The 'anti-bride' and - is anybody *really* on a budget??

supa-girl

We had a fabulous wedding on a shoestring budget. It was less than £1000 and it was exactly the day we wanted. We saved money by:

Using a pub function room as a reception venue, limting the guests to 50 and having no extras for the evening. We provided 1 semi hot buffet meal and snacks rather than 2 meals. I hired a dress, DH wore a suit he already had and the bridesmaids dresses were 2nd hand from ebay. We spent £20 on 2 gorgoues bunches of flowers from the market and mil made them into bouquets for me and the bridesmaids. A friend did my hair and drove me to the wedding, another friend made our cake, yet another friend paid for me to have a fake tan and have a manicure - these were all wedding presents as we already live together and had no need for a gift list.

We had no disco, but a friend lent us his hifi and burnt us a collection of CD's to play. We had party games as entertainment including a quiz, giant jenga, giant snakes and ladders and rounders (the pub has a big garden!). 3 friends who take photos as a hobby took our wedding photos between them, they shared this responsibilty but one each took chgarge of "pre wedding", "during wedding" and "after wedding".......trying to think what else. Oh yes, we made our own wedding favours up - truffles for the adults, disposable cameras for the teenagers/older kids and balloons/glow sticks for the younger kids......

It was an AMAZING day, I loved every second and as I looked around everywhere I saw the little bits and pieces our friends had done for us, which made it more special. It was 2nd time around for us both and we both realised what a big huge fat waste of money the massive "fairytale" days we had the first time around were. Then, it was all about the guests, but this time around it was all about us which imo is just as it should be on your special day!!

SG

Natalie85

ohhhh i could rival you for antibride status hehe!!

I cant wait to be married either, but the whole day blurghhhh!!
I've perusaded OH to let us go and get marrried in majorca, 20 guests phew. including honeymoon i think were looking at 4k. im panicked about walking down an aisle. crying at vows, speeches, first dance (not happening!!), hen do, urghhh worst nightmare, i so just want a spa day.

were not getting married until 2012 but were going looking at the venue next may, the only bit im excited about is trying on dresses haha.

If you want save the dates for free, you can print them out here http://www.designbetty.com/

Silaqui

Thanks for all the replies! All the moneysaving advice is fab.

Like many of you have talked about, I would be happy with just a basic wedding with just us and close family there, but my bloke wants the full works with loads of people. My entire guest list would run to about 20/25 people - his family alone is 45 and with all the other guests he want's it's up in the 90's! It's the non negotiable thing again, we will sitting down to make our wishlists at the weekend they are going to be so different haha!

Natalie, I'm also scared witless about walking down the aisle - will have to have a bottle of voddy in my pocket I think lol. And have said NO NO NO BLEDDY WAY to any kind of first dance. He can do it on his own if he wants it that much! I hate being centre of attention and having everyone look at me, and thats what worries me most about it. People say thats weird because I'm a teacher, but I don't know somehow it's different in front of a class!

xx

ambyence

i really don't want a first dance either! just the thought of it makes me cringe... :eek:
so glad i'm not the only one!

Silaqui

I know it just seems so weird to me, why would you want to do a smoochy dance in front of everyone like that! But then I never have been one for public displays of affection

And don't even get me started on those really choreographed ones that crop up on youtube :rotfl: On all those wedding websites it tells you that it's a good idea to have dance lessons beforehand, I told my boyfriend thats one area we can save on lol.

I've been reading those weddingy sites to try and get a bit more up on the terminology, it really is amazing some of the things people do! I guess if you are one of those women who's been dreaming about it since you were a little girl it's brilliant, but for me it all just seems totally alien! I have to learn though lol only got 2 years to figure it all out!

* BTW, Is this thread wide for everyone else?*

xx

Natalie85

yep very wide and annoying have to scroll across and down!!!

Natalie85

so far i have booked hols for next may to view venue.
looking at dresses on ebay from china, 80 quid
bridesmaid dresses will be sale items!!
cheapest flowers available over there
i have a friend who can do invites, name settings etc

Silaqui

Wow Natalie you sound really well organised!

I think I will probably just keep my eyes open in the high street shops for dresses and try them on as and when, I don't want a traditional type wedding dress just a knee length shift type thing will do for me with some nice shoes! I am a shoe addict so couldn't possibly wear something long that didn't show them off :rotfl: Need to lose some weight first though before I start trying things on, I'm not taking this belly down the aisle with me!

I'm really not sure about bridesmaids... I wasn't going to have any but my sister and best friend are both gagging for it! Problem is, with just one bridesmaid you can have any old (nice!) dress. With 3 or more, you can have mismatched dresses in the same colour palette... but with 2, mismatched dresses will just look mismatched! And they are both totally different sizes too. I'll have to think about that one, hmmm.

xx

Swinstie73

Hi Silaqui, recognise you from your lovely avatar - nice one!

Congratulations on your engagement, I just got engaged in July and a bit anti-bride too. I'm being looked at weird for not wanting favours etc., I have plently from weddings stuck in a drawer, why would I put that on someone else.

Just today, I have booked the registry office, found a restaurant to have our family meal in, decided on the hotel we'll all stay in and also got my dress, shoes, petticoat and fur shrug (cos getting married next November, will probably be freezing). I'm wearing a below the knee dress too but going to try on the biggest blamanche for a laugh! *subscribes*

pinkteapot

Silaqui wrote: »

Hi both, thanks for your replies Ah I see so the save the date is like a kind of pre-invite, I might just text everyone instead haha!

I texted, called, emailed... Save the Dates are yet another way for the wedding industry to make money out of you.

Text/call/email then wow everyone with some lovely invites at the appropriate time (I made my invites - lots of brides on here are doing the same).