Reducing wedding costs without sacrificing what we want...

Katie-Kat-Kins

Haggling is easy!

Get all the details and shop around for the best deal, then pick the supplier you want to work with most. Ask them what the best deal they can offer you is, at this point add in any negotiating points like it not being outside main season. Then say, hmmm well I've had another quote that is £xxx can you beat that? Hopefully they say yes and you have got yourself a good old discount.

Don't be afraid to say you need to go away and think about it, or to say well our max budget is £xxx what could you do for us within that (so your florist might say that she can do what you want but for that price you would have to have more greenery or change one of the more expensive flower types).

You will soon get into the swing of it.

We haggled on everything, we got a discount on the venue, and on the photos, I got money off my dress, in fact the only places it didn't work were the caterers who basically said that they could shave a bit off by changing some of the dishes but staff was the major cost and that couldn't be reduced and the suit hire as that was fixed price and there was already a special offer on.

Firemunchkin

Katie-Kat-Kins wrote: »

Ok I got married a year ago, we had a fabulous venue and an amazing wedding for about half what you are budgeting and it didn't feel like a compromise at all.

Some of these are things I did some things friends did:

1. £1500 should be more than enough for your entire outfit, you can get a pretty amazing dress for £1000. It was an area where I didn't want to compromise and I found that most designer dresses did not come to much more than this. If you stay away from "bridal" retailers for shoes, underwear and jewellery this should easily be possible. Noted - I'll shop around in sales to keep the cost down and will try this 'haggling' malarky with the designer for the dress!

2. Do not bother with a pro to do your make up, this is expensive and you can easily do it yourself with a bit of help from a friend and some you tube tutorials. Same with your hair. Ok - will do!

3. Not many approved venues will let you have your own caterers, it might be worth exploring how the costs compare if you have one venue for the wedding and another for the reception, but weigh it against the cost of having transport. Consider venues that do not have their own "in house" caterers. They may restrict you to their preferred outside caterers but they are likely to be more flexible. We used a stately home and they had approved caterers who were dead flexible. Look at conference centres and concert halls as well as traditional wedding venues as they are often more flexible.
Some venues have 'preferred outside providers' but will allow us to bring in someone else for a fee, I'm loath to pay them for sorting my own food out! I'm going to hunt around and find a venue where we can bring our own booze and food, and if we can't manage that then I'll try negotiating. I might have to come back for more tips on this though.

4. Forget Champagne, a good asti or prosecco will do the job and your guests will neither notice or care. Or if you want to cut costs further consider bucksfizz.

5. Don't do money behind the bar or a free bar, it is bound to be abused. If you want to treat your guests to more than wine with the meal print out drinks tokens and use them as part of your table decorations/favours. Limit it to draught/wine/single spirits. Or just lay on more champagne or wine.
The friends we have who we are inviting are not the sort to abuse our generosity, that's why they're our friends and why they're invited, they wouldn't be otherwise. I like your idea of limiting it to single spirits though.

6. You haven't mentioned a wedding car, consider how you will get to your venue. Personally I drove myself and then changed at the venue so we didn't need cars but consider it.
No, I've realised I have lots holes in our budgeting - I would like a classic car but I'll have to look at costs for this.

7. Is a bespoke suit necessary, will your fiance get his wear out of it? Is he bothered about one? If not ditch it. One of my friends bought a new suit for her fiance as part of the wedding budget but he needed a new suit anyway and would wear it for interviews, and smart functions out of work. My husband would never get much wear out of a suit so we rented him a fab one - he didn't feel left out because we had spent £1k on my dress. A bespoke suit is unlikely to cost that much unless you go for a known designer, you could probably do this for £500, or an off the peg one for less.
No, I don't think he would mind, but he will get lots of use out of it over the years. A good tailored suit can last for 10 years or more, and that's something I think would be very nice for him to have.

8. You haven't mentioned outfits for best man or bridesmaids, if they are going to fund them then fine but make sure they understand this in advance. If not include it in your budget.
We're not having bridesmaids or best man or maid of honour, its not really our style.

9. Cake - consider making it yourself, or buying from asda and decorating it yourself. You could serve it instead of dessert to save money.
I might ask my mum to bake a victoria sponge cake - or his mum, not sure yet.

10. You haven't mentioned flowers.
No, well I don't see the point of them really, I mean, centre pieces can be nice but they're not essential. If we have a little extra money then we might do some potted plants for centre peices (something which can be given as gifts maybe to family, or at least not costs wasted!) I will, though, have a small bouquet but that won't cost more than £30/£40 at the very most.

