Planning a BUDGET Wedding

juliedotcom

Have you thought about photography yet? Try your local college photography students. Most would be happy to do it for £50 and to use some photos in their portfolio.

Still looking for outfits for anyone? Preloved is great - I got my wedding dress there for a steal!

Best of luck!

desperate+determined

juliedotcom wrote: »

Have you thought about photography yet? Try your local college photography students. Most would be happy to do it for £50 and to use some photos in their portfolio.

Still looking for outfits for anyone? Preloved is great - I got my wedding dress there for a steal!

Best of luck!

I was hoping that guests would do photography as all the weddings i've been to the pictures i take and other guest take seem so much more natural than those from a professional.
Was thinking of settin up an online photo sharing site where all guests can upload photos and then we can chose some to print and keep for memories.

You can get some good offers on photo sites for creating photo memory books etc. Thought this would be cheaper in long run.

ooh not been on preloved, will take a peek. Thank you

x_missymoo_x

I have gone for the option of a later ceremony so we can serve just one set of food.

I am trying to get as many of my family involved as I can and am very lucky that my family have a variety of uses! For example:
* Nan used to be a dressmaker but as she is now older does not feel confident to make my dress so has offered to buy it for me
* Grandad is a butcher so will be getting hold of the meat for our BBQ and handmake sausages of our choice, yum yum
* Grandad also works as a part-time florist driver so has access to the wholesale warehouse where we can grab some bargains and hopefully learn how to arrange the flowers ourselves
* Dad is a photographer and obviosuly I don't want him taking my photos so he will find someone for us
* Mum and Aunty are fab cupcake makers so will be providing our desserts
* Nan, Mum and Aunties will be preparing, cooking and serving food buffet style

Our venue has a huuuuge hot cabinet so we can pre-cook the food and keep it all hot prior to serving, big bonus for us!

For those of you having a later ceremony, our church wants to charge £130 for flowers, however it is very probable that the people before us have flowers so we can just use theirs And if they take them away, the church is so big and beautiful it doesn't really need flowers!

double_mummy

missy moo r ur family avaliable to hire???

lupyloo

double_mummy wrote: »

missy moo r ur family avaliable to hire???

Yeah I second that, have done everything myself and im totally worn out lol

Also d+d dont worry we will help make your dream come true. Everyone on here has been so supportive and full of fantastic ideas when I posted a very similar thread, plus you have time on your side. It is possible.

PS congratulations and enjoy every single second
Lupy x

Doooford

desperate+determined wrote: »

I was hoping that guests would do photography as all the weddings i've been to the pictures i take and other guest take seem so much more natural than those from a professional.
Was thinking of settin up an online photo sharing site where all guests can upload photos and then we can chose some to print and keep for memories.

You can get some good offers on photo sites for creating photo memory books etc. Thought this would be cheaper in long run.

ooh not been on preloved, will take a peek. Thank you

Morning,

Just on the photo issue, we are having 3 "head photographers" who are friends who will be there who happen to be great photographers and have digital SLR cameras. They have the right to shout "Right get your cameras away and all look this way" whenever they please.

Gingermoneysaver

Hi desperate+determined

I got married in May this year, and while it wasn't as budget as yours we did the whole thing on a tight budget, and were determined that starting married life would not involve starting new debt.

