Wedding Tips start here...

emma_b_4

thanks!
i am finding it all lots of fun really althoughi have never ever bn so busy! and ive lost three punds this week without even trying with all the hecticness!!

got a quote for my flowers and finalise them saturday, only having a bouquet and some buttonholes so not too many..

all in all.. im loving it and cant wait!!!!

Pigley

Hi

Just thought id share a few wedding bargins with you.

Our big day is 16th June 2007 and cant wait.
We have a reasonable budget of around 8/10 k.

We have booked a stunning castle for our ceremony (£500!)
and a 4* hotel for our reception- Not very money saving!

Found my bridesmaid dresses from Next ( seperates for £30 each) Bargin!
order.next.co.uk/page.asp?b=X38&p=94&o=1 dark pink one.
They also do matching shoes for £25

Photographer £700 for all day including bridal preperations to first dance. no album but a cd of all the images for our reprints.

Tealight holders for the reception tables from Ikea. absolute bargin at 9p each!!www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?topcategoryId=15573&catalogId=10103&storeId=7&productId=26089&langId=-20&categoryId=15701&chosenPartNumber=60026484 ive bought 75 of them! only Around £6

Honeymoon is booked- Thailand- 3 nights in bangkok, 11 nights in Phuket 4* hotel . Cant wait... were going to go elephant treking! Helps too to have a friend who works for Virgin holidays, we got a 10% discount and loadsa help.


thats as far as ive got with planning so far, hope these might help someone.
x

( hope the links work)

Agutka

If anyone fancies a peek at my wedding photos...

Good luck with your preparations, and enjoy every moment. It will be all over before you know it...

http://mcockbill.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album01&page=1

jiblets1

You look gorgeous Agutka!!!
I especially love your tiara and hair! Hope it was a brilliant day!

jiblets1

I booked my honeymoon today!

A week in the Maldives (Lily Beach Island) all-inclusive in May. My tip for saving there is to spend plenty of time with the travel agent - the longer you're there the more things they end up roping in for you. Also get the best possible quote a travel agent can give you all written down on their paper, then take it in to the next one (on another day to give you a break!) and tell them you need them to beat it. You can be pretty sure they will if you have evidence of another quote in front of you.
We also got VIP lounge for £10 extra each and she's going to put in for the best possible seating for us. (especially as my OH is 6'6").

We possibly could have saved a little more to book things separately ourselves, but our available dates are restricted and we wanted to allow someone else to sort it all out for us. I guess you pay for the service too so we're really happy with it!

We're also looking for our wedding rings now. Plain platinum. 3mm for me and 6mm for him. Got a quote of £1080 from the jewellers where my OH got my engagement ring. I'm about to start researching. Any better prices? (these rings are 95%) pure by the way.

PS I just did a google for goldfingers (thought I heard that name here) and I had a bit of a shock!!!;)

Guinea_2

Agutka wrote:

If anyone fancies a peek at my wedding photos...

Good luck with your preparations, and enjoy every moment. It will be all over before you know it...

http://mcockbill.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album01&page=1

Thanks for sharing those photographs with us all. I must say that you look beautiful!:T

emujuice

Hi All,

So we did it! We organised our wedding in around 5 weeks - and it was awesome! Truly the best day of my life. We had so much fun and in a way it was made all the better for knowing it didn't cost the earth - around £5500 for a church wedding, 6 bridesmaids, 2 best men, 4 ushers, sit down meal, live band and dancing till the wee hours for 120. Wow - it was so great!

Advice: try making as much as time allows - the tiraras were easy - give it a go twisting beads on wires.
get a hole punch in a relevant shape to make confetti and table decorations (we had buterflies)
we got little gift baskets for the bridesmaids and managed to find sheffield pewter tankards for the buys in Oxfam of all places, which we got engraved.

costing roughly:
church £370
special licence £70
order of service, place names etc... printed at home, just did an A4 sheet for the order of service and rolled it up as a scroll. £5 for card, paper, ribbon and ink
car £100
my dress £25
bridesmaid's dresses £10 each
flowergirl £20
men's suits £385
food and wine for 26 (gorgeous food!) £840
Buffet for 100 £1300
Ceildh band £360 - very highly recommended, it was so much fun
Invites £5
table decorations £15
shoes £35 his £7.50 mine
underwear (bhs) £15
Hair: paid for by friend, but around £20
tiaras: borrowed mine, made others £15 ish
gifts £20
Flowers in church £60
Flowers for us £60
Flowers for mums £20
Favours £10 got voile and sugary sweets from market stall and chocolate cigarettes for 25p a pack for the boys (a big hit!)
Lovely hotel in Sheffield after the wedding £89 on lastminute.com instead of £160
Cake: £65 in M and S and £10 to decorate, borrowed the stand
Photographer: £60 costs and donation to recent gradute - which was ok, but she constantly took out of focus shots, which was a bit disapointing, but there are some great ones, and we got 250 shots and she did all day
Video: everyone with one did bits of the day, it's still coming in, and looks ace
Disco after band left: did a mix CD with Nero Soundtrax, which worked brilliantly and finished the day off well

All in all a truly fabulous day! Enjoy yours!

