Wedding Tips start here...

sally_pearson

Anyone found anything about the butterfly badges from the childrens hospice yet? I really want to know where to find them.

jockettuk

biggest tip i can give is DONT DO IT LOL In all seriousness my wedding day was the best day of my life and as i had 2 yrs to plan it had plenty time to shop around and get the best deals i could.. got my dress in pronuptia sales as they seem to have one abt every 3 months .. wedding was great divorce not so much fun so work at it and enjoy each other .. good luck to anyone getting married soon

Frances_O

Sally - I contacted the childrens hospice, via email, and they said they ask for a donation of £1 per pin, and if you contact them and let them know what you need, they'll help you out!
Just send an email to - info@childhospice.org.uk

sans_2

I got married last Summer and arranged everything over a 3 month period.

Making 100 wedding invitations cost me under £20, definately worth the time and the effort. I made matching order of service too cost me nothing as my sister had tons of card as she had just finished art college

Photographer - three lots of friends who got married paid about £400 for a photographer which must be about the standard price. I paid £190 as my sisters boyfriend a photographer had recommended a friend who was fairly new to the business so prices were cheaper than most. Originally £200, but as he gave us the final photos a bit later took another £10 off.

Hired 2 wedding cars around £200, shopped about a little but chose the cars we wanted.

Cake - didn't fancy the usual fruit cakes so was recommended a cake maker by my sisters boyfriends mother who knew someone. I got a two tiered handmade sponge cake with butter icing which I really love and wanted for £50. She was originally charging £80, but I told her I was thinking more in line with £50 as Marks and Spencers do cakes for a similar price. Pays to negotiate!

Hired a 2 tier floating cake stand for around £20-£25. I looked on Ebay for floating cake stands at the time but didn't find any.

Dress, a kind collegue from work gave me her daughters dress as she wasn't getting married until late in the future . Got my sister to alter it (she did art and design at university)

Evening dress/ bridesmade dresses, brought them from TK Maxx - they were £40 each from memory. Mum brought them. Loads of comments from everyone... really lovely dresses.

Shoes - I got mines from Barratts for £20-£25 from memory.

Tiara, got mines from BHS for around £10, veil was more expensive at £30. Bridesmades got their tiaras from Claires Accesories between £5-8. We all preferred these as designs were nice and simple.

DJ- Got a local one which I knew had did nightclubs, £150 I think.

Venue (university chape) didn't officially have a charge but a donation to the minister for his travel etc would be kindly accepted or something. We actually ended up paying twice as my husband was not listening when I said I would pay!

Pianist - again we paid twice (same reason as above!)

We spend £2000 on the wedding reception.

As for wedding lists we had two (1 for Argos and 1 for Marks and Spencers). We only gave them out to those that asked (didn't send them with wedding invites as it is a bit impolite). The good thing is you get a unique reference so people can obtain list from shop (Marks and Spencers list is viewable online - don't know about Argos one - never checked). Wouldn't worry about choosing low price items as groups of friends are more than happy to chip in together for the more expensive items.

Wouldn't really bother buying a wedding magazine unless there was something specific you wanted to read. They are 1 quite expensive (I just brought 1), and 2 you can read everything you want to know on the internet.

I think that more or less covers everything.

System

HI,
Just started planning our wedding whihc is going to be next year some time.
Am going to Manchester with my Mum wedding dress hunting on Saturdfay (ie 3 days time!) but I'm not so familiar with the city. Can anybody tell me about any shops I should go to. I've looked on the web and already located:
Monsoon, Bride be lovely, Berkertex, Brides International, Virgin Brides and Debenhams. Any more I should know about, or any comments about any of these ?
Cheers, Charlotte

Mrs_Thrift

Don't know about Manchester specifically, but in general I think it's best to use the big shops as a way of finding out what you do and don't like by trying on everything in sight, then you might be able to find something in a smaller (cheaper!) shop.

Make sure you've made appointments for the shops that require it - I think Berketex Bride does.

Good Luck!

Ms T

System

Good job you mentioned making an appointment - I'd never thought about that.

Regarding invites, I started pressing flowers this spring, and I'm going to stick those onto card for invites. I'm not artistic, but even one or two I think will look nice... Apparently, flowers should be pressed for 3 months before they're ready to use.
Charlotte

plumpmouse

As for wedding lists we had two (1 for Argos and 1 for Marks and Spencers). We only gave them out to those that asked (didn't send them with wedding invites as it is a bit impolite).

This was how I felt. However hubby and friends and family talked me round to putting them in with the invitation. We added a note saying something to the effect that it was more improtant that people were present for our special day and that we did not expect gifts. In hindsight I'm glad we did it like this

sammy30

tesco and asda also do ready iced wedding cakes.They start at £9 for the small up to around £15 for the biggest. They look good too!

System

In response to the Monsoon Factory Shop, I fell in love with the dress worn by Kate when she married Phil Mitchell in Eastenders and have spent a good deal of time looking for it. I'd budgeted £300-500 for the dress and assumed I'd probably have to get it made. But then checked out the Monsoon website...and there it was, for the bargain price of £180. Can't be bad!