11. Table centres can be done very cheaply yourself if you are feeling creative. We had the florist do ours, but shop around, the quotes we had for pretty much the same thing varied wildly, and some required us to buy our own vases.
As above, I'm not worrying too much about these, its a non-essential extra so we'll probably get some cheap crystals or something off the internet closer to the time. I'm also not fussed massively on decorations. Should I be?

12. Entertainment, you do not need to spend this. Some venues will include a DJ in their package, if they don't you can get a decent DJ for less than £300. Shop around, try your local pubs rather than looking for people who advertise for weddings. I would think again regarding facepaints, very messy and actually not that much fun for kids. You don't need to provide other entertainment, people can entertain themselves chatting or dancing. If you have lots of kids to invite you could look into a kiddies entertainer who does lots of different things or you could consider doing "party bags" with things to keep them quiet.
You're right - I have no idea how much DJs cost! I do have friends who are a DJ outfit and I think they charge around £300 for a night, but thinking about it, its not really the sort of music I want for my wedding. A big night out perhaps, but this isn't the right place. Does anybody have recommendations for wedding DJs in the London area?

13. Why are you paying £500 for a car for his gran? Can't she go on a coach or train? Or could you just pay a friend or family member petrol for collecting her?
His gran will be 98 when the wedding comes, she's frail but they have a very very close relationship. She won't cope on the train to London, and most certainly not the tube. We will see if a family member can bring her but they all have children and their cars will probably be full. Not sure what his mum is doing though, we'll see if she doesn't mind driving up. You're right though, could easily save money here.

14. Photographer should be possible for less than £1000 - shop around and haggle over the price and the package. Consider a deal where you get your photos on disc only and make your own album.
Good idea. But I do want someone reliable, this is going to be the only visual memory of our big day and I want it to be as good as possible. Is it sometimes the case where you pay for what you get?

15. Honeymoon, £5k is a lot, could you do something amazing for £3k? I bet you could if you shopped around and compromised on minor things. It would be a big saving too. I wouldn't go that night, you would miss the end of the wedding and it would be really stressful being all ready to fly off on the day. Have a night at your venue or a nearby hotel and go home and finish packing the next day and fly the day after that and save your stress levels!
It is a lot, but that £5k takes into account spending money as well. When I am on holiday I don't like to scrimp and save, I'm on holiday and I want to have a good time. It is a big expense but I'm hoping we'll manage it.

16. The really big saving will be by cutting your numbers, tot it up and see if you can cut back. Not inviting cousins or not inviting work colleagues could save you hundreds and people do understand that numbers are limited to weddings these days. Ask yourself whether you want this person there enough to spen getting on for £100 on them!
Its funny how you reassess relationships with people when it comes to working out whether you want to spend this kind of money on them! I have looked at the list and can potentially cut it by 20 people. @ £50 a head that's a saving of £1,000!!!

17. You haven't included anything for invitations and stationary or for postage!
Nope, another hole in the budget. I will shop in the sales for the invitations and we'll print the inserts ourselves. I'm quite nifty on the PC and I did my mum's 50th birthday invites last year and they looked brilliant. Postage I didn't think about but I do have tonnes of 1st class stamps at home that I haven't used, so I'll save those for that possibly.

I think you need to revisit your budget and make sure you have included everything and then ask yourself whether each item is a must have, a would like to have but can compromise on, or a don't need.

Consider also where you can save without anyone noticing or with least effect. So people will notice and be affected by poor food or a boring venue but they won't notice whether your shoes were designer ones with bows to match your dress or just generic white ones from new look. They will notice whether they are kept adequately watered but not whether your are giving them vintage champagne or a decent sparkling wine.

Most people do not remember a wedding because it was the one with a face painter or a magician or a cartoon artist and they don't expect this stuff, they don't even remeber if the DJ is any good, or whether the napkins matched. They remember nice surroundings, good food, good company, a couple in love and a happy bride.

Good luck!

