wedding savings ideas....

jacksma

OK - I'm a definite lurker on here, and have been reading a lot of the information on here with great interest, and have picked up some excellent tips and ideas.

We are getting married in Stirling on May 28 and have a budget of £4,500, but after finding my partner might lose his job in April, we are trying to get it below the £4,000 tag....

So far this is where I'm at....

Got/Booked/Paid for
Venue - free
Drinks - no idea what to do here. Can't decide to offer drinks during reception or just offer tea/coffee, or whether to offer drinks during meal. We only have a budget for this for 60 adults of £250.
Canapes - £150
Meal - £1800
Evening buffet - £150
Invitations - made myself
Table plan, order of service, etc... - making myself £40
DJ - £100
Photographer - £300
Hair/make-up for me/bridesmaid - £120 - I never make an effort with how I look, and I've been really working hard at losing weight, and I really want to look my best on the day and surprise my OH, so this is something I don't want to lose.
Wedding transport - free by father in law to be driving his nice merc.
Cake - sister in law making for free (I think...)
Humanist Registrar - £325

Still to organise
Wedding Dress - looking at a couple of online places in china, so under £200
Bridesmaid Dress - spotted one I like on ebay from china for £34
Shoes - I saw a beautiful pair on ebay that are handmade sparkly shoes but they are £125 which is really expensive.... but I never dress up and find it really hard getting shoes that fit - so made to measure ones sound ideal....
Kilt - probably will hire for hubbie to be, and think my sons kilt is being hired by my dad - but not confirmed. Was maybe just going to buy him an outfit for £100, but know he can hire for around £70.
Flowers - getting fake ones and doing myself - 2 bouquets, 6 buttonholes - prob bout £100.
Decor - wasn't going to do anything apart from some candles and sprinkly table confetti - keep it simple - but was hoping to maybe get some coloured balloons to tie in colour scheme and then kids can get them later to take home. Would also like some candles for outside in little lanterns or similar so they don't blow out in wind... Again don't have much budget....
Live Music for reception - looking for a guitarist/duo to play for under £200.
Rings - seen loads on ebay shops 2 palladium bands for £220, or 2 white gold for £180, or do I go for titanium or tungsten? not sure.... but like the look of weddingringonline for their rings and feedback score. My engagement ring is 18k white gold. OH wants 6mm and I want 4mm court shaped.
Mailbox - think seen some for about £15 as we have asked for cash gifts for our honeymoon.
Passport - me and my little boy need passports so think that about £100
Legal docs for wedding - no idea!!

No idea what I've missed out - probably loads....

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!! As at the moment there is no room for error in costs....

LEJC

ive just quickly glanced through your budget....and you seem to have good costs and savings...although if it were me I would rethink the whole china experience with the dresses...
A budget of £200 isn't huge for a dress but if you have read the threads on here you will find that there are so many unhappy brides who order their dress only to find its not as described and therefore the money is wasted...please think carefully about china....especially if there is no room for error in the costings

There are dresses around for your budget ...perhaps you could post some ideas about the styles you like and with the sales on now...we can all have a search to see what is about for you around the £200 mark?

An option to consider would be a preloved dress or to add the budget for your shoes to the dress budget and get a cheaper pair of shoes...Im not trying to pass judgement here..so please dont take it that way..but again paying £125 for a pair of shoes...that may end up covered by a china dress in my mind is such a waste of a lovely pair of handmade shoes....

emsbet

What sort of venue do you have? Is it somewhere you can bring your own booze? If so keep an eye out for the offers on wine etc in supermarkets- you maybe able to get some good deals.
I know someone on here is asking guests to "bring a bottle" and that it was well received as people didn't have to pay over the top bar prices.

I managed to make 5 bouquets for around £50 using foam roses from eBay. They were very easy to make and the roses are good quality.

I think it is advisable if you engagement ring is 18ct white gold to get your wedding ring in the same as other metals are harder and will rub your engagement ring and wear it down.

Maybe go to some local "open mic" nights to see if you can find someone to play for you. They are a great place to find local talent plus you get to hear them play before hand and see how the interact with a crowd..

I bought this mailbox http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/WEDDING-RECEPTION-POST-BOX-WISHING-WELL-BOX-FREE-GIFT-/320655591460?pt=UK_Home_Garden_Celebrations_Occasions_ET&hash=item4aa8900824
it comes with some ribbon in colour of your choice and you can have your's and H2B's names and wedding date printed on it. It was only £8.25.

I think passports will cost you a little more than £100 though not sure how much a child's on is.

xx

jojo2004

Didn't want to read and run.

