Planning our wedding

caz2003uk

KJT wrote: »

We too were on a tight budget and opted for a 4pm ceremony. We used a hotel for the ceremony and party saves on transport and cars. We had a room where I got ready in peace and had a glass of bubbly with the girls and I made a wonderful entrance down the stairs, we had photo's (inside and out) and had bucks fix in the bar and while the staff transformed the room. It was really nice and quite relaxed.
We made our own:

• invitations - some thick colour co ordinated textured paper, ribbon and glue and they looked great. I enjoyed doing them and the good comments I got back
• menu cards - to match the invitations
• flower arrangements - table centres were gold spray painted terracota pots with a big church candle in the middle, surrounded with trailing ivy (put into the garden planters afterward) and curled ribbon to match invites. We invested in 2 standard bay trees that we put white lights on and a big bow - they are now outside our front door and a wonderful reminder of our day and provided a great background for the photos of us signing the register. We also did the same on a cheap garden arch - covered it in ivy - from our garden, white fairy lights and ribbon it provided a great entrance for the 'aisle' and a great photo opp on our exit.
• We bought tall 'bunches' of sticks and put lights in them - and can be used as home decor afterward - made the room look soflty lit and romantic for the party after.
• We put floristry ribbons on the backs of the chairs - very cheap from your local wholesalers - but look great and add to the look.
• We made our own cake - made slabs of fruit cake and lemon drizzle cake (with help from a friend) and decorated with marzipan and pre rolled icing which we cut into squares, decorated with flowers and ivy leaves stamped out of icing. They were put into gold cases and displayed on a matching cake stand (that we also created from boards and stand and draped in ivy ...etc) very effective

We also bought a video camera and got a friend to video the ceremony and party for us - choosing to invest in a camera we could use later. The video is great - definitely not professional but .. captures the romance, fun and vibe of the party and is much more relaxed and interatctive with our friends and family than a regular one.
The whole look and day was individual, unique, romantic and got lots of great feedback.

It seems quite daunting to DIY and stick to a budget but I enjoyed it and when I consider how many people we are no longer in contact with after only a few years .. Im very glad I stuck to budget. All the best and Good luck

KJT

Thank you for your lengthy reply! I dont think our budget would spread to a hotel do! By hiring a hall and "self catering" the costs are much lower than doin ga per head booking at a hotel, although we would much prefer to do what you did, we just can't afford to!

nuatha wrote: »

I catered a friends wedding buffet in the summer of 2010, catering for 110 cost £130, just costed the same menu at £273, whereas I knew prices had gone up I was quite shocked by how much. It might be worth asking friend to double check his figures and then add a safety margin since we've a year of price rises still to go. (Saves any nasty surprises at the last minute)
I'm just starting work on our menus and wondering whether adding 20% to the costs will be sufficient margin
HTH

We wont be having anything lavish! lol just sandwiches and standard buffet food, everyone who is coming knows our situation with money so they aren't expecting anything OTT!

nuatha wrote: »

Provisional booking was done over the phone, no documents, no deposit. Just names, address and contact phone number. The phone call was to enquire how we booked it, five minutes later we had the time and date we wanted. Once we have the "notice" sorted at the end of June we have to go in pay deposit.

Excellent, Thank you! I phoned them the other day to ask if we could go have a look around and did we need an appointment, and the lady said no just pop down so we are on Tuesday!

caz2003uk

Looks like we have found the bridesmaid dresses! They do this in both adult and child too! I haven't seen these anywhere, and a little concerned as they come from China! All the feedback is positive though, not a single negative with 12294 feedback score! Can't be bad?

caz2003uk

Another update!

I messaged some of the previous buyers of these dresses to get an honest opinion on them other than the 1 line feedback on ebay, and the results are fantastic! Just what we wanted to hear

caz2003uk

Regarding the visit to the wedding dress shop...

How does it go? Is it like on tv where you the dress fitter is in the changing room with you? Im really self-conscious of my body as im overweight and its starting to get me worked up about going! Does she have to? The only person who has seen me in my underwear is my Fiance, and going near on starkers infront of a stranger is filling me with dread

trinity_enigma

caz2003uk wrote: »

Regarding the visit to the wedding dress shop...

How does it go? Is it like on tv where you the dress fitter is in the changing room with you? Im really self-conscious of my body as im overweight and its starting to get me worked up about going! Does she have to? The only person who has seen me in my underwear is my Fiance, and going near on starkers infront of a stranger is filling me with dread

If it helps when I went to try some one I wore some leggings and kept them on throughout. You can't see them underneath a dress but I felt topless rather than mostly naked. Also most of the time the assistant asked me to get into the dress and then came back in to get it properly on so even if I hadn't worn legging she wouldn't have seen much.

caz2003uk

trinity_enigma wrote: »

If it helps when I went to try some one I wore some leggings and kept them on throughout. You can't see them underneath a dress but I felt topless rather than mostly naked. Also most of the time the assistant asked me to get into the dress and then came back in to get it properly on so even if I hadn't worn legging she wouldn't have seen much.

What a brilliant idea! Thank you! I dont have any leggings as I think they look awful on fat people like myself but for this reason Ill go get some

hermanmunster_3

Glad to see you have sorted the bridesmaids ! just in case you don't want the two in the same dress - doesn't always work then how about something like this which she could wear another time

http://www.marksandspencer.com/Per-Una-Chiffon-Frill-Dress/dp/B002V5ONKU?ie=UTF8&ref=sr_1_3&nodeId=533512031&sr=1-3&qid=1335095191&pf_rd_r=1VQ5AJ9X4ACAH7Q7KNHF&pf_rd_m=A2BO0OYVBKIQJM&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_i=533512031&pf_rd_p=215570647&pf_rd_s=related-items-3

caz2003uk

Thanks for the suggestion hermanmunster, but that dress is too purple :rotfl:

We are going for lilac, and that dress looks really purple! Thank you though I appreciate your efforts to help us!

caz2003uk

It's official!! We are all booked in at the registry office for 14th June 2013 at 4pm!!!!

The registry office is sooo much nicer than my local one and has really made me realise registry offices aren't that bad! The lovely lady we spoke to explained we can have our own music, just to put it on cd for them to play for us! Photographer (our friend) is welcome to take all the pictures he wants! We will be given a list of vows to choose from or choose our own! Also told if we want personal readings this can be done too!

It was a little more expensive at £194 for the ceremony and certificate (not oncluding notice to marry) than I first thought from reading the direct.gov website but still our cheapest option!

We then went to view a possible venue for the evening, it's within a small privately run hotel and bar, £100 to hire the hall, including the bar hire, he said could hold 120 but I don't personally think its big enough for that many so going to keep to 100! They said either they can do the buffet starting at £3 a head or if we want we can provide our own!! We can access from the night before to decorate and they have a late licence to stay open until 1am! We feel we are onto a winner!!

So happy today! Wedding dress shopping starts tomorrow! Hehe just for looking and trying for now though but wow! Yay!!

Roz_V

Sounds fantastic Caz