Wedding Tips start here...

gembolina82

Hey Brides-to-be! Just one little tip re: venues - if you're looking to get a bargain then keep an eye out for new hotels/venues opening in your area. Many hotels on opening have very low venue hire as they have no idea what demand will be like, so they test the water for say the first 6 months of business. We booked the Hard Days Night hotel in Liverpool after visiting in its first month and got a hugely reduced price quoted in comparisson to other established city centre venues. As we booked it then for our wedding a year later the price was guaranteed. By the time we married the price to hold a reception there had TRIPLED! We were so lucky. Just worth keeping in mind & hope it helps!

fedupofcompanylies

limleg wrote: »

am only on page 72 off the thread:rotfl:, have been readin for well over 2 months lol, have set the date and am planning an afternoon service with 100 guests for the sit down meal and another 50 or so for the evening , so far my friends mum has offered to do the invites so just have to pay for the materials, her partner has offered to do the photos as he is currently doing an apprenticship with a national paper and will be fully qualified by the big day, tho he has 8 yrs of amature experince already, ging to do the cake myself as i done my brothers for his wedding, jus bought the ones from marks and spencers and decorated it, looked really mordern so cant wait to do my own lol. also my OHs cousin has offered to do our flowers so jus have to pay for the materials, have my dress and all which my mum bought, am going to do the table decor myself the night before and get my friends to set them up, we are using a local hotel which is literally across the road from the chapel and they have quoted £21 a head for a three course meal. think i have most things sorted in my head but have jus a few questions i was lookin sum help wit...
How much do you pay the priest, like whats the average?
Do you have to have an order of service?
(sumone told me it was required at the chapel)
Does anyone know the import tax from china into northern ireland?

have to say this thread has kept me grounded in my wedding plans and thank you so much for all the extremly
helpful tips....
lindsey :T

First of all Congratulations!

Priest/Chapel - only expect a donation. I will be getting married in Chapel on 11/11/11 and asked my priest on the outset when booking. His response was "If you have nothing, you pay nothing". The church only asks for a small donation, which I was glad to find out having looked at register offices first thinking they were cheaper. I'm so glad I'm going to have my wedding in the eyes of god so to speak (not really a religious person but OH family are Catholics and I have a superstition of nonreligious marriages being cursed - they have been on my side of the family!)

Order of service may be compulsory but I'm not sure yet having only booked my wedding three weeks ago and had not stepped foot in Chapel for at least 14 years before then. I think it is there to allow your guests to follow your ceremony without getting lost. Also to help them with the hymns if many of them like myself have not been to chapel/church in a long time or have never stepped foot in one.

Hope this helps.
Kaci x

Zoelikesjam

Hows everyones plans going?
Our are coming along a treat. We went to the NEC for the national wedding show, which if i am honest was a bit of a flop. However it was all made worthwhile at 4:50pm. With half an hour to go i tried on a few dresses, fell in love and was very chuffed when i found out they had reduced it from £1000 to £650 to £440 cus it was the last day and the last hour of the show! I was sooooooo pleased! They have fast tracked it being made, so it will be with me soon. Getting very excited now. Just need to get a move on and fnish and send out these blasted invites! xxx

sukigirl1

Hi everyone,

I've been looking through the thread (or trying to scan through as many as I can! Phew!) and apologise that this is my first thread and not sure if this has been dicsussed already.

I was wondering if anyone could give me any recommendations of cheap invitation sites to use. or reasonable wedding invite sites. I've been looking around and there is nothing really that I can find. Does anyone have any tips even of what to do to make your own?! I'm totally useless when it comes to all this kind of thing and not sure if I would do the invites any justice D.I.myself! lol

I'm getting Married abroad and wondered if anyone had any ideas of wee touches. I had been looking around for luggage tags to personalise but cannot see anything reasonable enough to spend money on as its one of those details that isn't actually required. I need helpe guys cause I'm getting nowhere fast and becoming a frustrated bridezilla and those too words should never go together or so my fiance thinks!

Thanks
J
xxx

JesaRose

My other half is really into his fashion and has seen some suits he loves at a shop in Essex (online) although thats quite a difficult place to get to from us (especially if he takes the best man and ushers) so I wondered if anyone knows of anything similar in the South. Easy access areas for us would be Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire or London. Or somewhere near a train station a bit further afield.