My biggest tip is to focus on the aspects of the wedding that are important to you, just because it is 'traditional' to have a cake / fancy car etc etc doesn't mean you have to. We got married in our local registry office and then took all our guests to a local pub that was willing to close for the day to the public. We chose the pub because we liked the decor, so other than some bunting (that my mum made from old fabric scraps) and some flowers on the tables (one bunch of roses cut really short and put in old jam jars we got friends and family to collect in the run up to the wedding) it needed no decoration or anything. We weren't interested in having wedding cars and things as it was only important to us that we got married, not that we did it looking like we were trying to get in to 'Hello' magazine! The one thing we really wanted was a good party, so instead of a wedding DJ we got friends to put together playlists on their MP3 players / CDs that we could put on through the day and evening.
Instead of lots of formal photography and a guest book we took our old mini digital camera to the reception and set up a 'photo-corner' - a few silly hats etc found in charity shops, a little blackboard for people to write messages on and then they get someone to take their picture. the photos are wonderful, didn't cost us anything and because of all the messages people wrote they are absolutely personal and completely priceless. not to mention very funny if they are from later in the evening when people had had a few drinks.
We weren't going to have a cake, but then my cousins offered to make us one and ice it as a present, and that inspired us to talk to a few more friends and family, so instead of gifts we had a few people 'gift' bits of the wedding - invitations, place names, favours (penny sweets from Macro in traditional pink and white striped sweet bags, £2 for 500 online) all came from creative and generous friends.
In the end, the things that we 'had' to do because of our budget were the things that made the day the most special, so I'm sure whatever you spend your day will be brilliant.

Good luck!

x_missymoo_x

double_mummy wrote: »

missy moo r ur family avaliable to hire???

They seem to love it, it's almost like they're more excited about it that I am!!! I put that down to being first daughter/ first grandaughter so I'm a bit 'special'!!

I'll do a deal... whatever we do and how we do it I'll post on here to share all their handy know-how

Rachb2

My advice for a budget wedding is get your friends and family involved.

You must know people who can bake, get them to make your wedding cake as a gift for you.

Someone you know could do the flowers for you again as their wedding present.

If you have friends or family that can sew, why not get them to make bridesmaids dresses or even (shock horror) your wedding dress. If you don't know anyone who can sew then try the Oxfam wedding shop or eBay for a dress. It might not be perfect but will be cheaper than buying brand new and you can always take it to be altered or modified.

Table decorations/party favours and invitations, get someone crafty to do it or even do it yourself. I once made antique tea-cup candles for my friends wedding tables and they looked great.

In terms of venue and food, look at things like village halls that have a green space in the back so you can have an indoor outdoor wedding. Failing that do you know anyone with a big garden you could use? We have some friends who are having their reception outside on the practise green at the local golf course. There are so many options. For the food, do you know anyone who could do the buffet for you? We went to one wedding and the brides family friends put on a gourmet burger bar, where we could build our own burger & make our own salad and as silly as it sounds writing it down it was one of the best wedding breakfasts we've been to.

I think having a wedding made up of my friends and family's talents would be a wonderful day and way to show how much they love you. It would be truly unique and about you and your OH.

COngratulations to you both!

roz84

Hi. I'm with you on this one - I'm getting married a week this friday (OMG!) and i think I could honestly say that we have only spent about £1000, we are on a serious budget, with no family members being able to help out, except for grandparents who gave us £250 which was spent on palladium rings, fabric for table runners, and candelabras.

The one, most important thing I could say is, if you don't mind buying used, don't underestimate the power of eBay...

I got a used, grecian style Maggie Sottero dress (over £800 new) for 50 quid, plus 50 to get it adjusted = bargain. Baby bridesmaid dresses, matching from Monsoon, £2 each. £30 for big bridesmaid matching dresses. Oh and £4 for my beautiful shoes!! Can I say yes all of it has been used, but for a few hours at the most, it all looks brand new and has saved me a fortune!

We decided to buy our own things rather than hire, with the thought that we can sell it on afterwards, and if you have a sewing machine you could knock up some lovely table runners and bunting? I have done this, again saving a fortune, and I found a really good website for shabby chic fabric at cheap prices. I have also made loads of fab tealight holders from baby food jars - just spray them with frosting spray and tie twine around the top (mine also have hearts on them), our poor little one has had to munch her way through LOTS of jars, but again we've got some lovely shabby chic decorations!

I got 10 cream candelabras for £25 quid.

I'd suggest you look at village halls as a venue? We are getting married at our registry office and found a village hall locally which is quaint and beautiful, which has only cost £80 to hire! We are cooking the food ourselves and just getting someone to heat it up and put it out on the day - a fraction of the cost of hiring caterers!

Good luck with your planning! x