Wedding Tips start here...

Chatterbox888

Hi MSE fans,

I'm very new to this and after trying to read all the threads (wow how many!?!) I'm also after a bit of advice if any of you out there could help? I'm looking to get married in October 2012 and although I'd love to plan my wedding locally, what with family, arrangements etc etc I'm toying with the idea of going abroad but have no idea where to start. A few friends of friends married in Italy and was wondering if any of you know of any reputable companies that tick all the boxes and most importantly companies that can keep the cost down and don't take advantage?

Good luck with all your weddings. You all sound very organised and in control. I hope I can eventually get there!?

cutiepieabf

Nic_Noc_Noo wrote: »

sounds good to me - i've looked at loads on internet to try and narrow it down a bit, bit too far to just nip in! lol
i need somewhere with rather a lot of bedrooms to accommodate the contingent from Yorkshire that would be coming over so that's a task and a half in itself....seen a couple of places though and have sent my parents round to them to scope them out
unfortunately I'm restricted to a Saturday BUT I'm going for October like you so hoping to get some savings if I can, like the idea of a BBQ, nice and informal (I'm not one for all this "which fork do we use now?" business lol)
x

Yes, likewise my family are from Worcestershire so i need to make sure there is plenty of accomodation available. Good thing about Llyndir is that down the road in Gresford there is the Beeches and Travel Inn. Much cheaper!! and lots of rooms!! let me know what you go with.

magicbunn2106

blondeprincess wrote: »

Hi, i know someone that has just got a dress off ebay from China. I think she paid about 140.00 all in for it. I & she was abit jubious of what it would be like when it came/if it came

It arrived though & it is stunning. You would never know she paid that it looks very expensive. She is thrilled with it & it is made brilliantly

I have ordered mine from china - ebay aswell I hope im as lucky as her!!!! Its exactly the same as a dress i tried on in a shop and that should of been £485, this one was only £98. bargain !!!

Tazzy25

Hi all,

Wow! What a great threat!! Thanks for all the advice ppl have posted. This is my 1st post, and hopefully I can put up some tips as the year progresses.

I got engaged last week, and so very excited to plan our wedding! My fianc! and I are both MSE, and are going to try our best to create a wonderful wedding on a tight budget. Some people may think it's cheap not to spend £12k, but we want to save for our new life together, and it seems houses aren't cheap these days :-)

We both have small families and a few close friends, so estimate guest list to be 60-70. Our idea is to have family and friends involved as much as possible, both so they feel part of the wedding rather than observers, and to keep costs down. So we have a photographer, DJ, entertainment, make up/hair, sorted so far....

We're aiming for a civil ceremony and reception (sit down or buffet not sure about) and dancing:-) Both of us like to get creative, so will make as much as possible (which I think will be fun) e.g. favours, invites, centre pieces.

A bit a research suggests that the venue can be the most expensive part of it all. We are not sure whether to get a 'package' so most things are included, or have somewhere like a hall/barn and do everything ourselves.

Not even sure on date yet other than summer to winter this year (!!) but does any one have any ideas of good venues, either package or venue only, in Hampshire or Devon?

Thanks for your help and advice :j

spoonymoose

Hi everyone!

I came across this site a couple of days after getting engaged (I'm too excited and want to start planning everything, tho have no idea what to do first, well apart from grabbing the H2B and making him set a date!)

Like most of you, I'm on a budget... I've only been working for a year and a half (after uni) and although I've saved some money I'm worried I won't be able to get married until 2016 (my sister is joking that that'll be the year!) as I don't think I'll have saved enough.

My wedding isn't going to be a huge event - only close friends and family for the actually wedding (probably around 25 guests I think) and then maybe a few other relatives/friends for the reception... I've seen wedding packages and I know they charge extra if you add more people, but does anyone know if they alter the price if you have fewer guests?

Oh and if anyone has any tips/suggestions or anything that could help me with where to start, that would be amazing!

Ta muchly and happy wedding planning everyone!

(Oh and if anyone knows of any places where I can buy THE dress from at a more reasonable price, please let me know - thanks in advance!)