Some photos are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chocolatecaroline/sets/72157594263766205/

emujuice

btw the two things that people have so far commented on the most (apart from the food!) were the readings we had in church, my mother in law and sister in law each did one, so that they were included (my mum signed the register) and made everyone cry we had Corinthians and also this:
The Promise
Eileen Rafter

The sun danced on the snow with a sparkling smile,
As two lovers sat quietly, alone for a while.
Then he turned and said, with a casual air
(Though he blushed from his chin to the tips of his hair),
"I think I might like to get married to you"

"Well then, she said, "Well there's a thought,
But what if we can't promise to be all that we ought,
If I'm late yet again, when we plan to go out.
For I know I can't promise, I'll learn to ignore
Dirty socks and damp towels strewn all over the floor.

So if we can't vow to be all that we should
I'm not sure what to do, though the idea's quite good".
But he gently smiled and tilted his head
Till his lips met her ear and softly he said

"I promise, to weave my dreams into your own,
That wherever you breathe will be my hearts home.
I promise, that whether with rags or with gold I am blessed
Your smile is the jewel I will treasure the best.

Do you think then, my love, we should marry - do you?"
"Yes" she said smiling "I do".

and also the Ceilidh, which got everyone dancing straight away and was fun for all ages!

pboae

lisele wrote:

Hi,

Thought I should let other people on this list know:

The Salvation Army charity shop in Ipswich has been given loads of new wedding dresses by a woman who is retiring from the bridal dress business. I went to look last week and they are beautiful and currently have size 12-14 dresses for sale at half-price and less than the bridal shop was selling them for. They have a room dedicated to the dresses and have flower girl and bridesmaids dresses for sale as well. There are some beautiful dresses. They'll be getting all different sizes in; I'm looking for a 20 and was told to come back in a month.

Hope this helps someone. Take care. lisele

Probably too far from Ipswhich :-) but... Monsoon have their outlet store in Cheshire Oaks retail park. They tend to have quite a lot of the larger (i.e. anything over 14!) sizes there, including wedding dresses at ridiculous prices.

I've had some real bargains, £100 jeans for £10 etc, I think a lot of people don't even realise they go up to 24, so they don't even look.

oueyouey

emujuice wrote:

Hi All,

So we did it! We organised our wedding in around 5 weeks - and it was awesome! Truly the best day of my life. We had so much fun and in a way it was made all the better for knowing it didn't cost the earth - around £5500 for a church wedding, 6 bridesmaids, 2 best men, 4 ushers, sit down meal, live band and dancing till the wee hours for 120. Wow - it was so great!

Advice: try making as much as time allows - the tiraras were easy - give it a go twisting beads on wires.
get a hole punch in a relevant shape to make confetti and table decorations (we had buterflies)
we got little gift baskets for the bridesmaids and managed to find sheffield pewter tankards for the buys in Oxfam of all places, which we got engraved.

costing roughly:
church £370
special licence £70
order of service, place names etc... printed at home, just did an A4 sheet for the order of service and rolled it up as a scroll. £5 for card, paper, ribbon and ink
car £100
my dress £25
bridesmaid's dresses £10 each
flowergirl £20
men's suits £385
food and wine for 26 (gorgeous food!) £840
Buffet for 100 £1300
Ceildh band £360 - very highly recommended, it was so much fun
Invites £5
table decorations £15
shoes £35 his £7.50 mine
underwear (bhs) £15
Hair: paid for by friend, but around £20
tiaras: borrowed mine, made others £15 ish
gifts £20
Flowers in church £60
Flowers for us £60
Flowers for mums £20
Favours £10 got voile and sugary sweets from market stall and chocolate cigarettes for 25p a pack for the boys (a big hit!)
Lovely hotel in Sheffield after the wedding £89 on lastminute.com instead of £160
Cake: £65 in M and S and £10 to decorate, borrowed the stand
Photographer: £60 costs and donation to recent gradute - which was ok, but she constantly took out of focus shots, which was a bit disapointing, but there are some great ones, and we got 250 shots and she did all day
Video: everyone with one did bits of the day, it's still coming in, and looks ace
Disco after band left: did a mix CD with Nero Soundtrax, which worked brilliantly and finished the day off well

All in all a truly fabulous day! Enjoy yours!

Some photos are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chocolatecaroline/sets/72157594263766205/

Wow your day looked brilliant. Really liked yours and bridesmaids dresses how did you get them so cheap?