Wedding Tips start here...

Kumari1982

Hi everyone - I got engaged a fortnight ago on the beach near home, and we're looking to getting married in early September 2011. I'm new on here, but I've been watching this forum for ages, so thanks for all the tips so far!

Kumari1982

Aaargh. Sorry! I'm in Kent+we don't wanna spend squillions on our Big Day - maybe £3000-£4000 on the entire thing? But, I have just had a look at venues in Kent+most of them charge around £3500 just for venue hire!?! Aaargh!

Toothfairy4

Kumari, maybe try posting your own thread or doing a search i'm sure someone was asking for venues in kent a few weeks ago...

frannyann

Kumari1982 wrote: »

Aaargh. Sorry! I'm in Kent+we don't wanna spend squillions on our Big Day - maybe £3000-£4000 on the entire thing? But, I have just had a look at venues in Kent+most of them charge around £3500 just for venue hire!?! Aaargh!

Hi, start a new thread in the 'main' wedding board as lots of us are kent/sussex based and will be able to help. Will help if you tell us what area in kent you are looking!!

BFem

Kumari1982 wrote: »

Aaargh. Sorry! I'm in Kent+we don't wanna spend squillions on our Big Day - maybe £3000-£4000 on the entire thing? But, I have just had a look at venues in Kent+most of them charge around £3500 just for venue hire!?! Aaargh!

Theres a thread for wedding sunder £5,000 - its a bit slow at the moment though, so needs more people!

BFem

Rose1960 wrote: »

Hi all, been looking at ideas and countless wedding websites and have now got down to 3 wedding venue ideas:

1. Get married in a beautiful church in Bristol late afternoon, followed by a reception in my dads garden a 5 min drive away. His garden is a fair size and is quite pretty down a country lane. I would hire a marquee and cateres and have a garden party and late night disco. Pro's: no limit on music ending, fireworks, close for everyone to travel to, satisfaction for my dad being able to contribute, cheaper!
Cons: family are not very close, garden may look cheap and too small, will have to worry about catering and all the little details.

2. Somerset Mill - beautiful mill in somerset, gazebo, marquee and very pretty. No corkage and can organise all catering. Pros: very nice and different to usual venues. Cons: £4K just for venue, 1 hour drive for guests, music ends at 11:30pm.

3. Last minute wedding at manor house or castle for £3k. Pros: all organised under one roof and inclusive of catering. Very pretty and elegant. Cons: Distance, late notice, and inpersonal.

If im honest the garden wedding is my preference but is this a bad idea with UK weather. Has anyone else planned or done something similar?

Many thanks

Hi Rose.

If it was me - I would want to opt for the church wedding in Bristol and having the reception at your dads garden. Distance is a problem in all three - so whichever one you go for guests are going to have to drive. Is there a church closer to your dads that you can get married in to save on the driving afterwards?

I think that the fact you can make it personal seems quite important to you (you could do it all under one roof but on the day you might not feel happy - maybe you could visit the last minute places to see if you get a good feeling for them - if not, dont do it!).

If you go for your dads you'll be able to give people (and yourself!) plenty of notice - this will help in reducing stress and last minute decisions that you 'might' regret. (i'm personally extremely indecisive and would probably make silly decisions due to being under pressure!)

Also, don't worry about the catering and all the details - this is why it takes so long to plan a wedding - you dont have to do it all in one go, just take time to note down what it is you need to decide on - shop around for a caterer and before deciding on one, meet up with them to discuss your requirements - in most cases they'll be highly experienced and can help you with the majority of issues you might have (the finer details) and can advice you of what else you need to do. Just take your time.

Look into what sort of decorations you can have to decorate the garden and marquee and make the garden look 'non cheap'! Everything goes these days - i'm sure your guests will be more than happy with something that youve spent time and and money on - very personal and intimate!

Sometimes it's better to have to do a lot of work towards something if it means you get what you know you'll be happy with. It just seems daunting at first, but the more you research and plan, the more things will fall into place.

I could go on!! haha.

Good luck :beer:

Pimpslider

Make all your name plates, tables names, invites etc yourself. Just use Powerpoint or summit similar. I got all mine printed at work, but it's faily cheap to go into a printers to get them done on some glossy paper. Helps to be a little arty, and ensure text is central.

Get married on a Friday. Simple! It's cheaper than a Saturday.

Are super posh matching suits really needed? We didn't think so and it makes it all more relaxed.

Go to local Wedding Fairs/Conventions. My missus got her dress for £300. It was a £1200 dress but was brand new ex-stock and included alterations. Another hint...sell it afterwards as you will never wear it again!

