minimum wedding spend

ianandjody

gingin wrote:

Good luck with the wedding but I do think 30k is a completely excessive amount to spend on a wedding. It is one day in your life and I hope you don't have to spend the following years sacrificing to pay it off. I am fascinated though, what do you get for £30,000?

We went to Vegas. My Mum and Dad very kindly gave us £5000 to spend on whatever wedding we wanted and so they and all the other really close people came with us. We had a brilliant laugh and have many fond memories.

Okay then let me try and list as much as i can from memory. we are very fortunate in that we have alot of help from both parents who have almost taken over the planning of it and he financial side.

Brides dress (no idea on design or exact cost!) the one she wanted was £3K
4 Bridesmades dresses @ £300 each
5 Shoes @ £300 ish each
10 Morning suits @ £50 each Bargain!!!
4 pairs of mens shoes @ £100 each
Church is about £250?
Car from Brides home to church then too reception £400
2 x Old london buses £1000
Reception for 120 people at £120 per head for food
5 x Rooms at reception for evening £1000
Our honeymoon room at reception £450
Evening Buffet for 160@ £20 per head
Flowers aprrox £2000
Band at £1000
String Quartet at £400
Photographer £2500

I am sure there are still things i have forgotten about. But scary how quickly any budget you have no matter how big or small disapears. Anyone that can keep to the budget is doing well!

Anyhow good luck with the day!

cupid_s

ianandjody wrote:

Reception for 120 people at £120 per head for food

oh my god!
what did you eat for 120 quid per person?

nuttyrockeress

I believe that there is a seller on ebay that does Monsoon "2nd's" and is supposed to be very good, and cheap.

OH and I decided to get married - (finally after 10 years of being together) whilst we were on holiday 2 weeks ago.

We are aiming to do this for as cheap as possible - well I am, OH keeps saying I deserve better (I am happy no matter how much we spend to be his wife).

I was looking for a nice ceremony - Newstead Abbey Orangary or similar for around 50 family members at about 16:00/16:30 then a big party for 150 after with a buffet and a "rock" DJ.

WE have set our date as fingers crossed 1.9.07 so I have approx 1 year for planning, saving, spending etc. Plus the biggy to loose more weight (2 stone lost so far) The dress can be left til a couple of months before So I should be around summer sale time.

The idea is to ask for Thomson vouchers for wedding gifts as we have been living togther for 7 years nearly so have most things we need.

suzithefloozy

Hi all!

For my wedding I just wanted all the friends and family that I like around me, and to have fun. I didn't want the dress, the relatives that nobody knows/likes, the stress, the colour schemes etc! I also didn't want my guests to feel like they had to spend a fortune on gifts and new outfits so I specified that it was to be relaxed - they shouldn't dress up if they didn't want to, and that we didn't need gifts (although we did still end up with about £500 in cash and various gift vouchers).
I got married a week and a half ago and most of my guests said that mine was the best wedding they'd ever been to as it was so relaxed!
I made the invitations myself by buying plain cards and envelopes off ebay, and a rubber stamp with hearts on and some red ink from a local craft shop, all of which cost me less than £35.
We had the ceremony in the local registry office (cost no more than £130) with just our parents, and my OH's brother & his partner (plus their 2 kids) as our witnesses. It was very intimate and I enjoyed it so much. My OH went there on his motorbike (he looked v sexy in his suit on his bike!) Unfortunately I couldn't go there on mine as my hair was curly and would've been ruined under a helmet - our witnesses picked me up in their mini. My Dad did most of the photos but everyone else had their cameras as well. Our rings were passed down to us from when my partner's mum married his dad, so we spent nothing there. I had some simple flowers and a small posy, which my mum's friend did for us (Mum paid).
We then went out with those people for a lovely meal at lunchtime (cost about £130).
After that we met all of our close friends and close family at a friend of ours' pub. They had decorated the pub for us, and the landlord had his own DJing equipment so did all the music himself. They charged us nothing as our guests were buying their own drinks and the pub was still open to the public too (although our guests easily outnumbered anyone else!). We borrowed some big BBQ's from friends, my mum bought lots of BBQ food and bless her, with help from my dad and a friend of theirs, she cooked for about 100 of our guests! As a bit of extra entertainment I hired some sumo suits for the evening (cost £100), me and my OH had the 'first fight' instead of the 'first dance' and everyone thought it was hilarious, and made for very good pictures! Everyone else then had a go!
Probably the most expensive part (except for the food) turned out to be me! I had my hair styled in the morning (£25) and had bought a lovely cream suit from debenhams (£250) and funky shoes (£60). My other half wore his traditional suit 'for weddings, funerals and court appearances' to the ceremony and then changed into casual clothes for the evening. I was going to go casual for the evening too until I saw the lairiest and most gorgeous dress in the window in Monsoon (£135)!
We had the best time and spent very little compared to most. I don't believe the day has to be expensive for you to enjoy it!

pozalina

I got married in April this year. We spent £8000 which was our planned budget, and we actually ended up with £200 left over!

The whole wedding budget decisions, in my view, boil down to a few factors:

1. How much you are prepared to spend (either how much you have or how much you're prepared to go into debt)

2. What are the really important things to you that you MUST have for your wedding

3. How prepared you are to compromise on your 'dream'

For DH, he wouldn't compromise on guests (110). For me it was a a scenic venue. So we just found ways to achieve those things as cheaply as poss (cheap everything else, buffet instead of sit-down meal, no drink for toast, no favours etc).

It's very easy to get carried away and think you have to have this and that but it's all the smallish things that cost £200-500 that add up to make thousands and thousands.

