Help me with my last minute wedding :) !

danielley

Hi there,

We are thinking of getting married on November 5th 2011, but all I have booked so far is an appointment with the registrar and provisionally reserved a venue for the evening!

Am I mad to think this is do-able?; its 11 weeks on Saturday!

I have been trying to list everything that I would need to organise and I would be grateful if anyone could check my list and let me know if there is anything missing.

We are working to a very small budget (Want to do it under £2k, probably going to be £3k), so we are having a 11am ceremony at the registry office with just immediate family (approx 12 people), going for a meal and then having a evening party from 7pm onwards.


Book Registrar - Time and Date reserved, appointment with registrar booked for 9th Sept 2011 - Cost £133.50
Book Wedding Breakfast (for 12) £420 (Based on £35 a head)
Book Evening Venue - Date reserved - nothing paid yet. Buffet £9.50 a head - working at 125 people = £1187.50
Book DJ - Venue have quoted £170 for use of their DJ
Arrange & Send Invites - Have budgeted £50
Book Photographer (Might not have one dependant on cost)
Arrange Transport (probably taxi’s or a minibus) £30
Arrange Cake (Might not get one - dessert included in buffet)
Arrange Outfits (Just bride & groom – no bridesmaids) £450
Arrange Flowers (Just a small hand tied and button hole for 4 Men)£50
Arrange Honeymoon – Check if inoculations required
Book first night accommodation £100
Buy wedding rings - I have a platinum engagement ring, but hope that a Palladium Wedding ring is compatible £400
Arrange Hair & Make Up £75


Eeek £3066 without Photographer

Any comments would be much appreciated.

MrsDrink

Don't forget giving notice (£67 for the two of you). Insurance?

Everything else is just trimmings that you can choose to have or not.

RainbowDrops

Hey there, first off, congrats & good luck!
If you're after ways to save a bit, here are a few suggestopns

Buffet £9.50 a head - working at 125 people = £1187.50
Are there 125 people in total attending (including day guests?) If so, you can mayve cut this to a buffet for 100-110, as venues often suggest that guests who have had the wedding breakfast dont need as much food in the evening.

Book Photographer (Might not have one dependant on cost) DO you have a friend who is into photography? Maybe you can ask them? Also, ask yourself, would you regret not having proffessional photos to look back on?
Arrange Transport (probably taxi’s or a minibus) £30 Can a friend or family member do this for free?
Arrange Cake (Might not get one - dessert included in buffet) Alternatively, can you have the buffet without the pud - would that reduce the cost? You can get wedding cakes from M&S for under £100 which could be served as a pudding in the evening.

Buy wedding rings - I have a platinum engagement ring, but hope that a Palladium Wedding ring is compatible £400 What thickness are you going for? The reason I ask is because I have a platinum ring & it cost £330. It's 2.5mm thick.
Arrange Hair & Make Up £75 Again, can you get a friend to help or do your own make up?

saintly_2

congratulations! im sure everything will slot into place

in regards to a photographer, how much are you looking to spend. My photographer is my friend and just starting up her own business and has done a couple of weddings already.

if you want any info give me a shout via pm and i can send you the details and samples of her work.

xx

lollyb84

RainbowDrops wrote: »

Hey there, first off, congrats & good luck!
If you're after ways to save a bit, here are a few suggestopns

Buffet £9.50 a head - working at 125 people = £1187.50
Are there 125 people in total attending (including day guests?) If so, you can mayve cut this to a buffet for 100-110, as venues often suggest that guests who have had the wedding breakfast dont need as much food in the evening.

Book Photographer (Might not have one dependant on cost) DO you have a friend who is into photography? Maybe you can ask them? Also, ask yourself, would you regret not having proffessional photos to look back on?
Arrange Transport (probably taxi’s or a minibus) £30 Can a friend or family member do this for free?
Arrange Cake (Might not get one - dessert included in buffet) Alternatively, can you have the buffet without the pud - would that reduce the cost? You can get wedding cakes from M&S for under £100 which could be served as a pudding in the evening.

Buy wedding rings - I have a platinum engagement ring, but hope that a Palladium Wedding ring is compatible £400 What thickness are you going for? The reason I ask is because I have a platinum ring & it cost £330. It's 2.5mm thick.
Arrange Hair & Make Up £75 Again, can you get a friend to help or do your own make up?

I second Rainbowdrops, but if you don't have a friend to do photography, have you thought about asking at local colleges for photography students? They'll usually do it at a reasonable rate in return for being able to use the photos in their portfolio.

The other thing, is instead of paying for make up, why not use the beauty counter in a department store. You can usually book yourself in for a 'makeover' and then just buy the lipstick to keep it topped up throughout the day.

Cakes - perhaps get a tier of a cake for 'show' and then get those rectangular cutting cakes (can't remember what they're called). I agree with Rainbow though, see if you can take dessert off your buffet and reduce the cost, and use the cake as dessert.

For our buffet, we catered for 75% of the evening guests and there was still WAY too much food. Admittedly though, about half had just eaten a 3 course dinner!

PS - Congrats!

White_Sapphire

Hi danielley!

Yep, totally do-able, especially as you're having a small wedding.