Good for you for doing your wedding on such a tight budget - it's impressive, and very :money:. Also, it sounds like a lot of thought has gone into making your day lovely, without compromising too much on the important things.

I looked at your figures. If you add up the total spent already it comes to 2985. That leaves 1015 of your budget for the things you haven't yet spent on (I'm excluding drinks here, as this isn't fixed yet).

Adding up the projected costs of what you have still to organise, you are left with minus 9 quid...

My suggestions:

Post on the 'find my shoes/dress' thread on here for those things - there are ladies on here who can seriously find ANYTHING cheaply!

The obvious one to save on is shoes, if that doesn't mean you'll be uncomfortable all day! If your dress is floor length, no one will see them anyway. I'm getting cheap ballet pumps - hoping to dance so hard I have to throw them away! £10 down the drain, what a shame...

I'd also say that a) £200 for a live performer is low as an estimate, and b) do you need such a thing? Any musical friends or relatives? Have you thought about advertising on Gumtree or Craigslist? Asking at the local music school/college? FInding a friendly busker who you like and offering a smaller amount? Otherwise, I'd say you should reconsider this. You won't get a band for £200 (and if you do I want their website address!!!!) so the dancing part will presumably be covered by DJ. During the reception (meal), people will be eating and chatting, so they are unlikely to notice a live performer - why not just use an ipod?

Passports - are these renewals? In which case, this is an unavoidable cost. If not, if it's for changing your name, could you be unsentimental enough to wait a while? My passport doesn't expire til 2019, and I'm blowed if I'm giving the thieving b****** MORE money!!

You do need to check cost of legal docs urgently - this is non-negotiable. No idea on costs of this, sorry!



All that might sound depressing - but you've been so MSE with the rest of it, that I reckon you're practically there! Free venue! Amazingly good price on photographer and DJ! Free transport! Go you!

Good luck hon. xx

LEJC

Just looking at the cost of passports...standard service within 3 weeks of application looks as if an adult is £77.50 and a child under 16 £49.00

Swinstie73

Hey Jacksma,

Wow you could be me! We've got a very similar budget and I'm finding most things so far are coming in cheaper than I budgetted for. I thought about fake flowers and ordered some from ebay but they looked a bit bleurgh. Bought supermarket flowers two weeks ago and cut them down for my vases and they are still looking fab two weeks later, is it bad that I'm thinking of making my bouquet from these too?

Decor sounds similar to mines to, we could be having the same wedding!

VICSH

you have made some great savings well done... I would personally not have canapes at £150 as you are having a meal and a buffet so I think it could be a bit of a waste... or have canapes and not a starter that could reduce it a bit. I am with the other brides on the dress, I hope you dont mind me asking but what size are you/ will be by wedding you might be better of loking at sample dresses in shops/ prelove/ ebay 2nd hand. for the shoes have a look at dolcie (sold through barretts they have glizty shoes which are about half the price as the ones you describe although they wont be made to measure.
I think with wedding you list what is important and what isnt the 'isnt' should take less money so to speak.
for make up have you thought about going to local college and asking a new qualified beauty studemt/ same wiht hair? someone who was starting up offered me £20 per person for make up but I have decided I will do mine own xx

MrsC....tobe

Had a look and you seem to have a similar budget to mine so have highlighted my suggestions:

jacksma wrote: »

Got/Booked/Paid for
Venue - free
Drinks - no idea what to do here. Can't decide to offer drinks during reception or just offer tea/coffee, or whether to offer drinks during meal. We only have a budget for this for 60 adults of £250. Ask for tea/coffee to be included in meal price and maybe only have a drink for the toast (I was at one wedding last year and no drinks were given at all yet nobody minded)
Canapes - £150 - I wouldn't bother with as you are having a meal
Meal - £1800
Evening buffet - £150
Invitations - made myself
Table plan, order of service, etc... - making myself £40
DJ - £100
Photographer - £300 - possibly think about giving friends and family a disc each and asking them to send all their pics to you unless you want to have 'official' pics. The candids are sometimes just as good, if not better
Hair/make-up for me/bridesmaid - £120 - I never make an effort with how I look, and I've been really working hard at losing weight, and I really want to look my best on the day and surprise my OH, so this is something I don't want to lose.
Wedding transport - free by father in law to be driving his nice merc.
Cake - sister in law making for free (I think...)
Humanist Registrar - £325

