Engaged.... and STUCK THERE!

jade-evie

My boyfriend of 4 years proposed to me last week on holiday and now I have my feet back on English soil I've realised I have to plan the biggest day of my life!

I would like a church wedding in a local chuch which by the sounds of it is simple enough as I live in the parish and my parents also wed at the church I want to get married at

Ideally I would like to get married in August or September 2011 so plenty of time to plan and book etc etc... I hope! If I phoned and booked tomorrow (which I wont do but for examples sake...!) would I have to pay the full bill upfront?

My mum is a florist which is quite handy and a lot of the wedding will be DIY- buffet food not a sit down meal, a DJ rather than a band and I am going to make the decorations myself.

I haven't decided about dresses yet. I have 4 very good friends who I would love to be bridesmaids and a little girl who will definately be a flower girl... I also have a little cousin who I would like to be a flowergirl to- do I formally ask them (or rather her parents... she's 2!)

So... where do I start? My budget is £5000 but I would like to spend less than that! I'm getting a spreadsheet ready as we speak...!:rotfl:

Lexxi

£5000 is a good budget. Very few places would ask you to pay your bill upfront, usually you pay a deposit then the outstanding amount anything from 1 week to 60 days before the wedding.
Excel does have it's own speadsheet, if you go to new and budgets there is a wedding budget template, I found it helpful as there were things I kept forgeting to include.
Congratulations too!

Horace

Remember when it comes to paying deposits use a credit card or a cheque never ever pay cash.

Also when it comes your wedding reception - check the T&Cs so that if you put your deposit down and then you find somewhere else then you are unlikely to have the deposit returned.

Dresses - wait til September as this is when the shops have their sales.

xtinkersx

Sorry to hijack but why when paying deposits use cheque or card? Is this for protection or proof?

bubbles0169

its both tinker with cheque there is a paper trail of you handing over the money incase they pull a fast one and credit cards give you the 'money back over a certain amount spent' rule

frannyann

xtinkersx wrote: »

Sorry to hijack but why when paying deposits use cheque or card? Is this for protection or proof?

always aim to pay with a credit card (but pay off the balance in full!!) This means you are covered by section 75 which means the card provider is equally liable should the good/services not arrived or company goes bust, the card provider will refund you and then it is down to them to recover the money! :money:

frannyann

bubbles0169 wrote: »

its both tinker with cheque there is a paper trail of you handing over the money incase they pull a fast one and credit cards give you the 'money back over a certain amount spent' rule

Spot on, as long as the total value of goods or services is above £100 the card provider is liable even if the amount paid by the credit card is only 10p

talulahbeige_2

Also make sure you have insurance, it's cheap and worth it even just for piece of mind. (Avoid E&L tho, there rubbish!)

kr15snw

Also get yourself a card with a cashback / points deal

Our entire wedding / holiday is going on our Amex (thanks Martin ) and we get 5% cashback. Should get a nice little amount at the end

Have you had any thoughts on Venues?