He just wants to hire dark suits - 3 piece max: jacket, trousers and plain waistcoat (to wear with a normal tie), no frock coats or top & tails.

This is the site - he really likes the Worcester
http://www.jackbunneys.co.uk/wedding_suit_hire.htm

Any recommendations welcome

Thanks in advance
Jesa

showtunesgirl

JesaRose wrote: »

My other half is really into his fashion and has seen some suits he loves at a shop in Essex (online) although thats quite a difficult place to get to from us (especially if he takes the best man and ushers) so I wondered if anyone knows of anything similar in the South. Easy access areas for us would be Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire or London. Or somewhere near a train station a bit further afield.

He just wants to hire dark suits - 3 piece max: jacket, trousers and plain waistcoat (to wear with a normal tie), no frock coats or top & tails.

This is the site - he really likes the Worcester
http://www.jackbunneys.co.uk/wedding_suit_hire.htm

Any recommendations welcome

Thanks in advance
Jesa

Hi, I would recommend Hugh Harris: www.hughharris.co.uk They have frequently won many awards and we hired my hubby's suit from there as they have a really nice cut to their suits.

It's only a couple of minutes stroll from Woking station so very easy to get to.

JesaRose

showtunesgirl wrote: »

Hi, I would recommend Hugh Harris: www.hughharris.co.uk They have frequently won many awards and we hired my hubby's suit from there as they have a really nice cut to their suits.

It's only a couple of minutes stroll from Woking station so very easy to get to.

Thank you so much for that - he really likes some of the suits on there so we are going to go over there asap.:T The William Hunt dark grey suit is gorgeous


Other suggestions still welcomed please everyone as he is fussy so its always good to have options

ArianeTrixi

Hi all, just a quick note to say how fabulous this form is, I am beside myself... only found it now and have been planning my wedding for the last 6 months...:)) I did not have a chance to read backwards through all the posts yet, after all this discussion has been going for years now! A couple of great websites I have come across which I would like to share with all of you. Under 'most influential' I would have to list 'Cheap Wedding Success' - run by a girl like you and me who just catalogued what she did to save money and it all became quite big by the looks of it. Most of you will have come across this website doing your research but some of you may never have heard of it so here you go. Definitely worth having a good look around for ideas on how to save money.
We are quite lucky with the venue as we will be able to use a family friends house with a huge garden which means saving a lot of money... it's my uncles mates house in North Devon which has the most beautiful gardens. We offered him and his wife a week's holiday in the Sun which only cost us a couple of hundred pounds per person full board in exchange for their house for our wedding.. I agree this was a bit of a lucky shot but if you know anyone with a suitable holiday home, why not give it a shot?!
The second website I have to recommend highly is 'wedding rings direct' Rings were one of the first things we got done because I stumbled across this website and saw the ring that I wanted. Because it did not fit my engagement ring, they had to make a few amendments to it so it would sit flush with my engagement ring. The girls have been so patient with me, I ended up with a unique and bespoke ring which cost me almost half as much as an 'off the shelf' solution from Ernest Jones or H. Samuel would have cost me.
So far so good, so I have the venue and rings under wraps, the guest list is ready and invitations are out. The most important things on my list are now to find a caterer, a marquise hire and a jazz band... any ideas anybody?
Love it, many thanks and I wish you all a great greatest day..! XX:T:T

calebdylan

as the wedding date approaches, less and less time will be available for wedding preparations. You want to be in a position to enjoy the days leading up to your wedding, as well as the wedding itself. This cannot happen unless you start your wedding planning early, the earlier the better. Most "brides to be" start planning at least 9 to 12 months in advance. You should first book your reception ceremony site and your photographer.....

LeaBee_3

calebdylan wrote: »

as the wedding date approaches, less and less time will be available for wedding preparations. You want to be in a position to enjoy the days leading up to your wedding, as well as the wedding itself. This cannot happen unless you start your wedding planning early, the earlier the better. Most "brides to be" start planning at least 9 to 12 months in advance. You should first book your reception ceremony site and your photographer.....

And try and book Registratar and Venue on the same day! that was most stressful thing for me!