Still to organise
Wedding Dress - looking at a couple of online places in china, so under £200 - have a look at some of the threads re nightmare china dresses and you may change your mind. There are lots of excellent second hand dresses out there on ebay, preloved etc for bargain prices
Bridesmaid Dress - spotted one I like on ebay from china for £34 - have a look on ebay again. Lots of Monsoon/Coast etc dresses go for low prices and may suit what you are looking for
Shoes - I saw a beautiful pair on ebay that are handmade sparkly shoes but they are £125 which is really expensive.... but I never dress up and find it really hard getting shoes that fit - so made to measure ones sound ideal.... - shop around. I am wearing flip flops under my dress! Ultimate comfort all the way and then keep wearing or throw them away afterwards. This is a lot of money to spend on something that may not be seen and never to be used afterwards.
Kilt - probably will hire for hubbie to be, and think my sons kilt is being hired by my dad - but not confirmed. Was maybe just going to buy him an outfit for £100, but know he can hire for around £70.
Flowers - getting fake ones and doing myself - 2 bouquets, 6 buttonholes - prob bout £100. - if you can get to a Country Baskets or similar you will find you will spend a fraction of this. I'm doing flowergirl wands, and about 20 button holes for £10! My bouquet will be real so it can be placed on a grave afterwards.
Decor - wasn't going to do anything apart from some candles and sprinkly table confetti - keep it simple - but was hoping to maybe get some coloured balloons to tie in colour scheme and then kids can get them later to take home. Would also like some candles for outside in little lanterns or similar so they don't blow out in wind... Again don't have much budget....
Live Music for reception - looking for a guitarist/duo to play for under £200. - do you need this as you are already having a DJ. Nice to have a variation but this will cost a lot more than you think
Rings - seen loads on ebay shops 2 palladium bands for £220, or 2 white gold for £180, or do I go for titanium or tungsten? not sure.... but like the look of weddingringonline for their rings and feedback score. My engagement ring is 18k white gold. OH wants 6mm and I want 4mm court shaped.
Mailbox - think seen some for about £15 as we have asked for cash gifts for our honeymoon. - look on ebay at the cardboard ones that you can get BIN for £4.99 plus about £2 p&p and then decorate yourself.
Passport - me and my little boy need passports so think that about £100 - it will be over £100 for this. You have factored in passports but not a honeymoon so this could possibly be in a separate budget.
Legal docs for wedding - no idea!! - speak to you registrar asap and get this figure then you will know where you stand.

No idea what I've missed out - probably loads.... - Jewellery (I'm wearing family heirloom and other items have been xmas and birthday gifts that I am keeping specially for the wedding), gifts for bridesmaid (possibly jewellery), accessories (tiara, veil, garter etc), underwear for you (grab something nice in the sales and put it past).

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!! As at the moment there is no room for error in costs....

Hope that doesn't look too bad, maybe red was the wrong colour to choose but I wanted my wee points to stand out!

Good luck with the planning and do keep coming back for more hints and tips.

PootleFlump_3

My only comments would be:

Shoes - If they are going to be hidden under your dress I would think you could get something alot cheaper (Im thinking about wearing trainers lol)

Band - If you already having a d.j might be better just to book him for a bit longer

Mailbox - Sure you can get cardboard ones quite cheap in hobbycraft, ebay etc.

Humanist - are they really that expensive! Im going to have one but havent even looked into it yet. Jeez!!

Your doing very well with your planning. x

fawny

Hi,
Not sure what type of dress you want but Debenhams do some lovely looking wedding dresses for under £200. I'm looking at a few of them myself, also Monsoon.

Best of luck

nettie30_2

Hi, Im gettin married in June and have been sticking to a tight budget also. My advice is have a good think about ordering your dress from China, I got mine from a site that copies designer and I didn get it custom made, when the dress came it was really long on the body, so disappointing, I contacted the site and emailed them pictures of me in the dress to see the mistake and they refunded me a third of the pricewhich I took it to a dressmakers who was able to fix it quite reasonable, I love it now I need to add that the dress was made exquisitely and great quality material. (i saved near £1000 doing this way from price of designer one) my advice is get it custom made
Also I ve friends who bought theirs off Ebay and theirs had no problems and were stunning dresses.

As for the shoes, I picked mine up from next clearance sale for £6 ( Next more or less keep bringing out simular wedding shoes each year just with small differences)

I also got my bridesmaid dresses off ebay, although they were John Lewis retailed at £150, bought at £59 each ( so keep checking for bargains. Flowergirl dresses also half price at Debenhams which i changed abit myself and took in for sizing (saved small fortune) So it can be down on a budget.


Oh also I would check out Ikea for table centre pieces, i picked up vases at 99p each

As for your makeup, if you didn mind going out on your wedding day, your local boots or department store makeup counter will do it for the price of a product ( so you can get your makeup down and new lipstick for top ups through the day) i worked on counters for years and we did alot of bridal makeups.

Hope this helps, good luck