You've been most constructive, I really appreciate it!

sparkleworld

have you considered approaching your local college to see if any of their up and coming fashion designers would be interested in giving you a quote. I used to work with a student who supplemented her income with a part time supermarket job but her true passion was in couture (sp?) she brought some of her work in to show me and it was phenomenal! boned bodicing -the lot!
Worth asking!-
Try not to mention the word "Wedding" when enquiring about stuff especially floral decorations- its seems to give licence to add soooo much to the price, try it out ring and ask for wedding floral quotes and then ring on another day with a disguised voice for just floral table arrangements;)

Are there any vintage rallies near you - this is the time of year!
Only the businesses tend to go to wedding fayres so you could get the car of your dreams quite a bit cheaper just by slepping around a field and enthusing loudly within earshot of its proud owner.

Make your own invites- If you look through my past posts I made my sisiter in laws invites - admittedly they were quite intricate but that was because I could do that type of thing -pm for advise on these if you want- will gladly try and help!Or i can at least send you links for inspiration.

I agree with previous poster about the face painter NOOOOO !!
If your having a DJ what about suggesting a mini disco for them at the start of the evening, hopefully thet will all be worn out then so the adults get an easier time of it later on.
Again try approaching a local band that you've heard good things about.

Your local council should have a list of venues registered to to carry out weddings to save you slepping round each one just see if its online -Google may help there


Visit wedding fayres even if to get inspiration camera phone at the ready- not to plaguerise their design but to give you ideas.

Hope I haven't been to overbearing

Luv 'n' Rainbows
* Sparkle*

Firemunchkin

Blade26 wrote: »

Munchkin are there any regsitry offices that you would consider? My friends got married in Rickmansworth or Watford I think it was last year, their photos at the REgistry Office looked nice. They had their reception here http://loudwaterfarm.co.uk/ and we all camped, it was beautiful.

Think outside the box is my advice, think about places you have seen or been that may consider doing your reception. My sister had hers at a local museum which had never even considered hring space before, 3 years later a huge part of their business is wedding receptions.

Blade26

Wow, this is an amazing idea. Remember I said we want to be somewhere where we have connections - well I went to school in Rickmansworth. I know it well, its very pretty, its perfect! The Farm looks stunning and isn't mega expensive. I'm following that one up now, thank you so so much.

I'm struggling to find the registry office in Rickmansworth though, any chance you could get some more info?

LondonBoy

Hi,
We had similar issues as yourself in the beginning. We wanted a Barn too for 100 day guests. We are based in Middlesex (expensive) and have 20 guests travelling from Ireland who we want to keep costs down for. We started by looking local and then spiralled out an hour. From my experience Surrey Middlesex border was cheaper as at weekend the business type commuter hotels are empty but few barns. Id suggest looking at areas like this in east London and see what's about Barn wise.

Business areas of Central/East London like Farringdon as these are dead at weekends. These turned out to be cheaper then middlesex/Hertfordshire so worth a look if the Barn idea is not a deal breaker. Next up we looked at unusual place like the London Canal Museum, very cheap but too small for us, Is in East London so may be of use to you?

Finally we settled on Bedfordshire as easy for the Irish people, (Ryanair, into Luton and 20 min cab ride) cheaper venues and only an hour from Middlesex for our local guests with cheap hotels for overnight stays. We got and venue for free and £76 a head all inclusive package.

I found the most efficient method of finding venues is to get a map and search specific towns one at a time working out from you preferred location. General searches on things like "Wedding Barn East London " will only bring up the venues that can afford to promote themselves, these will generally be the most expensive. better to do "Wedding Barn Upminster" or "Venue Hire Barking" or "Dry Bar Venue Mile End" "Wedding BBQ Venue"

Next up you need to create a venue eveluation tool (excel spreadsheet) and benchmark each venues prices for like for like comparisons Do this first with published prices then with the short listed venues their true prices.
We started off thinking what we wanted would cost 20k but have got it down to 14k now all in without losing any quality. Its all about getting to know what is a good price, what's value for money and what stuff you really don't require.

Blade26

Firemunchkin wrote: »

Wow, this is an amazing idea. Remember I said we want to be somewhere where we have connections - well I went to school in Rickmansworth. I know it well, its very pretty, its perfect! The Farm looks stunning and isn't mega expensive. I'm following that one up now, thank you so so much.

I'm struggling to find the registry office in Rickmansworth though, any chance you could get some more info?

Will do, the grounds are amazing, there is a brook which runs down one side and all around are fields, but yet you are soooo close to civilisation LOL!

