Wedding Tips start here...

Miss_Scrimp_n_Save

Just remembered about church flowers.

See if the ladies who normally decorate the church will take requests of colour etc for a donation. Spoke to them at ours and they are going to do cream and white to go in with the colour scheme for a small donation! Much better than the few hundred i had been quoted to do some pew ends and pedestals etc.

System

Ah well, Mr Thrift and I rarely try and please other people, and Mum isn't the interfering sort, so we'll just have to resort to exercise to move those pesky extra pounds.  Ho hum.   ;D

What pounds? Lose any more weight Ms Thrift and we wont see you.

It will be strange to call Mr (nearly) Thrift, Mr Thrift. Hes a nice chap though and I am sure i will get used to it. ;D

Mrs_Thrift

I tried to keep it hidden by my long jacket, but there's a couple of extra pounds on my hips and thighs I'd like to shift (for the honeymoon more than the wedding as my dress covers my hips well!) If I'm honest I need to tone up and get fit rather than lose actual pounds, but I'd rather cut back on food for a bit than get off my bum and exercise!! (No one tell me how unhealthy I am - I know! :P)

And if you think it'll be strange calling Mr (Nearly) Thrift Mr Thrift, think how strange it'll be for him becoming Mr Thrift!! ;D

(Yes, he is a nice chap, thank you, as was everyone we met on Sunday!)

Mrs_Thrift

Just a quick update on the shoes - I had found a pair I wanted but when I tried to buy them they weren't in stock. But my Mum saw another similar pair in a department store window as she went past. So I phoned the department and explained, the lady described the shoes for me, they sounded lovely so she said they'd keep two pairs (one in each size because I vary) for me to try on Saturday.

My Mum and I went in on Saturday and I tried them on - they were beautiful! I had a photo of my dress, which the lady looked at and asked about the wedding and everything. Then, as we were paying, she told us we could have the shoes at the sale price, although they're not in the sale yet, but soon will be!

We didn't talk about the wedding looking for a discount, but it was very, very much appreciated.

Chris_Powell

First tip - do your own wedding stationary
If you can get to a arty shop and get all the bits together - it could be a fun get together before the wedding for people of an arty nature to help out

Second Tip- get corkage at the reception
We had a hotel that let us have corkage at a reasonable rate. This saved us a fortune compared to what some reception venues wanted on their compulsory drinks packages - investigate good wines at reasonable prices and possible discounts for large orders - we got champagne from tesco at half price

Third Tip - beg / borrow what you can
We had friends who were florist and photographer - we didn;t get it cheaper but we got better for the money - photographer gave us negatives so we didn't have to go back to pay for expensive reprints

Fourth Tip
Don't hire suits for the whole wedding party unless you really want to - this will save hassle of getting them all back in one piece and I have been to quite a few where only groom and best man wore formal suit and it was fine

Final Tip
If you can get recommendations from local people then can - our dressmaker put us onto a great cake maker that was much better and cheaper than others from Yellow pages - often the best people work only through recommendations as they get enough work that way

Mrs_Thrift

Totally agree with all the above, but I just wanted to say to anyone who's not arty, please don't be put off the idea of making your own stationery.

We are not at all arty, (beleive me, not AT ALL ) so we're doing ours on the computer, just in "Word". No graphics, just a nice font, dark green print (to match the wedding theme), A5 size, on cream card.

It means we can "mail merge" all the names, addresses, etc. saving hours and hours of writing them out by hand, and we can make them completely unique, having the wording we want and a reply card that includes all the options of menu, transport, etc.

Also, I wish we could have just the groom and best man in suits (kilts in our case!) and save a few quid, but Mr (Nearly) Thrift is having four groomsmen instead of one best man, and sharing the best man duties between them all! ::)

Miss_Scrimp_n_Save

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Would really appreciate people's thoughts on the following trouble I am having with my wedding list.

We had a look at Debenham's but couldn't find enough items to make up the list and didn't want to ask for couchers really, so one of my friends who is in web site design suggested that she set up a web site for me which would have our gift list on it.

This way we can have items from lots of different shops and our guests can shop around finding a good price etc.

So this is what we did, only now my fmaily is divided over whether to be specific over what I would like (make and model etc.) or whether to just leave it to luck and ask for 'baking trays' or a 'coffee maker' and see what I get.

I don't want to appear 'cheeky' by asking for specific makes of things, but would still like nice quality things which I can still be using in years to come,

What does everyone think? Would really appreciate opinions.

Thanks!

lucysheil

We are just under a year away from our wedding date now, we have started paying deposits etc and keep being asked if we have wedding insurance. Is it worth it? I've looked at a few policies and Confetti.co.uk's cover seems to be the best and most reasonable. I would be interested in hearing what you all think about this subject!

System

Your wedding dress is a huge expense so any kind of savings on this is great. I bought my dress online and had it shipped over from Chicago. I found the dress i wanted over here, a Maggie Sottero dress that was £2000, way over my budjet of £1000.

I found an online store that had the same dress by Maggie Sottero for £550 plus shipping, import tax and import VAT. I went to a shop in the UK that stocked the dress and pretended that i was going to purchase the dress from them. Tried the dress on, got them to measure me and i copied the mesurements.

i ordered my dress in September 03 and it was delivered in January this year with my Maggie Sottero certificate of authenticity. This store is actually on the Maggie Sottero web site as an authorised seller. In total i paid £930 for my dress, a saving of £1070 ;D

The website is https://www.houseofbrides.com and it stocks many other well known designers

mini

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Would really appreciate people's thoughts on the following trouble I am having with my wedding list.

We had a look at Debenham's but couldn't find enough items to make up the list and didn't want to ask for couchers really, so one of my friends who is in web site design suggested that she set up a web site for me which would have our gift list on it.

This way we can have items from lots of different shops and our guests can shop around finding a good price etc.

So this is what we did, only now my fmaily is divided over whether to be specific over what I would like (make and model etc.) or whether to just leave it to luck and ask for 'baking trays' or a 'coffee maker' and see what I get.

I don't want to appear 'cheeky' by asking for specific makes of things, but would still like nice quality things which I can still be using in years to come,

What does everyone think?  Would really appreciate opinions.

Thanks!

If I was buying a wedding presnt I'd prefer to spend a bit more and get what the couple actullay wanted than something they'd want to replace soon after. Depends how picky you are, can you live with your kettle and toaster not matching? I think many people are used to specific wedding lists, if you having a website you could set up links with online retailers where they buy through that link and you could getand get cashback too ;D

You will have a rough idea of how much the people invited are likely to have to spend as long as you have items in their budgets or I would say vouchers for more expensive items so a few people can contribute.

Best of luck