Wedding Tips start here...

Linda12_2

My daughter went on an ebay shop site called bridal silk road. She had to send an email to the maker of all her measurements and a few months later her brand new hand stitched wedding dress arriveed. It is stunning and if you want to email me I will send you a picture of the dress. It would easilly cost over £1000 from a shop.

alison6692

Ideas for wedding favours!!

flower seeds in a little organza bag - we know somone that did this, then the guests could plant the flowers and had a lasting reminder of the day.

Mrs_Thrift

WARNING: The closer the wedding gets, the harder it is to focus on saving money!!  

It is now 6 weeks and 5 days to our wedding, and I have no idea where the time has gone, but most of the major things are sorted out now.  As I said, moneysaving is getting harder and harder to do, so this is purely a wedding update, rather than a specific moneysaving wedding update at the moment!   ::)  Oops!

Rings: (This one is moneysaving!)  We looked at rings in High Street jewellers then in loads of places in the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham but were finding them pretty expensive for what they are, especially as we really wanted very plain bands.  

But as we ventured further out of the main part of the Jewellery Quarter we found a little place on the edge of the area that made us exactly what we wanted….. for £100 the pair, including engraving!    And they were so friendly and didn’t make us feel like we should be ashamed of being “cheapskates” as some of the other places did.   >:(

My Dress:  Had my first fitting on Saturday and after a bit of trouble trying to get the women in the shop to understand how it needs to look (it needs taken in a lot and I’m having an extra “bit” added – top secret!) we got there in the end!  My final fitting is 21st August, so fingers crossed it’ll be OK….

DJ: After waiting ages for one to phone me back, I eventually asked a colleague for a recommendation and she put me onto the one she used.  The best thing about him is he asks you to specify exactly what type of music you want, which is great for me and Mr Nearly Thrift as we’re very picky about our music!   ::)  Also I think it’s a decent price - £130 for 8pm to midnight.

Invitations and Stationery: We printed everything off the PC, using paper and card we ordered through my office’s stationery account – we’re paying for it!  But it only cost about £20 altogether, plus the cost of my parents’ ink cartridge, so that was a bit of a bargain.  

The RSVPs are starting to come in now, which is so exciting, but we’ve also been surprised at how many people have said “Yes” so we might need to persuade the venue to let us have a few more people – NOT very moneysaving!

Kilts: Managed to get a free “try-on” from Moss Bros within a Beatties store, as all other places either wouldn’t / couldn’t get kilts in to try on or wanted to charge for the privilege.  Apart from the fact they got the wrong style of jacket in and they can’t get the specific tartan we need, it was very successful, as Mr NT looked fantastic in the kilt  ;D  and knows for sure now that he wants towear the kilt outfit and have all his guys in them too (3 groomsmen – not very moneysaving – his Dad and Nephew.)

Now starts loads of ringing round to find the best price for the kilts with the RIGHT jackets and the RIGHT tartan.  I’ve seen they are available around here (which isn’t bad as we’re in the West Midlands) but need to start comparing prices and trying to get a bargain.

I can’t think of anything else at the moment…. But I’m sure there’s still loads to do!

Hope everyone else’s plans are going well, too.  Let us ll know how you’re getting on.

Ms (almost Mrs!) Thrift  :)

Mrs_Thrift

Hi Sally,

Sorry to hear your wedding plans aren't working out how you'd like.  

Can you try to get your DF interested by asking his opinions on things for the wedding, and asking him what he would like / dislike for the day?

For relaxation, make sure you give yourself time to talk about and think about things apart from the wedding - that's my top relaxation tip, you need time off from it!  Even if it's just while you eat dinner with DF, make a conscious decision to make it a wedding-free dinner.

For preference, though, can you have a girlie night out with a friend and have a good old gossip that doesn't include the wedding?  Or even just a phone call?

Make sure you give yourself time to yourself for something like a facial or even just a long, hot bath and pamper yourself.

Good luck  :)

Ms T

MaryC

On the subject of rings, we had looked round jewellry shops and not seen anything we wanted as we had seen one we both liked in a magazine. Unfortunately they would have cost £700 each.

