Wedding Tips start here...

lcparkinson

sine wrote: »

I have seen the wedding rings we want and they cost £1100 for both in Beaverbrooks although I don't want to pay so much.

So does anyone have any ideas about what to say to get a discount. Should I say I can only afford a certain amount and if so what would be a reasonable amount.

Definately go to an independent. More haggle-ability, better after care. We got both our platinum engagement rings with not insignificant v good quality diamonds in each (and mine has a couple of sapphires in too), hand made to our own designs in the Jewellery Quarter in Brum. We have life long free aftercare (in fact OH had hers resized last week and mine was polished at same time too). Cost us less than £2k, and given that a fair bit of that was diamond, if your rings are not full of stones I reckon it will still be cheaper. We're going back to get our wedding rings there in a couple of months.

lcparkinson

ellissa wrote: »

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!

quote]


This is a concern for us, as we are going to get married in a Scottish Castle and our relatives and friends are spread out all over the UK. We're on a budget of about £10k (unfortunately our parents are not in a position to contribute a lot financially so we're using all our own savings), but are going to hire a castle and all it's rooms to accomodate the 20 people invited to the ceremony so they won't have accom costs. We're asking the rest of our friends to find their own accom, and everyone will pay their own travel costs. We'll have the place for the whole weekend so the hen events will be the night before in traditional style, the reception also at the castle and everyone can come and go as they please for any part of it except the ceremony itself. We've just accepted that some people will not be able to come as they can't afford it, but whichever part of the UK we chose, the people at the other end would be disadvantaged. In the end we're (perhaps selfishly) doing what we want to do, but it is our day after all. The friends that matter will come irrespective of cost - they'll find a way.

bigzippy

lcparkinson wrote: »

ellissa wrote: »

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!

quote]


This is a concern for us, as we are going to get married in a Scottish Castle and our relatives and friends are spread out all over the UK. We're on a budget of about £10k (unfortunately our parents are not in a position to contribute a lot financially so we're using all our own savings), but are going to hire a castle and all it's rooms to accomodate the 20 people invited to the ceremony so they won't have accom costs. We're asking the rest of our friends to find their own accom, and everyone will pay their own travel costs. We'll have the place for the whole weekend so the hen events will be the night before in traditional style, the reception also at the castle and everyone can come and go as they please for any part of it except the ceremony itself. We've just accepted that some people will not be able to come as they can't afford it, but whichever part of the UK we chose, the people at the other end would be disadvantaged. In the end we're (perhaps selfishly) doing what we want to do, but it is our day after all. The friends that matter will come irrespective of cost - they'll find a way.

lcparkinson: I sympathise, but I wouldn't worry about it too much. You're not being at all unreasonable and people travel much further for much less. I think they'll just be pleased to be included in your day and if they really can't make it then perhaps you could set something up like on weddingpath.co.uk (like we have - PM if you wanna see) so that people can see what the venue etc will be like and you have have all your photos from stag/hen do as well as the wedding itself, and even the honeymoon. There's also a page you can add so that your guests can all upload their photos. That way all your relatives/friends who can't come can see as much as possible of what they missed.

My sister is planning to get married in Israel at the same time as my own wedding(!) :eek: I'm really not looking forward to finding an extra grand (at least!) to go over there at the same time as our wedding and moving in together (doing it traditionally), but I don't think I could miss it for anything... so we'll just have to get on with it! :rolleyes: The people who really want to be there, and therefore you'll want there most, will be there - come hell or high water.

chrisjbc

My daughter got married in July this year and we reckon that the total expenditure, whever it came from was about £2200.00 - Everything !!
We had a reception for around 100, and a full church service
How did we do it, well the list of things we did is pretty long but the bones are

1. Daughters mother catered for everything including making the cake
2. She made/altered dresses, church flowers, posies, bouquets boutonniers etc
3. Wedding reception in our country garden
4. Car to Church driven by me there and back ( a large imperious old Volvo estate
No photographer, but woirking through over 400 pix from guests digital cameras on cd

Was it a great day? it really was, although my dear wife worked her socks off in the last 3 days, everything else was a steady planned campaign

VictoriaElaura

Hello All,

I have finally finished reading the thread. You have all been so so helpful to me so far i thought i would post.