White_Sapphire

Congratulations on your engagement spoonymoose!! :T
I would suggest working out how much you can save between now and your date. A lot of people on here are working to very small budgets, as in £2k for everything, so it can be done! The fact that you want a small wedding obviously helps, as it's often the food and drink that really up the budget!

You will also need to decide what sort of wedding you want - church, registry office, civil ceremony with reception in the same venue?

There are so many tips on this board, so work your way through some of them, particularly the 'stickies'!

If you have set your date see if there is a thread for your month yet (should be listed on the 2011/2012 links sticky), as they are very good little communities of people all getting married around the same time, and will be full of lovely people to support you and give advice.

Good luck!

x

EDIT: as for dresses, try ebay (but beware of Chinese sellers offering knock-off designer dresses for tiny prices - you can never be sure of what you will actually get), preloved, gumtree, etc. Also look into places like Monsoon who do gorgeous dresses for way less than bridal shop prices - mostly floaty empire-line styles, so if that's your thing, have a look! A local dressmaker may well be worth a look as well, depending on your budget - you'll get a unique made-to-measure dress, often for less than you would pay in a bridal shop.

spoonymoose

Hi White_Sapphire and thanks for the message!

Also thanks for the advice too... This evening myself and the H2B have sat down and discussed a few things and have tied down the date to two different weeks - the first week in June and the last week in October - we'd prefer June as my sister got married in October (and being a teacher I have to get married during a holiday.)

I'll have a look and post on the other forums as I've been having a little nosey and have picked up a few bits of good advice...

Good luck with your wedding too x

Hayhay_2

santashelper wrote: »

Hi I am looking to get married in a church in cornwall and wonder if anyone living in Truro or surrounding areas could suggest a small quaint romantic church that would suit what i am looking for.

Thanks

old mawnan church in mawnan smith is lovely or budock but maybe a bit far out?, although they are quite strict on you having connections to the parish so you may find choosing a church is the least of the worrys ...its the church choosing you lol, luckily we are in st pauls parish but our church is not running at the moment so we got to choose to get married in any church that touched the borders of our parish so....TRURO CATHEDRAL IT IS!!! :j im so excited and most of the cornish churches are lovely but they are the couple i no

hth
x

cherrylisa

I got engaged nearly 2 years ago now, and halfway through going trying on dresses and viewing venues i fell pregnant (thankfully before we had brought anything/made deposits),now my beautiful son is nearly one its back to the planning. i want to do it quite cheaply but, i don't want to compramise anything else in the wedding, as you can imagine a baby has made quite a drain on the wedding savings.

before he was here the budget for the wedding was around 15k, and now looking back that was way more then i should have been paying, my dress alone was going to cost £2000, it was crazy!

now after looking through everybodys tips i've narrowed my budget down to 8k, which is still pretty pricey compared to most on here, so i'm going to see if i can wittle away some more of the unnecessary items.

i cut my bridesmaids down by two, i cut my guestlist down from 154 to 70, and i think i can do better still, i'm getting my cake from M&S getting my dress offline, which is going to cost me around £150 and have come to realise that because i don't mind asking (quite cheekily) i saved an extra £400 on my venue, this is with the package incluyding ceramony, wedding breakfast, buffet, dj, honeymoon suit and lots of alcohol.

i found by rolling all the venues into one, i'm also saving £250 on transport, keep the wedding tips coming please,and if i find anymore cheaper shortcuts i'll be sure to post them.


lord knows that was alot of typing =/

hannahbanana1

Hello, Newbie here
Been reading these thread for a while, never posted before but been very mse past few days!
Went shopping for my dress, wanted a ivory strapless dress, not too poofy as I'm quite petite. Actually found my ideal dress in BHS for £120, went to buy and noticed it had a small tread on mark at the bottom of the dress, pointed this out to the assissant, and asked if would be dry cleanable and if would be able to get it discounted. She said yes it would dry clean and would discount it......to £10!!! Apparently most people would never buy a wedding dress that you would need to dry clean. So has now been dry cleaned for £25 and looks perfect
Also got bridesmaids dresses for £10 each, 3 tier veil and tiara for £7.50, and 100 x organza favour bags for £2 off ebay
Not sure what to do about center pieces though...any ideas?
xx