It might have been Watford Registry Office, but I will defintaely find out

Blade26

Firemunchkin

LondonBoy wrote: »

Hi,
We had similar issues as yourself in the beginning. We wanted a Barn too for 100 day guests. We are based in Middlesex (expensive) and have 20 guests travelling from Ireland who we want to keep costs down for. We started by looking local and then spiralled out an hour. From my experience Surrey Middlesex border was cheaper as at weekend the business type commuter hotels are empty but few barns. Id suggest looking at areas like this in east London and see what's about Barn wise.

Business areas of Central/East London like Farringdon as these are dead at weekends. These turned out to be cheaper then middlesex/Hertfordshire so worth a look if the Barn idea is not a deal breaker. Next up we looked at unusual place like the London Canal Museum, very cheap but too small for us, Is in East London so may be of use to you?

Finally we settled on Bedfordshire as easy for the Irish people, (Ryanair, into Luton and 20 min cab ride) cheaper venues and only an hour from Middlesex for our local guests with cheap hotels for overnight stays. We got and venue for free and £76 a head all inclusive package.

I found the most efficient method of finding venues is to get a map and search specific towns one at a time working out from you preferred location. General searches on things like "Wedding Barn East London " will only bring up the venues that can afford to promote themselves, these will generally be the most expensive. better to do "Wedding Barn Upminster" or "Venue Hire Barking" or "Dry Bar Venue Mile End" "Wedding BBQ Venue"

Next up you need to create a venue eveluation tool (excel spreadsheet) and benchmark each venues prices for like for like comparisons Do this first with published prices then with the short listed venues their true prices.
We started off thinking what we wanted would cost 20k but have got it down to 14k now all in without losing any quality. Its all about getting to know what is a good price, what's value for money and what stuff you really don't require.

We have done loads of searching on the internet and there are several lovely looking barns out east, although some are really quite far out. We don't really have any connection to Essex, apart from the fact its the next county over!

The London Canal Museum looks lovely, and we're not after a huge wedding anyway, so the size looks ideal. We can bring our own caterers and booze, and its riverside - price is reasonable too. Could be a winner! Thanks for the tip!

So far, since this morning, we've managed to cut our costs back by approximately £5k/£6k, just by listening to everyone's helpful tips and firm attitudes!

LondonBoy

The London Canal Museum - and you can get a canal boat or london bus to transport guests.

You need some vison looking at the photos, some to the colour scemes are awful and the websie design is poor but when you look through that its nice.

Allso looked at Dorest Square near Barker Street Station . Lovely place, cheap, own caterers but again too small

spadoosh

Just been to my sisters wedding which was pretty cool! She had a roulette table and blackjack which seemed to go down a treat. That was set up after the ceremony but before hte night guests (bit of a lul in things to do) Dunno how expensive entertainment is in london but a dj in north west would cost most £500. you should be able to find loads of good entertainment your way though, scowl the streets for buskers and street entertainers! u might need to tidy em up a bit though first

Really think youll struggle to find a venue that will do weddings that will not have a bar already (except maybe a church). And if they do have a bar they almost certainly will not let you bring your own staff and ale. Most guests know that they will have to pay a bit for the drinks thats just the nature of weddings, id prop up your close friends and family but certainly not the night do

Woodyrocks

We had money behind the bar, £400 I think and there was £237 left at the end of the night unspent!

Your drinks bill can be cut for sure. We had cava instead of champagne and we got Austins instead of Pimms. We got wine for the wedding b/fast from majestics calculating how much you need by guest will save you buying too much and the rest can be taken to the bar for the reception.

Our most expensive cost was food. Caterer came attached with venue so no choice really but food was amazing and the service and everything else that came with it was top-class.

My 2 dress, 5 bridesmaid dresses and 4 flower girl dresses came in at a shockingly low price. Look to getting things made abroad if you have time. See Milly's Bridal thread on here.

Send Dave The Dates by email and use 2nd class stamps for invites. Do RSVP by email too.

Invites try and do it yourself but also consider independents. See ETSY.com

For cake & florists also use independents. Get on wedding forums, they will be your saving grace, trust me! Also, you will be able to pick local brains by targeting your threads.

Also allow for a 15% non-take-up rate. You will end up paying for food that will not get eaten. FACT. Some people will end up not being able to come at short notice.

We had children's entertainers instead of crèche services. It worked up way cheaper and the kids had a lot of fun. I can supply details if you want by PM.

It is possible to get an amazing photog' for what you have budgeted. We did

The money we spent on the DJ & string quartet could have been spent on something more original and really engaged the crowd, so do give that some thought before you drop £1000+ on it.