I am getting married on the 11th of July 2009 at Porters in Southend and hiring Northey Island Maldon for the reception. (Yes i'm hiring an island!!!)
We are having a very unique wedding and i'm on a tight buget. So i'm looking for tips and help where ever i can get it.
:A

liza83_2

Hi, Ive only read the first and last page of this thread and already had some fab tips i intend to use for my wedding in march, After ive finished the housework i intend to read the rest.
Ive been planning a cheap wedding since may but only came across this site and thread today so wished id seen this months ago lol.
So far this is what i have done for my wedding

• Im getting Married at the same venue as My reception so saving on transport, My wedding is at 4pm so just having an evenin g reception and no wedding breakfast so saved there.

• Its on Thursday so I struck a deal withj the venues manager and got it for free for the reception usually £250 but i have to have minimum numbers for the buffet so probably been jibbed there lol. as i needed more than 120 people to get the venue fir free.

• The venue can supply a Dj for £250 but i work in a Jumpin jaks so the dj there is doing it for free but i need to pay for the rental of the decks and stuff which is about £70 still a good saving though

• My original plan was not to have bridesmaids and just have my 2yr old daughter as a flower girl but my sisters where having none of that and are Happy to buy their own outfits for the day. I am letting them choose their own dresses as long as they match my colour scheme which is pink and white.

• I am Making my own invitations Bought enough stuff for 100 invites and that came to under £20.

• I am not having a photographer or videographer and am asking guests to send me their pics via email and have found a great site called photobox that you upload them to and arange them onto pages and they send you them in an album the more you buy the cheaper they are which is great for my large family. Fil to be and my uncle both have video cameras so im sure i will have a video of the day too.

thats as far as ive got at the moment still looking for a cheap dress for my 2yr old and a suit for my 5 yr old(seen some on ebay for £20 but not sure what they will be like??)
Not sure what to do about flowers, looking for a second hand tiara (pink stoned), oh adnd favours still trying to find something for them too so hopefuly ill find these tips inbetween the 1st and last page lol.
Liza x

liza83_2

oops forgot to add, My mum is making my cake so also saving there

VictoriaElaura

Hi Liza83,
Just read your post and I have a tip for you regards your dress. Please dont buy one from ebay!!!! I must have gone to 10-15 shops, tried on so so so many dresses and you really don’t know if a dress will suit you till you have it on.
Plus I have found a much cheaper way.
I brought mine from Barnardos wedding shop in London. The manager woman was absolutely wonderful she couldn’t do enough for me. I ended up with this stunning designer dress and coat for 600ish. My mum then went home spoke to the designer’s team regarding cleaning ect and ended up speaking to the actual designer directly!!!!!! It turns out the dress is worth nearly 8000.
They have all the really famous designer dresses.
The one in London sells all wedding outfits. I would look for a similar shop near you PM if you need the London contact details.

Good luck! and thank you for your tips!!!!

paddingtondoo

VictoriaElaura wrote: »

Hi Liza83,
Just read your post and I have a tip for you regards your dress. Please dont buy one from ebay!!!! I must have gone to 10-15 shops, tried on so so so many dresses and you really don’t know if a dress will suit you till you have it on.
Plus I have found a much cheaper way.
I brought mine from Barnardos wedding shop in London. The manager woman was absolutely wonderful she couldn’t do enough for me. I ended up with this stunning designer dress and coat for 600ish. My mum then went home spoke to the designer’s team regarding cleaning ect and ended up speaking to the actual designer directly!!!!!! It turns out the dress is worth nearly 8000.
They have all the really famous designer dresses.
The one in London sells all wedding outfits. I would look for a similar shop near you PM if you need the London contact details.

Good luck! and thank you for your tips!!!!

A lot of brides and bridesmaids have got fabulous dresses from eBay which have been fantastic.

Personally £600 was far more than I wanted to spend even though we could have stretched to it and then I would have had to pay for it to be altered as I'm only 5'2" tall. It really depends on your budget as to how much you are able to spend.

VictoriaElaura

paddingtondoo wrote: »

A lot of brides and bridesmaids have got fabulous dresses from eBay which have been fantastic.

Personally £600 was far more than I wanted to spend even though we could have stretched to it and then I would have had to pay for it to be altered as I'm only 5'2" tall. It really depends on your budget as to how much you are able to spend.

Just to clarify.
My advice is from my own experiance with wedding dresses I am not saying other have not had sucsess story as i'm sure they have.

600 was what I spent not the price of all dresses there are many that are cheaper.