Please can anybody help me with my budget

danilou1910

Hi Suzie,

I bought all my Bridesmaid dresses and flower girls dresses custom made from ebay. The dresses I loved in the shops were in excess of 150 each. But from ebay I paid 35 for BM dresses and 25 for flower girls and they were amazing every1 commented on them. They were made to they specific size and in any colour I wanted and I even negotiated a discount for buying more than 1.

Also bought my original dress from ebay which was also amazing but when we cancelled and rebooked for halloween I thought black wuld have been over the top for the day but regret a lil selling now.

I then bought my actual dress in the sale a wedding shp and got a 1600 dress for 300 and paid 100 for alterations. Got flowers off ebay and they were fab paid 150 and that included my bouquet, six bm bouquets, 8 button holes, 4 corsages and 4 hairslips to match for my bm's

I made all my own invites etc and that made it even more special, also made all my own favours. All in all i saved thousands by being thrifty and I loved all of it. My brother and sister in law got married 1 and 2 years before us and spent well over 10,000 each and everyone said how amazing our day was.

Oh and for men's suits I hired them locally and got 6 suits for 300 as the grooms was free and they all looked very handsome (if I do say so myself)

If you want I can give you some links to the ebay sellers I used as I would highly recommend them

Here's a link to my wedding pics, so you can see the bridesmaid dresses etc to see what I mean about the quality

Sorry suzie, as i'm a new member i can't paste a direct link to my photobox album, but if you go to photobox.co.uk and search the album number 238393913 it will bring it up.

the password for the pics is mrsscorer

DayDreamSaver

Hi Suzie

I just wanted to say 'hi' and well done for everything you have achieved already. Someone else has already mentioned checking out the wedding forum - there are some really good ideas.

Its not about 'making do' with things like flowers and your dress - but thinking carefully about how to spend the money!! My friend got married on a shoe string a few years ago and we had so much fun planning it. Every evening for a month was spent making little boxes, and we put homemade sweets in for favors, flowers were a lovely bunch from the florists bought the day before and tied herself with ribbon (never say the word wedding and the cost stays low!). Her dress was bought in the sale at about 30% of the original price, although the women in the shop was very concerned about her wearing 'last seasons style' - how on earth can a meringue date?? She looked stunning and it was the best day of her life.

And of course - the old style board is brilliant for cutting food shopping bills. I am saving a small fortune, and my OH thinks I have turned in a domestic goddess!!

DDS

Suziebear_3

Thanks dani i shall go and have a look, your day sounds just lovely:) Please can you let me know the links of the ebay sellers as i think that should be my next step, making sure i can everything as cheap as poss. I already negotiated a good deal for the cake so im really happy with that as i made sure i was being thrifty anyway and used a local supplier.

Happy to get everything else off ebay, ill have to try a couple of wedding dresses on in the shops first though for me to get an idea of the kind of dress that looks nice on me and then search on ebay.

Like i said the actual wedding, registrar fees, meal, entertainment and bridal suite for the wedding night are already booked and paid for, i dont need a car to arrive in as im staying at the country club the night before (we are having our wedding and reception there). So all i need is a bouquet for me, flowers for 3 bridesmaids, 4 button hole flowers for the men and maybe some flowers for the top table if i can afford.

The suits for 4, 3 bridesmaid dresses, dress for me, invites and someone cheap to come and do my hair and job is a good un!. Weve asked for money for our wedding present so hopefully will be able to go on a honeymoon but if not then at least we are married which is the best thing anyway:)

Also had a quote for £180 for 50 chair covers and sashes, swags for the top table and registrars table and a huge balloon arch which i thought was fab, i really bartered them down, i understand these are purely luxuries and not necessaties so will have to see if i can afford that at the time xx

danilou1910

i'll fish the links out for the shops but i'll have to PM them to you tomorrow. I also searched on ebay and found a fab deal on chairs covers. I got 110 covers and sashes, 12 table runners, a swag for top table with fairy lights and a back drop for the wall which just looked amazing for the night time.

I paid 2 pound each for cover and sash with setup and collection, and 125 (half price) for table swag and linda the lady threw in the wall swag (which should have been 350 quid on it's own) and all the runners in as well and even helped on the day with setup. It's amazing how helpful some people are.

You will get there in the end, and it will be fab and worth it and you will have al you lil ones there to celebrate with you.

We we given cash for pressies as well and we used it to o on a familymoon as we hadn't took our son way for 2 years on holiday and it was lovely having time together without al the stress of money on our heads.

Leading upto the big day, if there is anything I can be of help with just PM me

I'll get those ebay sellrs across for you as soon as I can

danilou1910

Pardon the horrendous typing it's late my mind and my laptop are running low on fuel :rofl:

RoxieW

What style of wedding dress are you looking for Susie and what size are you? Think tkmax, debenhams, bhp etc. They're really are some beautiful dresses available on the high street.
For bridesmaids think outside the box. I bought some beautiful dresses in the oasis sale for ten pounds each. The after Xmas sales would be perfect timing for you.

hackedoffatthem

Suziebear wrote: »

until he can start school in sept 2011. Also his nursery is only £240 as i only pay for him to go half day plus he gets 3 hours of childcare free as he is 3. For the baby they wont allow half day as i work past 12 midday and i will get no free hours, im looking at around £400 childcare for that baby when it comes and thats just for a childminder:(

'Just' for a childminder?

charming! I'm offended because we are just as qualified and regulated as nurseries and have to adhere to exactly the same rules/regs and paperwork as them. But get paid less.....

pelirocco

Suziebear wrote: »

Ok update is this, we have cut the driving lessons, it wouldnt be viable to spread our council tax over 12 months until the beginning of the next council tax year (they said to ring in February to arrange that) as it wouldnt really cut our costs, we already had the 2 months without any payments (as we chose to pay over 10 months) and they would need to change the direct debit date, currently we pay on the 31st of each month whereas they would need to change it to the 5th so we would have to stump up £100 at the end of August plus £100 immediately after on 5th September which we cant afford and it would only knock our monthly payments down by £10. It will be worth doing it next year though.

We tried to switch our home phone from BT to 02 but they refused my partner as he didnt pass the credit rating, on inspection though it seems we may be better off with post office for our home phone so i will try with them and we are looking into cutting the cost of our electricity and gas although we are finding it difficult to find a cheaper deal x

The ''cheaper deals'' are a bit of a red herring , they will quote you less each month but its really the usage you need to cut down on

Suziebear_3

Sorry hacked off i didn't mean to offend, of course childminders are just as good as nurseries, i just wanted to point out that even with the lower price that a childminder charges compared to a nursery that it will still be really expensive for us, we are having a childminder for this baby though:)

How else can i cut down on usage pelirocco, at the moment with it being summer the heating is off, the only time gas gets used is to heat any water up, if im having a bath or washing up etc which isnt done excessively and electric wise we are out most of the day time and i try and switch things off at the plug but we do watch tv at night and have the living room light on for a few hours and also the landing light as my son wont sleep without it on x

RAS

Suzie

Re the fuel costs:

1. Are you using energy saving lamps - over the year you will SAVE ABOUT £7-12 per lamp.
2. What temperature is the water set at? Make sure it is no higher than 60 degrees.

Check your fridge and freezer. There was a programme where the chap discovered that his old fridge was using £30 per month.