Wedding Tips start here...

Not-in-kansas-anymore

Ok Im pretty much sorted but having problems finding wedding rings, H2B paying but celtic bands seem to have gone out of favour and only the 2 coloured gold bands have taken their place any one know where I can look? no big rush as not getting married till next Aug

maccaandclaire

Not-in-kansas-anymore wrote: »

Ok Im pretty much sorted but having problems finding wedding rings, H2B paying but celtic bands seem to have gone out of favour and only the 2 coloured gold bands have taken their place any one know where I can look? no big rush as not getting married till next Aug

Have you tried H Samuel? Thats where I am getting mine, I get 10% off my rings cause I bought my engagement ring there and you can pay off a bit at a time as long as you put a 30% deposit down. No APR so no worries about going into debt!! Hope this helps!:beer:

MoneySaver82

Just thought I'd add to this thread as we've got our plans well underway so thought I'd stick in a few ideas we're doing:-

We're getting married in November and having our reception in a village hall in the village I grew up in. Hiring the hall for the evening before so we can set up and decorate our selves with a few 'willing' volunteers. Nothing too complicated, just lots of fairy lights and candles. I bought two bay trees in the local Wilkinsons for £8 each and going to have fairy lights in these at the entrance to the reception - just need to find some nice pots to put them in.

We're hiring round tables (bit of an expense rather than use the hall's own ones but it was the one thing that was important to me as I like them more) but rather than hire the tablecloths we bought fabric off eBay and my kind mum is cutting/hemming them for us so it works out just over £3 a tablecloth.

Using small silver buckets that were planters from Asda's gardening section - reduced from £2 to £1 but got them in the 25% sale days so 75p each :T - going to fill with pine cones sprayed silver (our colour theme is silver and really dark purple/plum) and place table names in sticks in them.

Making my own invitations with card (bought 'fill your own' boxes from the paper mill shop) and using the offcuts of card for my place names - saves on buying more card and saves time cutting extra! - placing a silver leaf on each place card. Got plain white envelopes cheap in a wholesale lot of Ebay.

For food a friend is cooking meat on a BBQ for us and we're having salads, rolls, sauces, etc on the tables to saving queuing up for food for ages. And most of the families coming are going to provide a pudding so we'll have a great mixture of different desserts.

Bought BM's dresses from a local 'prom dress' shop and one of the BM's mum's is doing the alterations for me.

Sister in law is making my cake for me - something we weren't going to bother with as neither of us were bothered about having one, but as she offered and is an amazing cake maker we were thrilled to have her do one so she can be involved.

Friend of a friend and his dad are doing the photos, they do more as a hobby but have done weddings before and shots are amazing and they're doing for a cheap fee and giving us the CD of all the shots.

As I couldn't afford all the BM's I'd like to have, I've asked other friends/relatives to do other jobs to be involved - eg. my little cousin is going to be in charge of the guest book and take it round to all the guests.

Bought my veil off the internet cheaply then bought some small swarovski crystals off eBay and glued these on myself to make it a bit more special - very fiddly be warned!!!:rotfl:


That's all I can think of at the moment - sorry for such a long post!! Can you tell I'm excited!! Only 72 days to go!!! :T

MrsWilson

sunshinejoclaire wrote: »

hmm i totally disagree withn the statement 'if your bridesmaids love you, they will buy thier own dresses'

money and love are two different things..

you're absolutely right, and I didn't mean it in a horrible way. My bridesmaids were 19 and their dresses cost no more than £75 each, and they were able to pick them themselves. I know that at least one got help funding the thing from her mum & dad, and they both knew that I couldn't afford them.

I tried to be as considerate as possible for them, and I don't think they have any regrets.

ellissa

I'd just like to make a point...

It's great everyone trying to save money on their weddings - and I certainly don't knock this. HOWEVER, how about the guests at your weddings? Does anyone think about how much they spend on coming to your wedding. For example... I went to a wedding last year at which I was a bridesmaid... the couple were on a 'budget' of £18000 so we were asked to pay for our dresses , shoes, accessories, hair, nails & make up.

The wedding was 2 hours from where we lived at the time so we had to find accommodation and petrol to get there. My other half's suit and shoes. Plus our dear friends had separate, 4 day long stag/hen do abroad which we both attended. Plus a wedding present. All adds up to an approximate total of the best part of £1500+ to go to someone else's wedding!

