September 2012 Brides and Grooms

White_Sapphire

nuttymummy wrote: »

white sapphire, thats a good idea, i reckon youd be able to find one....especially with all those sorts of things coming from China for cheap!! good luck on the hunt!

I might go down the China route, although we are trying to be as eco-friendly as possible so ideally I would love to find something second-hand.

I cant do spreadsheets LOL wouldnt know where to start!

The spreadsheet was set up by H2B who uses them at work so can do all the calculations. It's actually fairly user-friendly, at least for the basic stuff, and you should be able to teach yourself the basic calculations that you'll need for a budget spreadsheet. I've used it before for that but H2B is quicker!

you dont realise once you start adding up how much things cost!! for example i didnt know registrars were so expensive (mine is around £370), plus I have to put a coach on for all the guests and all the quotes i have to far are around £500....takes up a huge part of your budget for just two items!

We had a rethink on things too...so decided to get married on the Sunday as it was around £550 cheaper, we opted out of the meal and went for afternoon (as we are getting married at 2pm so people will have already had dinner), decided to cut the scones and jam out saving us around £100-£200 and im hoping to make cupcakes to take instead.
But all depends on how other budgets go, if we manage to get things cheaper than expected I might put some scones back in

I think that we've got too much budgeted for the food at the mo, so need to talk to H2B about limiting that, but I'm not sure where else we can cut back - the venue hire is quite cheap, even taking into account that we have two venues (a separate one for the evening do), we've limited the guest list as far as possible, and are DIY-ing almost everything.

So what have u all got booked and paid for already?

I have paid the deposit for venue, and registrar,
Just bought a pair of giraffe and elephant cufflinks from ebay to see what they are like, and if they are ok, will buy the rest
also going shopping Saturday so going to nip to wilkinsons and get all the coloured tealights (for those of you going for deep purple and want tealights..try there, they seem to be really dark purple on the internet, but ill let you know when i go!)
Ive booked the make-up artist but dont pay her till the 'trial' which wont be till july next year!
Im currently sorting out a date to meet the photographer too, and if all is well will pay her deposit (roughly £500 deposit).
so far with those items mentioned above ive already paid approx £1150 lol

Cant wait to hear everyone elses plans! i get so excited LOL

Everything still seems far too vague for my liking at the moment!! We're going to see an evening venue tomorrow, and hopefully after that we will pay venue deposits.Both sets of parents want to contribute, and I have a rough figure from my parents, but not from his. My parents have offered a HUUUUGE amount, but we really don't want to take all of it as we would rather have it to put towards a deposit on our first home than to spend on one day! It will get sorted, but we will need to sit down with both sets of parents and set the budgets for each individual area - food & drink, travel & accomodation, decorations, outfits etc. Until we do that I am not letting myself buy anything (apart from my dress pattern and practice fabric ) because if we find we only have £50 budget for decorations I don't want to have already spent £30 on a small part of it. We're having Sunday lunch at his parents', and my parents will also be there (we are very lucky that we all get on so well!) so I might talk to H2B about broaching the subject as tactfully as possible - the wedding will definitely be a subject of conversation during the day anyway, but I don't want to be talking money over the dinner table!

EDIT: nuttymummy, can we please have a wee peeky at the cufflinks? They sound ace!

nuttymummy

yeah cutting back is really hard! weve actually taken off buying everyone sparkling wine for the toast (REALLY want to get everyone one!) but we are already supplying everyone with a glass of Pimms (comes in with the BBQ money) and OH says everyone can buy their own....i suppose there are places to cut back if you really want to, its just finding alternatives!
Im DIY'ing alot too, invites, cake, cupcakes etc.

thats great they are offering such a huge amount! hopefully everything will work out and youll be able to see what you can and cant have.

natc

nuttymummy wrote: »

cross posts nat!
Id love to get one in the sale too, but ive looked through hundreds of dresses on the internet and like very few....so i know its going to be MURDER trying to find one i like, and i BET i fall in love with the most expensive one....it always happens LOL