As RainbowDrops has said, you shouldn't need to cater for 100% of the guests for the buffet. Ask the venue fortheir advice, and havea look at different costs for buffet without dessert but with a home-made cake/cake from M&S etc.

Can you reduce the outfit costs at all? Although it is very low already, you might be able to get a beautiful dress from somewhere like Monsoon (around £200) and go to ebay or vintage/second-hand shops for accessories. H2B I think should be able to hire his suit for around £60-£70? Or even wear a suit he already owns and just hire/buy from ebay a waistcoat and tie/cravat.

Hair and make-up - check out youtube for some brilliant, easy to follow tutorials for doing your own. And then get some practise in before theday!

Invites - DIY? They could be very simple, just a card with a paper insert and a stamp, some jewels or ribbon or something on the front. Rope in some willing victims/volunteers to help you ifneeded.

In terms of other costs, is there a hire charge for theevening venue? How about changing your name on your passport, if you are taking his name? Although as long as your name isthe same on your passport as it is on any tickets etc youwill befine, soyou could change this at a later date to spread the cost a little. Have you budgeted for the honeymoon itself? Sorry, daft question I know, but I didn't see it on your list.

Good luck!!

x

sammy_wheeler

what is your venue? just thinking the £100 for nights accomaodation?-- our venue (hotel) gave us our room and breakfast at no extra cost

what time are you getting married?- do you need a wedding breakfast and a buffett?

Zimm190

Congratulations! Just wanted to say that, as your wedding-day twin, November 5th is a great day for a wedding! :-)

danielley

Hi Wedding Twin Zimm190 :T

Thanks for all the replies so far!

Registrar Costs

It costs £100 for the service and £33.50 for the notice of marriage, but I hadn't realised that was each! So thanks Mrs Drink for that.
New budget cost £167.00

Sammy_wheeler The ceremony is at 11am; it is the only time that was available, but my H2B is pleased with this, as his team are playing at 12:45 on the day, so it means he can watch the match :rotfl:But it does mean we need to feed both day and night guests. Day guests are all very close family and would pay for their own meals at a push, but we'll see how the budget is nearer the day, as I would like to pay for them, if we can.

Evening Party Costs

The 125 does include the day guests and some children, so I will speak to the venue about their experience on how the buffet 'holds up' against guest numbers, thanks rainbowdrops.

There is no venue cost other than the buffet cost

Invite Costs

I will get some estimates from ebay sellers, but if it is upwards of £50, I will look into making these ourselves.

Photography Costs

I do know an amateur photographer friend, but when I previously asked if he would take wedding photo's he said he wouldn't want the responsibility! But I will ask him if he knows anyone who would do it for £50/100, and just give us a disc with all the shots. I would only want a few photo's for during the service and after the service, so they would only have to be around for 1 hour tops. I think £50/£100 is our max saintly, so that probably rules your friend out, but thanks.

Potential new budget cost £100.00 Max (with development costs later)

For the evening, I would hopefully rely on friends and family to take lots of pictures, and then obtain copies of those.

Transport

The day guests will either be drinking or cannot drive, and I dont feel comfortable asking one of my friends to chauffer me, when I am only inviting them to the evening (even though it is only because of cost) If somebody offers, I will snap their hands off

Wedding Cake

I will speak to the venue about cutting the dessert from the buffet and then I can afford a cake. The M&S ones look great. Thanks rainbowdrops

Outfits

I haven't spoken to H2B about this in great detail, but I budgeted £250 for me and £200 for him, so that he doesn't feel left out. I'm sure we can get this a lot lower, especailly as I am planning on having a low key dress.

Honeymoon Costs

We have budgeted the honeymoon seperately, and I will travel on my exisiting passport, but thanks for the heads up.

First night accommodation

Our venue is not a hotel, but there is hotel nearby where I think we will be having our meal with the day guests, so we want to reserve a room there, so we can freshen up in the day. I am a member of the gym at this hotel, so I will try and negociate the price of the room.

Wedding rings

lollyb84 I would love a platinum wedding, I only want a 2mm one. I have seen an ebay seller who can do this for a good price, but I dont want to force H2B down a cheap route in order for me to have a fab ring

Hair & Make Up

I was planning on going to the Clinique counter for make up, and buying a lipstick But I think that my hair will be money well spent. I think if I mention 'Wedding' prices will shoot up, but I will shop around and see what is what. I will also ask friends, but nobody springs to mind.

fawny

Hello & Congratulation,

Just to add have a look at Vistaprint they are very good for invites. If you have no resigered then create yourself an account, design your invites & out them in your shopping basket & save. Don't order them, within a few days they will be sending you offers & you should be able to get them really cheap:D

RainbowDrops

danielley wrote: »

I would love a platinum wedding, I only want a 2mm one. I have seen an ebay seller who can do this for a good price, but I dont want to force H2B down a cheap route in order for me to have a fab ring

Have you been to a jewellers? You should go to find your local Jewellery quarter - they may be able to offer competative prices, plus resizing services. Plus it make a reall difference seeing the ring in the flesh - it changed my mind about the thickness & my hubs mind about the style.
If you want platinum at 2mm it should be far less than the £400 you have set aside. EDIT - hang on, I think I may have missunderstood - is the £400 for both rings? If so, ignore me!