college!?

I also used the froums on both confetti.co.uk and hitched.co.uk for more great ideas and theirs loads of people willing to help search for the lowest priced!

Tondella

I've come over here from your menu-planning/shopping list thread - but not to have a go!!!

I think everyone has said it already, so I'll just add some general comments. What I have learnt from planning my own wedding (six weeks to go!) is that things are cheaper if you keep them as simple as possible, so ditch anything that doesn't count (favours, place cards, expensive champagne, getting everyone in the same clothes, orders of service, personalised invites, candles and table decorations).

You've got plenty of time and a good idea of what you want for bridesmaid dresses, your own outfit etc, so make good use of the sales (monsoon, debenhams evening wear, BHS, TK Maxx)

You tend to find a lot of corset style tops in the sales after Christmas, especially in the colours you are after. If it is just a simple net skirt that you are after then it might be more satisfactory to have one made up, local fabric shops will carry the cards of dressmakers (if you are anywhere in the london/kent area i could recommend)

I've just been to a budget wedding, registry office ceremony with one bridesmaid followed by "do" in a local pub, taxi for the bride and groom, small hot and cold buffet, pub allowed them to bring in their own sparkling white wine, guests paid for else at the bar, groom organised some tunes to play over the pub's PA system. I made fairy cakes as the wedding cake, but I would recommend going for the traditional M&S fruit/sponge cakes - much less fuss! Loads of people took digital photographs, so the bride has a lovely collection now. If you go for the wedding-themed disposable cameras then the quality can be poor but we have found 24 exposure disposable cameras in Argos (a lilca colour) with Agfa 400 film in, which should give a better quality.

kal25

black-saturn wrote:

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.

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

I do not see what is so different about having a family party in a back garden, after all isn't this what receptions are anway? The difference being most invite distant relatives (most never met) and friends/colleagues,just to make up numbers. And if it's going to save money on booking a hall, then it is all good. I got married in a registry office but can not remember how much it was (8yrs ago!!) I think it was around £50?

Have you looked on ebay for wedding dress as I think I have seen some similar to your pic? For getting to the registry office we asked a friend with a nice silver car to take me and my sisters bf took bridesmaids. Do you not know anyone who could do this? Otherwise best thing may be to ring around wedding cars they may give you cheap rate if you have one for you and one for bridesmaids.

My FIL got married last year,he and the new missus brought tesco wedding cake and brought the tier things and some flowers from the town market. To look at it you would not have known the difference,obviously cheaper than buying 'proper' wedding cake.

Hope these ideas have helped,will look on thread to see how you get on and hope you get the date you want. The honeymoon sounds really good too.

kal25

black-saturn wrote:

Can you book these things even if you don't know the exact date? I want to get going but it's so frustrating not knowing when the date is. I know what date I want but if I can't get it and I've booked everything it will be a disaster.

You may be able to ring and ask if they have the perticular date in mind available and if they could pencil you in for booking your bus/transport .They may be able to do this if they book that far ahead and then you can call back once definetly booked that date at registry office. Just a thought.