Good luck!

NatFeerick

My sister is getting married next year - it's practically on the scale of a Royal Wedding and my dad doesn't reckon he'll get much change out of £20k!!!! If I ever get married I would be happy to have a small Registry Office do and a meal in a restaurant with close family & a few friends.

My first tip is to go to http://www.weddingguide.co.uk/articles/planning/whopays.asp and see who's traditionally supposed to pay for what - then see what you can palm off!

Don't invite (and pay for) friends & relations who never keep in touch. Spend the money on those in your life now - the people who have supported you & your OH's relationship so far.

Ask someone in the wedding party to act as official photographer and agree to pay for 'x' number rolls of film & developing, and/or buy disposable camera's (1 per table) & ask guests to take photos and have someone collect the cameras at the end for developing. Kids are excellent with cameras & video cameras - they are small enough not to be noticed and they get some excellent natural shots because people aren't posing! You can always ask someone with a digital camera to do some formal shots of the wedding party that you can check and re-do on the spot if need be. Or consider contacting the local college to see if they have a photography student who'd like the practise and would do it for the cost of materials only & bit of free food.
I agree with other people's shopping around tips.

Cake-makers can put 'false' tiers on top of the real cake base to save money. They are basically iced cardboard cakes I think but they won't look any different - just remember to cut the right one

Limit the free bar by value NOT time - or don't have one...people always abuse it & why should they get sloshed at your expense?

See if bridesmaids parents will contribute to cost of dresses - this works especially well if dresses are being made to fit as they can keep the dresses afterwards for parties etc.

Ask people to pay or part-pay for certain items instead of buying a present? People might be just as happy to tell people they've paid for your tiara, as they would if they'd bought you a telly! They can be included in the thank you speeches so everyone knows.

I'm afraid though that the best advice I can give anyone is that if you can't afford the wedding you want you either have to compromise on what you want according to what you can afford, or accept you can't afford to get married yet.

Rachie_B

joscar that sounds fabulous

ianjody pmsl u do realise this is a money SAVING forum dont you ? lol

£300 for bridesmaid shoes ??? you're aving a laugh?!

even if i was loaded i dont think i could justify spending that much on shoes for one day lol

i would love to be a guest tho ;)it sounds fab !

KEZZAE_2

We got married in June 2004 in the Austrian Alps. Only five of us went (me, OH, my sister, sisters partner, my brother). The cost for all five of us including flights to Salzburg, accommodation for 5 nights half board, weddding fees, music at wedding, photos at resort and at waterfall in Bad Gastein, horse and carriage ride through national park, from memory I think this cost about 3,500.00 pounds
Brides dress 600 pounds from Pronuptia
Brides Tiara Amanda Wyatt - free, won in a competion
Brides Shoes 60 pounds - bought on internet
Bridal Jewellery 50 pounds - bought on internet
Brides hair and nails 100 pounds
Bridesmaids dress 200 pounds (100 pounds paid by bridesmaid)
Bridesmaids shoes 20 pounds - Debenhams
Suit hire for groom, best man and sisters partner - approx 200 pounds
Grooms shoes - 30 pounds
Bridesmaids and best mans gifts - approx 50 pounds
Wedding rings - matching his and hers from Ernest Jones - Approx 250 pounds, my husbands ring may have to be replaced as our darling labrador has chewed it and it looks more like a figure of eight now..... (extra 150 pounds)
Party including disco and food for when we got back - paid for by parents

I am thinking of selling my dress, tiara, shoes etc so if anyone would like to buy it then please feel free to PM me. The corset and skirt is a size 12, the shoes are a size 6. Only worn twice.

Good luck to whoever is planning a wedding. I'd recommend where we got married, it was so nice.

Kez

france

No need for groom, best man, etc to hire a posh suit. If they haven't got something decent already, then maybe now is the time to buy a good suit, but it is not essential. Ditto wedding dress and bridesmaids' dresses - they can all choose something they like (so long as they look good all together!), a dress they would genuinely want to use afterwards.
Why wedding cars? Maybe a friend has a nice car and would be thrilled to be asked to drive you to the church/registry office. Why a posh cake? What about a really elegant display of cheeses on a board, whch would be 'cut' and then used as the dessert, or a huge tower of cup-cakes?

Penelope_2

When I got married for the 2nd time we did it on a shoe string. Peter got a second-hand suit, I bought a dress I could wear again that was smart and functional (I'm not 2nd hand size, being 5ft 10inches tall n all). We all had flowers, married at the registry office, and photos were no problem as there were 3 lots of photographers amongst the 'guests'. The catering was resolved by finding a lovely venue, where the food was good, getting menus to suit all potential preferences and then sending out the invitations with the 'guests' being invited to pay for their own meals! Nearly everyone invited attended, were happy with their food and wine and the costs for us were minimal. Just as well as at the time Pete was just setting up his on-line business (so no income there!) and I was working part-time. We had no savings, the ring we had bought when we had been flush a quite a few months earlier and in Mexico. (I'm very pleased with it, it's a unique design, 14ct gold and cost around £50). The day was a great success and people travelled from all over the UK to help us celebrate. I think all in all it cost us around £200.

I suppose it really depends upon your expectations and your willingness to work with what's available. We knew there was NO WAY we could afford to pay for a grand reception or the photographer. It was a relaxed and informal wedding. The photos we got given to us were fabulous and you can tell that it was a happy day.

Whatever you decide, the most important thing is that you love each other, you can talk to each other about money (LOL), and your wedding day is a happy one, with people you know. The rest of it is trimmings. You've heard it before, YOU CAN'T BUY HAPPINESS.