I know I sound tight, and I really am not. I love the people who got married very much but when we really are broke too, such an expense put a slightly sour taste in my mouth. It's easy to say we didnt 'have' to do any of it but when you love the people and don't want to let them down or spoil their day, how easy is it to say no or take short cuts?

Please spare a thought for your guests when choosing your location etc. Put yourself in their shoes. Yes it's your day but, I assume, your guests are a huge part of this happiness. Just a thought.

niaz4

hello

this is great tips.

when i get merry than i follow this tips.

thanks to your commend.

Katb_3

I agree with Elissa and I'm getting married next year. I will have been to 5 weddings this year and they cost a bomb.
Most of our friends are really outdoorsy so we're hiring a barn and have asked the farmer if we can use his field to camp in. The farmer is perferctly happy with that and we are hiring a portaloo for the field. Everyone loves the idea of a 'festival' style wedding AND it will keep the costs down for them. Obviously camping won't be suitable for all the guests and I will be providing a list of B&B's for people too but the option is there for them! Some people are even investing in luxery camping essentials as it's cheaper than a hotel!

*starla*

I agree too, it's crazy what guests can end up spending. I'm not a fan of the trend of going abroad for hen/stag do's, people feel like they have to go but most of our friends are saving up for houses etc and I'd feel terrible putting pressure on them.

When we looked at wedding venues we were lucky that the place we chose has lodges which are around £150 for a 4 bedroom one for the night, and it also has pretty cheap drink prices. Plus we won't have any type of dress code so no one has to buy/hire something if they don't want to.

Camping sounds like fun, I love that idea but it wouldn't work for our February wedding!

Mini-Me_4

Debenham's Wrapit offer, register your gift list (store or online) by 1 Nov 08 and you get £100 rather than the usual £50 as a thank you when your guests spend more than £500.

http://www.debenhams.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&userType=G&categoryId=71606

bigzippy

:T

I've finally reached the end of this post! It's taken me a few weeks but I got there in the end! Congratulations to all those who got married and thanks a lot for everyones tips!

I got engaged on our first anniversary in London mid August this year and got a (not very MSE) engagement ring from De Beers in Harrods that I just love!!

I've got loads of tips from this site and was feeling quite confident about planning our wedding until I made the mistake of buying a (cheaper) wedding magazine the other day!! I also sent off for some venue brochures and was HORRIFIED at both the prices, availability (or lack of!) and general lack of flexibility!

We're assuming that we're paying for the wedding ourselves (OH isn't in a position to and my parents haven't offered or will attach unwanted strings!). We're having some problems with churches and venue choices but so far this is what we're going for... on a budget of c.£5k

We want to get married in March/April 2010 as I want deep read and purple tulips and they're in season then (so should be cheaper/easily available). Want a non-catholic, non-anglican, church ceremony - preferably conducted by a friend of the family who is a minister (but finding a pretty church that will let us do that is tricky!!). We want to get married later in the afternoon so that a) we only have to pay to feed people once, and b) so the day isn't so long and tiring for all concerned (not least me because I have ME and fibromyalgia).

* I'm not bothered about flowers for the church or the venue because I'm hoping to display a couple of nice bouquets in the church from the local supermarket, and the venue will be decorated with helium balloons - decorated ourselves using supplies from Country Basket or somewhere equally cheap. The only flowers I plan on getting "done for me" will be the bouquet - which will be tulips (in season) and white roses.
* The bridesmaids will be my nieces and their parents will pay for their frocks.
* We will buy jewellry/make tiaras for them and these will double up as gifts.
* The groomsmen will pay for their own suits.
* I will make the invites - place cards, seating plan and menus are not necessary because there will be no sit down food.
* I'm hoping to get a dress in the sale/from a dressmaker/from ebay once I decide on the style.
* Cake will either be cupcakes on a stand or from M&S and decorated myself. The theme will be deep reds/cerise and purples and butterflies - I got some GORGEOUS nylon butterflies from ebay for next to nothing :j
* I think I will pay for a hairdresser for me - just to make sure the tiara stays put, but not bothered about special up do's for the BMs
* Photography will be taken care of by a couple we're friends with who do amatuer photography and both work for a design company. I don't want to be standing around for ages for posed shots anyway.
* Shoes may be a problem as I want approx 2" wedges cos I want them to be comfortable - not get stuck in any potentially soggy ground, or in the hemline of the dress! Any ideas?

What have I missed anything out?

Sorry this post was a bit longer than I was expecting!!