We found a company called Goldfinger at a wedding fair and the lady came round to our house and showed us loads. I chose one (totally different to the one I had seen) but hubby still wanted the other one so they made it for him.
Cost under £100 for his and £150 for mine (it had diamonds in it).

https://www.goldfinger-rings.com

As far as I remember they have representatives across the country and I would highly recommend them for their prices and fab services.

ocemeer

im getting married in a week and because both of us had been overseas with work have done 90% of the planning by the internet, including getting his kilt, my wedding dress and rings (all ebay).
1. We are holding the reception at home and doing the catering ourselves (though my mum has done the cake).
2. getting married midweek is definatley easier and cheaper.
3. Could have saved more money if we had got married in uniform (but my sword is bigger than his so he decided against it)
4. invite the people you want to be there, at the end of the day its for the two of you so enjoy it.
5. All wedding invite were arty postcards sent from new york, we were there with work, they make unusual and cheap invites that poeple do not forget.
6. the wedding is costing us about £400, and the kilt will get used again and again, and honeymoon well a few days off in new york was fun and romantic (though if you dont have much money a night or two in a good hotel makes a great short honeymoon, afterall all you need is a good bed )

Miss_Scrimp_n_Save

[glow=red,2,300][/glow]

Only 5 1/2 days 'til I get married, and as Ms_Thrift mentioned before, all thoughts of money saving have gone out the window as sheer panic sets in.

Everyone seems to want to see you in last 2 weeks before the wedding : caterers, florist, photographer etc as well as friends and family who think I am sitting around having my nails done and having facials in preparation for the big day and want to come for a chat!!

One thing which saved me money though was getting my shoes dyed to complement my dress. Lots of people were trying to convince me to buy expensive £70 shoes which would dye better than anything else, when in reality my £13 (in the sale) shoes from BHS dyed brilliantly.

Good luck to everyone getting married soon!

Mrs_Thrift

You must be so excited!! ;D ;D ;D

Best of luck with everything and have a fantastic day!

Ms T

mink35

Congratulations to all who are getting married.

A couple of tips I've come across (either myself or friends), which will be totally useless to Ms Thrift and Miss Scrimp n Save as it's too late...

Local colleges sometimes have trainee cooks so think about quotes from them for catering.

If you're doing-it-yourself but want to 'tart it up' a bit, by using waitresses and/or servers (drink on arrival type servers), again try the local college as they may do waitressing courses and real experience is always good, particularly if they can make a bit of money as well.

If you're doing a diy day and want to decorate say a village hall, consider balloon displays. You can get the gas canisters from several places nowadays and you only need a weight, a bit of ribbon and 3 balloons for a nice display which can colour-match your scheme. You can use sand wrapped in some nice paper for the weight. These would be a fraction of the cost of individual flower displays.

If you want a meal for family/close friends plus an evening do but are on a limited budget, consider 'afternoon tea'. A friend of mine got married at 4pm (deliberately) then after ceremony and photos etc, went back to the village hall for afternoon tea. She had a platter of sarnies and a tray of cakes on each table (seating six) and waitresses served tea and coffee. The guests thought this was great and it was so much cheaper than a sit-down meal. The cakes might sound expensive but there are ways!! Family/friends rallied round and in the morning we fetched fruit scones from the supermarket, split them, put jam and cream in, dusted with icing sugar and put in a cake case. Fairy cakes are so cheap and we decorated slightly 'posh' for adults and with sweeties for kids. A couple of big 'block' cakes were cut into squares (iced chocolate/madeira etc). We did others but you get the idea. By the time tea was finished and the waitresses had cleared away, the evening guests had started to arrive.

Favours - not all people want them but for those that do it is very easy to make your own. Buy some silky fabric that matches your colour scheme and some fine net. Cut out circles or squares (squares are easier!) for each, lay net piece down, put fabric piece on top, fill with whatever (usually five sugared almonds but love hearts that someone mentioned earlier sounds a fun alternative), pull sides in and tie with a piece of ribbon!

Hope these may help someone. Good luck

mink35

Oops - longer than I thought, sorry. :-[