DIY versus All-inc package

cherryJ

Hello all....I'm looking for some advice/tips/stories basically....if you had a wedding which was either

* one of the all-inclusive packages - ie at a hotel or similar where more or less everything is organised for you for one price (like the recent £1k deals)

or

* a complete DIY, where you organised your own food, entertainment etc and basically just hired a hall or somewhere.

At the moment Im trying to decide between the two! Obviously the all-inc is much less hassle and easier to sort out, but I like the idea of doing it myself!

Any info would be much appreciated

vicki+1

i had an old english inns package for £1000, whilst you can't dispute its good value, i had a few issues with mine with the organisation of it. At least if you do it yourself you organise it, you choose food, drink etc etc. With one of the packages you are restricted to there menu choices, there food packages, there disco, which plays there music etc etc. Although it is obviously more hassle and can end up more expensive doing it yourself

curlylou1986

Hiya,
we looked into the £1000 deals that were around at the holiday inn etc, as much as they are good with everything included the only other thing is that when you add extra guests to the package they come in at full normal cost - so for us in the long run it still come up very expensive.
We are doing it all seperatly, will put rouhgly what we paying/paid so far for each;
Hall - £200, local rugby club
Wedding breakfast - £250max (having fish and chips!)
Pudding - £120 (ice cream van turning up!!)
DJ - £120 (someone OH used to work with long time ago doing it)
Evening buffet - £250max. This is being part done by ourselves, and part by a friends parents.

We reckon will be about 50 guests for the day and up to extra £50 in evening depending.

It is a lot more work as we have had to be looking around and asking for quotes etc, but it hasnt been too bad. It depends really if you have venues around your area where you can hire the halls and they be what you would like etc.

Hope you decide whats best for you!

looktothefuture

You asked the exact question I've been thinking for weeks now!

I've managed to find a beautiful cottage that does a day package for £1290 and it includes pretty much everything including your flowers. All I would need to do would be to arrange the registrar and evening meal if wanted. I'm thinking... go for it!

maggie111

Depends how many you wanted to invite. I wanted 60 and it worked out cheaper to go to a different hotel and organise all the different bits as opposed to an all inclusive hotel one. (Trust me they find ways to add on their charges!)

When I was planning a wedding for 150 all day, I was definitely going to do it in a hall DIY - but as the numbers came down I decided that although it would be cheaper - it wouldn't be as beneficial.

dawnebabe

Even though our venue do complete packages.... being a bit of a control freak.... and liking to be a bit different, we (I) have chosen to do it all (my)ourselves. A lot more work, and probably going to work out more expensive than if we'd gone down the venues package route, but it will be uniquely our wedding!

sparklylime

I'd say it just depends on what you want from the day, apart from to be married obviously! If you have very definite ideas about what you want then maybe DIY is the way to go as you will have more options and control over the day. If however you want a low-stress option and less risk of going over budget then the packages are a good idea. If you hunt around there are lots of packages out there and not just at the big chains so you should find one suited to your requirements. If going down this route you still get to do some things yourself such as make your own invites etc. Personally we are going down the DIY route as we have some very firm yet rather quirky plans that just wouldn't fit into a traditional wedding package.

Mrs_Heath_2b

The only thing I would like to add is the myself and my h2b have booked and holiday inn 999 package and it feels a bit like a 'wedding off a shelf' where numbers and details are decided for you. Whereas with a diy wedding there is more scope for your own personality, you desice numbers ect. For what it's worth I think if I was to do it over, I would probablayhaved opted
for a diy wedding at a village hall or something where we could really inject our own personalities. That said it is nice that all the details and things are alrady sorted out for you. We are doing it quite last minute and
it's a load of
my mind knowing that the dj, food, etc are already sorted.