Our Wedding Budget - Advice and help needed

Katie-Kat-Kins

We (well my mum) made our button holes. We got 20 odd for about £10, we just bought a couple of bunches of the right flowers (I used ivory roses) used some greenery from the garden and bought some florists tape stuff to wrap the stems with. They looked super, we made them the night before and left them in water overnight in a cool place and the were fine.

If you shop around you can get a bouquet quite cheaply although it depends a bit what you want. I got wildly varying quotes on flowers.

Check with the venue whether they provide any sort of table centres, some have vases and things you can use. Or make your own, there are all kinds of things you can do quite cheaply, a pot plant, a flower arrangement, a candle in a bowl, a birdcage etc etc etc

Definitely cut down on the car costs, if your ceremony and reception are at the same place no one will really see the cars. I didn't have a car at all I drove to the venue and arrived before the guests and got changed into my dress in a room at the venue. My friend used a black cab that was booked in advance and I drove my car (a renault clio, with some of the wedding party, and the rest went with the other bridesmaid). A black cab could be nice or phone round some private hire companies, ask them if you can book a vehicle without mentioning that it is for a wedding but say that it needs to be something smart lots have mercs and things especially the ones that do airport runs rather than your average taxi service. Or ask a friend with a nice car, my uncle has been a wedding car for several work colleagues in the past as he has a flashy little convertible, and a friend went to her wedding in a range rover owned by her in laws. Or ask around at some owners clubs, you can probably find someone who will do it very cheaply (maybe in return for a gift rather than cash) in their own classic car - I had the offer of a convertible beetle for mine!

I would negotiate with the wedding venue, ask them if they can offer you a better price if you have a week day or if you down grade the wine or swap champagne for cava or whatever.

You should be able to get a suit more cheaply, I paid that at a fairly exclusive place and we had full morning dress..... phone round lots of places, and don't discount independant shops either.

You haven't mentioned a photographer - you need to budget for one really and they can be pricey.

If you are struggling why not ask close friends and family if instead of buying a gift they would pay for an element of the wedding. For example my sister bought the wedding cake, and at my friends wedding her mother in law did.

Enjoy the planning!

PrincessDonna2009

Cake - Is being bought by my partner's grandma, it's a tradition within the family for her to buy it

Photographer - We cannot afford this, so we have decided to ask friends and family to all take their camera's and camcorders. We are awaiting to hear back from my sister in law to see if her husband's uncle can do the photography as he is a professional, but now retired! He may come and do it for us you never know

Flowers - I was considering artifical flowers, but I haven't seen any good sites that do them, as you can get some that look horrible...my friend has a £12,000 budget and she is having artifical flowers, but ordered around 3 times from different places because they have been unsuitable....so she's had already lost out on £110 already with postage costs...

Thanks for all the advice, I will be deffo be asking the venue about centrepieces etc....

Just a quick questions does anyone know any reliable and good websites I can buy artifical flowers from for cheap?

Mrsanders

I bought mine on eBay from this seller http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Sara-Richards and was really pleased with the foam roses, not sure what other flowers you are looking for but I used Baby's Breath which I also bought from eBay but from a different seller

Mrsanders

Also if its ready made bouquets you are after I bought my flowergirl wands from this lady http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Ayrshire-Wedding-Flowers
Hope this helps

turnstile

Hiya,

Im trying to plan on a tight budget in leicester for 2012, where is your venue, thats a great price, better than i have been able to find lol!!

Thanks

twirlypinky

you could make your own flowers, there is a sticky on this forum, good luck x

Katie-Kat-Kins

PrincessDonna2009 wrote: »

Photographer - We cannot afford this, so we have decided to ask friends and family to all take their camera's and camcorders. We are awaiting to hear back from my sister in law to see if her husband's uncle can do the photography as he is a professional, but now retired! He may come and do it for us you never know

I'm sorry but think really carefully about this, your photos are the only thing that lasts beyond the wedding for the future. When you are celebrating your 50th wedding anniversary the only bit of your budget that you have anything to show for will be your photos.

You cannot rely upon friends and family to do such an important job and you can get a respectible pro very cheaply, some may even do a freebie if they are trying to build a portfolio. I know a couple of photographers in the derby area who are starting out and might do a cheap deal for you if you are interested, others may know of people in leicester. You could put up a notice at the uni and colleges asking for a couple of photography students to do your wedding in return for expenses only, you may well get a couple who are keen to build a portfolio - and you get a decent back up if your friends don't get any decent shots.

