London weddings-tips on how to save?

Bargain_queen_2

Hello lovelies!

Apologies if this is somewhere else and I haven't found it.
We got engaged in Nov last year and we are both from London originally (though not living there at the moment).
We are planning to have it all there (on the outskirts rather than central london) near our families June 2011, but there are always so many premiums on things that I don't think are as expensive elsewhere.
For instance, we were quite interested in the Holiday Inn £999 offer but all the ones we liked had a rubbish version of it which hardly included anything!
So what we're thinking of doing is a civil ceremony on a weekday for just family, then a meal (paid for by In-laws) afterwards.
We are having a religious ceremony on the Sat of that week (it's not legally binding so we have to do a separate legal thing anyway), then the reception for friends etc.
We are looking at going for a blank canvas type of place and I have found quite a few good ones, but prices vary a lot.
To be honest, I have been looking into places (sneakily!) for ages because I was helping my sister organise her wedding last year and getting ideas on the way, and was secretly hoping he would propose soon, and he did!

So to get back to the point, I have found a few good things so far but just wanted to see if anyone else had any fab ideas about cheap venues, but maybe other London based tips/info.
We are looking for somewhere where they provide tables and chairs, and don't mind alcohol, music and dancing (I was surprised to see how many church halls wouldn't allow these).
So fingers crossed!
Thanks in advance

Bargain_queen_2

p.s - we are aiming to have 100 for the sit down meal at the reception, then later on a few more evening guests to take it up to about 120/150. We were then going to have snacky food out for everyone in the evening.
Ideally we want some where you can take your own drinks and not be charged corkage so we can do a booze cruise!