wanna get married

cd02

not sure if this is in the right area.. but my and the oh are engaged and really want to look into getting married.. we're both on crap incomes and i've just been discharged from br.

we don't want to ask families as know they're both tight on cash at the mo..

anyone got any ideas ?

Syman

do it through a reg office, hold a small reception at home for close friends and family. (maybe they can help with food etc)

getting married is all about the couple wanting to be together.... the partying and hugh celebrations can in some cases be an uneccesary load of stress and strife.....and who wants their married life starting like that?

we got married this way and our marriage is still solid after 13 years

inkie

You really can spend as little or as much as you like - for ideas of doing it on a budget -
borrow a dress or you can pick up an excellent one in charity shops
Why not have your reception at home afterwards - you could do a buffet for under £50, or go out for a meal in a restaurant - don't tell them it's a wedding as they just take the .....with the prices.
Photography - lots of people these days have a dabble in amatuer photography, have you got any friends that could do this for you?
Transport - get a lift from a friend to the venie in their car - and spend £2 on ribbon to go on it.
Rings - these can be bought from as cheaply as a tenner each
Flowers for you - you could go for a few hand tied lovely fresh stems which would cost under a tenner
Invitations - printed on the computer for no extra
The other costs of course are the 'legal' bits - registry office/church etc, but I reckon that the whole of the other stuff can be done for under £200 easily.

Empire_High

cd02 wrote:

not sure if this is in the right area.. but my and the oh are engaged and really want to look into getting married.. we're both on crap incomes and i've just been discharged from br.

we don't want to ask families as know they're both tight on cash at the mo..

anyone got any ideas ?

Congrats cd02, Is it possible that you already live together,? if you do you may already have most of the white goods that would be on your wedding list,
,5 or 10 disposible cameras for your guests and have them to develop for you,
,Pound shop for silk flowers and make your own table decorations
,Most markets have a material stalls see if you can find a couple of meters of Chiffon and ribbon and make some raps,
,Wedding cars use a friend like a gift, pound shop make some bonnet and wing mirror decorations.
,What will you be looking for for a honnymoon? I live in a country where holidays can be very nice for your money saver pocket as long as you dont go all inclusive in a holiday resort, where i am is a holiday Village, and you are able to find a great deal on flights only, In my village you can pay as little as 5 pounds per person per night, Granted they are not the most modern Guest houses but they are clean and cosy the beach is 500meter away from my street and loads of tourist things are going on in the summer months

loveandlight

Originally posted by Syman
do it through a reg office, hold a small reception at home for close friends and family. (maybe they can help with food etc)

We did this.

Originally posted by Syman
we got married this way and our marriage is still solid after 13 years

So is ours after 17 years. I also think it sets the rules for the future learning to watch the pennies etc.

lisa_75

We already had 2 kids and were short on money. If we had waited to be able to afford a big wedding we would have never got married. We had just 20 guests. Got married in the registry office and then had a meal afterwards.

The cheapest way of doing it would be registry office and then a small buffet at home for a few people. Maybe you could get married, have a meal just the two of you then get your family and friends to join you in a drink in the pub, then you are just paying out for a meal for two.

My friend had her reception at home and is still happily married after 11 years. Even if you only spend £500 on your wedding, you are still just as married as the couple who spent £50,000. Don’t forget that.

bs0u0128

£100 and you are wed, the rest is choice spending, you have to think what ur marrying for, a good day out or to be with that person, for me it was the latter

Empire_High

bs0u0128 wrote:

£100 and you are wed, the rest is choice spending, you have to think what ur marrying for, a good day out or to be with that person, for me it was the latter

Bless, I could not have said it better myself,
to quote a film that i saw a while back, the young lady said i want a beach with six people!

emma_b_4

we just got married 3 weeks ago and were not very well off, im a student and OH works but is at college two nigths so cant do any over time really..

anyway..

we booked wedding fro next june thinking we would save..but then remembered how rubbush we are at saving and thought why not bring it forward so i planned it in 8 weeks and said therll be no frills (though must admit we did have a really nice hotel paid for by parents cost around 3grand for day wedding food etc) we were payign rest so really tried to cut corners. made me realise the value of friends and family ever1 stepped up and offered to do something for us. when invites went out every1 rang to ask what we wanted as a gift and we said we dont want gifts just come along to the wedding and this led to ppl saying no no we wanna do something so id say well how about something for the wedding day itself. every1 LOVED the idea and in the end we had friends doin allsorts...and it was FAB!

i would say do it at a reg office, we paid 400 for a civil ceremony and they do the same as they do at a reg office..would do at reg office if knew that b4 hand!
my day was fab and best day of my life. cost around £4000 so i know its hardly moneuysaving but compared to cost of most weddings weve been to it was a bargain.........and EVERY1 said best wedding they had ever been to as it was so relaxed!

id say go for it. we have come out with around 500 on a visa and will try and pay off in chunks but dotn think thats too bad really ? i know i know its not the MSE way 100%!

emma_b_4

ps we havent had a hmoon

judyjetson

We got married on the cheap 14 years ago, in the days when we didn't have much money. We had a small registry office ceremony (just witnesses) then we went to a really nice restaurant that would have cost the earth if we had been ordering as a wedding party, but they had a fantastic lunchtime set menu, and they gave us a free bottle of champers.

Cars - phoned the local taxi company who provided a wedding service, but asked them if I could book one of their wedding cars just as normal taxi and got a nice silver Merc to take me to the registry office for the grand sum of £6!

My dress (scarlet raw silk) was from a uni ball, so no extra expense there. I had considered hiring but decided not to bother since I had something perfectly suitable already. Hubby wore best suit.

Photos were taken by a friend who was a photography student.

Flowers - ordered small bouquet and buttonholes from florists, but probably could have done it cheaper in hindsight.

Evening - we hired a room in a local club which was free. I think we might have paid a nominal charge for the dj, but it wasn't much. Many pubs do free room hire and disco, because they know they're going to rake it in on the bar, and that way you don't have to spend extra money on drink for your guests which you would if you did it at home. A friend did charicatures of me and hubby for our evening invites and we just got them printed out on A5 paper (would have been able to do that purselves now).

We got caterers in for ours - just typical buffet food - but if you've got friends or relatives who can't help out, it would be cheaper to do it yourself, as that was our biggest expense.

Almost forgot - rings were from Northern Goldsmiths but the secondhand stock, which was out of choice not necessity.

Hope there's something here that might give you some ideas.