Get your photos done on CD only, rather then getting loads of prints. Photographers charge loads, mainly for doing the prints. Get them to just dump them all on a CD and you can pick off the ones 'you' want.

All in all we managed it for around £9000 max. That included: the Reg Office; rings; dress; photographer; reception venue with disco and evening photographer; sit down 3 course meal for 60 people; evening buffet for 100 people; cake; gifts (about 10); all inc honeymoon for a week; all inc holiday for a week with two kids. Oh, and we got over £1400 in vouchers! HAPPY DAYS!!!

Kumari1982

Hi there - I've heard that you can buy flowers relatively cheaply at Covent Garden. Has anyone done this? I've looked at their website+it seems that you have to be a florist to buy there. Any tips?

Zoelikesjam

PJ1 wrote: »

after researching some venues found that the Holiday Inn is offering a wedding package for £999
Havent yet decided on decoration of room, but their will be an open bar, informal host, afternoon sandwich buffet, evening hot-pot buffet, red carpet, disco, cava for toast, accommodation for us, and obviously all room hire included. Its good too as both families are flung far & wide so they can all stay there and they have good spa facilities too!

Hey hun, hope you get the divorce finalised in time! Just a wuicky, all that you've stated above, is that included in the £999 deal? Because if it is I think i need to do some haggling with my wedding co-ordinator! Included in our £999 package we got hire of three rooms, ceremony, wedding breakfast and reception room. Overnight stay in their bridal suite, red carpet, disco/DJ, toastmaster, services of a wedding co-ordinator, white table linen etc and a buffet for 100 in the evening.
We've added a wedding breakfast, bucks fizz reception, champers for the toast for 70, and an extra 50people to the evening buffet which has added on another £900.

Big tip for everyone, we wanted a sit down meal, but the prices they were quoting us were astronomical! Say £30 a head:eek: However we've asked for chips, bacon, sausages, buttered rolls and salads. This matches our informal nature(we dont normally do flouncy!) and has come in at the costly £5.95 a head.....cheaper than the evening buffet which is £9quid a head for extras over the included 100. A good website(i know i know, ive mentioned it before lol) is https://www.mywedding.com yes its american, and uses US vendors, however you can access it and make your own website, which mywedding.com will host and you can include the website on your invitations and people can read stories about how you met, funny anecdotes, see photos and view your guest list. Our wedding plans are going great, I've already made all my save the date cards, and am halfway through doing my actual invites which has cost me a total of about £60, for 50STD cards, 50 wed invites, 70evening, 130 rsvp cards. I used a program called scrapbook flair to print out the wording and add borders, decorative strips etc for the inserts. These will be matted onto black card and have a ribbon tied round them. For the graphics i've used on mine, and for some AMAZING ideas i used a web site called
https://www.wedding-invitation-ideas.com They have some fantastic ideas and sugestions, wording and anything else you would need for the stationary. I am still scouring ebay for my bridesmaid dresses, and i've unfortunatly fallen in love with a dress:owhen i went to try on some styles.....the unfortunate part is, it is waaaaaaaaaaaaay over my budget. My original budget was between £200-£500 and i wanted to stick as close to the lower end of it as possible, however 'the one' is nearly £800:eek: Ive got the money for it but begrudge spending it on a dress for one day. I've got no idea how on earth i could get it cheaper as, unfortunatly, its the designers new dress and was only relesed two weeks ago so the likelyhood of me finding one on ebay is about zilch. However, we are off to the NEC for the national wedding show next weekend on the 7th march so i am holding out until then, see if i can find something there! If not i order my dream dress from the shop!!!:T
Hows is everyones planning going?
Love Zoe xxxxxx
https://www.mywedding.com/jaseandzoeparkes

Zoelikesjam

This is the poem i've decorated with a border and few pretty graphics. Ive printed them off onto cream card and popped them in with the invites instead of a wedding gift list

Ode To Gift List's

In a wedding invitation,
You usually find some lists,
For venues, menus and hotels,
And also for the gifts
But this one is unusual,
It comes in a different way,
As we're not asking for presents,
But for something else today
Now please don't think we're selfish,
Or that this comes from greed,
But we've lived together for a while,
So there's not that much we need
We would appreciate help though,
To send us on our way,
And allow us to have our honeymoon,
In a land quite far away
So now the point of all this rhyme,
The thing that we would like,
Isn't towels, toasters or microwaves,
But pounds and pence alike
And now you know the reason,
Behind this cheeky accord,
Please help to give us memories,
Of a dream honeymoon abroad!
If your intention, We shall mention
A gift is what you wish to give
Please suprise us with something
(of your own choice)
for which we need to live!