Haha, when I went window shopping and trying on dresses after we got engaged, I tried on bout 5-6 dresses in one shop, and liked one at £750.00, the most expensive! ALthough, it wasnt "the" dress, so im glad! Hopefully will find one more in my budget.

nuttymummy

eeekkk thats alot for a dress your only going to wear once! LOL

im hoping i find one thats not to expensive too! LOL


abit more insight into who i am seeing as we have AGES off our weddings yet

Im Tracey
age 23
and have 2 children
fiance is Adam

xx

natc

Me too, no way paying £750 for a dress for one day. Think what that could pay for in the wedding....determined to find a dress for no more than £350

Ooooh very good idea nuttymummy! I love this, its like our cafe, meeting up with people getting married the same month as you and not feeling so alone with the stress of it all!

Im Natalie
Age 26 (27 very shortly - eek!)
No babies, but definately trying on the honeymoon
Fiance is Daniel :iloveyou:
And just to add a bit on, budget is £4000 for the wedding (not including honeymoon)

Maybe White_Sapphire could add this to the top of thread so we all know who were talking to and new people to check us all out as we go along??!!

EDIT: Maybe we could add on where were getting married aswell?

natc

Love the look of this place http://www.crowhillcottages.co.uk/vintage.html But seems sooooo expensive, for my budget anyway. £4800 just for the venue, and had a quote from them, they provided an example day which came at just shy of £16k! :eek: They look to do a lovely vintage style though, id really like that, except somewhere far less expensive

nuttymummy

lol at trying on the honeymoon

that looks gorgeous Nat, but i bet you could do that yourself anywhere!! u could make bunting from bits of material and a bit of string
and packs of cupcakes from asda would be cheap, get various cake stands from family, charity shops, cheap ones online. its all easily do-able...looks lovely!

my budget is £8000-£9000 without honeymoon (dont think we are having one!) and we arent having hen/stag do's either

hoping to get the price down though....dearest items are photographer £2000,safari and BBQ at £2010 and the venue at £1475...its the food that bumps prices up!

natc

:rotfl:Would be great if could "catch on" quickly after wedding

You will have an excellent day at the Zoo though with your budget, blumming heck, photographers are dear! Looks like we will have family taking photos of us then, unless we can get a photographer much cheaper than that....my friend got someone for £500 which was just for a CD with photos on and could get pics developed herself.....I was thinking of approaching a college and asking if anyone doing a photography course would be interested in doing my wedding photos for their portfolio for a fraction of the cost, cheeky i know!

I was thinking of doing the vintage style myself also, I love sewing, have a sewing machine, so could have a go at the bunting, im sure they would turn out ok, and was thinkinging of buying vintage looking plates and cups etc from CS and carboots, as the season for CBs is approaching - cant wait! I could always keep the plates aswell, as you can never have enough Also, was thinking of having vintagey cups and saucers with candles in for the tables. Would prob be having a buffet type food, so could use the plates to put all the food on etc. MMMmmmm thinking now...

EDIT: OMG! Could try and get hold of lacey type table covers aswell!!! hehehe. My friends mum once bough a box load of them at an auction for £5!

nuttymummy

thats all im getting from my photographer, a dvd full of images. But shes so expensive because shes ace

of course, photographer are ALOT cheaper most around the £700 mark but you can find 'newbies' for around £200. im into photography myself and am doing two wedding this year (only charging for decent lens hire) im basically free, just so i can build up portfolio. But just be careful searching for people, just because they take good pics in studios doesnt mean to say they are good at weddings....its a whole different ball game! but me being into it i decided to have a really decent photographer, after all thats all u have left after ur wedding...and ur rings

oooo...have u seen those giant teacups they sell?? they would look awesome as a centre piece with floating candles in, or flowers!!


would tie in perfectly lol

natc

Awwww that is rather pretty!

And thanks for the advice with the photographers, ill make sure they are decent-ish at wedding photos first before I go and book them, and check out their portfolio. Youre right about the photos being the only thing except rings and memories left, I may reconsider putting a bigger budget towards them, or just having a good shop around. In fact, my aunties SIL is a keen photographer, no way a pro, but Ive been told quite good, and also been told she would do it as a gift for me, so will check her out too.