Also go on the you and your wedding forum, there is a wedding photographer on there (from the south I think) who compiled a regional list of photographers offering cheap wedding packages. I think the lady's forum name was Deecy or something.

I would hate you to be disappointed with your photos.

I know of at least two people who's biggest regret about their wedding is not having a decent photographer. One of them doesn't have a single photo of her that shows her dress properly.

As an idea I paid for a photographer, but not for them to stay into the evening, I also didn't pay for a video but a friend agreed to do us one. The friend did do a video but has had problems with his camcorder and has been unable to get it off the camcorder onto a disk so a year and a half later I still haven't seen it. As for evening photos, I have a fair few and some are decent but a surprisingly small number given that we had one very keen amateur photographer and four people who had done photography as part of their degree!

Bear in mind that if the weather is bad and light levels are poor it will be difficult to get a decent shot with your average small auto camera. Remember that people can and do forget to bring their cameras, people cut off feet or heads, people's cameras break down etc etc etc.

I would really try to save some money somewhere to pay for a photographer even just a cheap package where they just do photos during and after the ceremony. At least with a pro they will have two good quality cameras and some insurance in case it goes wrong.

I would also caution against relying upon the retired pro doing it as a favour. My dad has done two weddings free as a wedding gift to the bride and groom and it was incredibly stressful for him. He isn't a pro and isn't insured. He had SLR cameras and a back up but was very worried about it and he struggled with the low light levels, even an excellent amateur's SLR does not cope as well as a pro's camera with all the big expensive lenses and huge flash guns etc. He got some great shots at my wedding but wouldn't ever be the "main" photographer again.

Good luck with the planning.

LEJC

RE the photos...Try looking on gumtree or contacting the local college to see if any newly qualified photographers would like to cover your wedding for their portfolio...this can be done very cheaply ans somtimes free...one of the girls on this forum had her wedding photos done recently for free after she found the photographer on gumtree...she has posted her pics and they were really lovely...

sometimes the key to moneysaving is compromise but sometimes its also about not accepting the first quote and searching out a good deal...you sometimes need to think a little out of the box and be creative... dont dismiss something on hearsay or because you dont like the first one you see keep digging and you may find what you want at the price you want! sometimes its the little touches that you have done yourselves that make the day more memorable...it can be very hard work planning a MSE wedding but the satisfaction of pulling it off is priceless!

CandyApocalypse

I am going to be getting married in September 2012 with similar or lesser budget. My tip echoes what a lot of others have said, spend mmore money on the things that will last.

I have been married before and I had a massive budget that time. Honestly, I don't remember what kind of flowers I had, or most of the day, it'll be photos etc that you will look back at in 15 years time, when you can't even remember a lot of other things. I think a few ideas on here are great - go to a local college and speak to the people doing photography courses and ask if they will do yours. It's a lot of responsibility to put on people with photos and some of their cameras may not be up to it. I mean, when I go to weddings, I photo everything, table settings, cake, long shot of the room, photos of the couple when they aren't so posed etc, but not everyone will do that.

Obviously, things like flowers are always expensive. I guess the only real way of cutting back now is on transport - maybe taking taxis instead. Or compromising and having less flowers. If you can handle the stress, you could buy your flowers directly from a flower market - same one florists get them from and arrange your own. Just get someone to put them in the venue on the day. A few classes in flower arranging, then buying your own flowers will cost a lot more than getting someone else to do it for you.

PrincessDonna2009

Hello Everyone

I have been reading your threads about the photgraphy situation and I am soooooo pleased to say I have found a degree student, who's just finished her degree last year and already done 2 weddings who said she is willing to do it for FREE!! Yes for free! All we need to do is pay for her transport or have someone to collect her either way. I have said we will feed her during the day, as we have one spare place on our guest list and she is doing all day photographs and the videograph of the ceremony and speeches, first dance etc....

I have had a look on her website, as she is just starting out and she has some really nice photographs on there, I am soooo chuffed! I am not posting her link on here as she will be in and dated with people contacting her, which is not fair on her, so please do not ask or pm me, sorry x