Wedding Tips start here...

Miss_Scrimp_n_Save

Thanks for your thought mini!

All of the people I have spoken to about it thought the same as you, so I have gone for very specific items as well as contributions towards a larger item of furniture.

Your idea about links to the sites where you can buy them is a good one - I might have to look into that!!

Thanks again.

MrB_2

Hi Ms Thrift, my wedding takes place in August, so to save a little money (well quite a lot really) I marry on a Friday. The venue is a Regestry office, but I shopped around a little and found one which resembles a Manor house (Nice on the photos). Again, shopping around we found a very quaint pub that was build in the 1600's which will do our 3 course meals for £10 a head. the pub also has a seperate bar so our reception of sorts can be held there later. In my job I meet all sorts of people from every walk of life, this is very handy especially when the photographers we had contacted wanted to charge us the earth, chatting one day, the inpending Wedding came up with one chap who asked if we had a photographer yet, I said no, he said he was an amatuer but keen and would I like a look at his portfolio. Result, he is doing our photos, an album, a video, and we get all the negatives at the end for £100. His contacts have also supplied us with phone numbers for cars, which I intend to call tomorrow. Our honeymoon, 2 weeks in Turkey, is basically our usual summer holiday(Even the in laws are coming along, babysitters on tap)

Sarahsaver

Unfortunately divorce is MUCH MORE expensive than getting married. I have 2 ex husbands to prove it. :-[ Work out possibly half the cost of an average house, the cost of bringing up kids single handedly, legal fees etc. ::) Sorry! God forbid anyone has to go through what i did, and I wish you all the best Ms Thrift! If you are both into moneysaving that can unite you in a way not many other things can

Mind you both times it was fun, and its impossible to budget for the other person being a violent a**hole or having a substance dependency problem ;D

2nd time costs were very low, registry office, 20 quid dress from tk maxx, 4 guests, 15 quid shoes, 2 quid tiara from mark one, a cake made for us by someone who took pity on us because we said we werent bothering with cake, drinks afterwards in the pub over the road where a bottle of bubbly was 15 quid(wetherspoons type place). Advance rail tickets to blackpool and 2 nights in a cheesy b and b! Took our own photos, guests took photos and we borrowed a video camera. In all id say less than 200 pounds.

First time round everyone had to bring a bottle to the reception - it was a well lubricated event, and we even had plenty left over afterwards:)

MrB_2

Hello again, Just booked the Wedding car, a stretch limo with compimentry champers for a reduced price of £225.00. Guess whos a happy chappie ;D ;D

System

Hi everyone!
I'll be getting married in August next year, and need some ideas for where I can get a cheap, but nice dress from.
We're on a pretty tight budget and we've already spent loads on the ceremony and reception, so I need something for around about £300 or less.
I've seen some in BHS but not a very big selection.
Please let me know if you've got any ideas!
Thankyou!!!

clarkey100

ok, I can't offer much advice on saving money using my wedding as as hard as I try it's difficult to persuade my mum that you don't have to spend lots to get what you want but my brother got married earlier in the year and him and his wife saved quite a lot of money so I shall combine tips from both weddings!

If you are arty at all make your own cake and decorate yourself - not what I'm doing but my sister in law is very talented and so did hers (unfortunately she lives abroad otherwise would be doing mine too!)

I'm lucky in that my uncle printed my wedding invites as his present but we're doing all the other printed stuff ourselves - definately cheaper that way if you can do it.

Put flowers in your hair rather than a tiara - or borrow a tiara - most people probably keep theirs and would be only too happy to see it go to good use.

Favours - fortune cookies - ask your local Chinese restaurant where they get them from (cheaper than buying on the internet)

Hen do - For my sister in law's we all went in a karaoke limo round london - it was fantastic, highly recommended.
For mine everyone is staying at mine (fiance is on his stag do!) and we're doing this https://www.goape.cc not for the faint hearted but apparently excellent fun and only £17.
In the evening my opinion is that I'll be drunk anyway and as my friends will be with me what does it matter where I am?

Car - ask around for anyone that has a nice car locally, often people have these cars but don't use them for weddings regularly and so are much cheaper - try posting a request on an owners message board on the internet £75 for 2 hours work is useful for anyone particularly if they're paying for upkeep of a Classic car! If you want something quirky Nissan Figaro's are very funky (not a huge back seat but really fun and the owners are all very friendly - I'm not biased at all!)

One thing I've noticed and I'm sure most of you have too, things are generally more expensive bought through wedding sites, try and source things from elsewhere if you can.

added - just had another idea - get bridesmaids to buy you wedding accessories instead of wedding presents (tell your other half that it's for his benefit that you look so gorgeous!) one of my bridesmaids is combining my Birthday, Christmas and Wedding present and buying me my bridal underwear which I though was a great idea and think maybe this could be expanded to tiara / jewelery etc. - just a thought.

Hmmm, think that is all my wisdom, not much of it really but hopefully it will help someone, somewhere.

Good luck with all your weddings, less than a month till mine....

PS Can anyone suggest a good place to get "natural" confetti from - i.e flower petals - without destroying my neighbours garden!

WeirdoMagnet

PS Can anyone suggest a good place to get "natural" confetti from - i.e flower petals - without destroying my neighbours garden!

Clarkey100 - how about http://www.confettidirect.co.uk/?

WeirdoMagnet

Hi everyone!
I'll be getting married in August next year, and need some ideas for where I can get a cheap, but nice dress from.

Sorry, not sure how to put two quotes in one reply :-[

Anyway, Francesong, have you looked at Monsoon - they have wedding style dresses and outlet stores - Bridal Stores http://www2.monsoon.co.uk/findbridal.htm and find your nearest store http://www2.monsoon.co.uk/findastore.htm

WeirdoMagnet

Another thought....

For home made wedding stationary, try the Paper Mill Shop for card, paper, 'pinkiing shears', stickers etc http://www.thepapermillshop.co.uk/index.htm.

Frances_O

Sorry, not sure how to put two quotes in one reply  :-[

Anyway, Francesong, have you looked at Monsoon - they have wedding style dresses and outlet stores - Bridal Stores http://www2.monsoon.co.uk/findbridal.htm and find your nearest store http://www2.monsoon.co.uk/findastore.htm

Thanks for that Georgina
Yea, I had a little look... couldn't find much I really liked on there...! Guess I'm probably being a bit too fussy for the amount I'm willing to spend! :-/
Also, anyone got any suggestions for 'Favours'? I don't want to spend a lot, but want something a bit different...!
Fran (francesong)