Wedding Tips start here...

srlgh

cherrylips87 wrote: »

hiya ladies,

I found planning my wedding really stressy (didnt help that i was pregnant either lol) however i wanted to find something unique for decorating the tables and the top table i came across Sam`s Crafts on Facebook (cant post link as i am newbie )

She made me freestanding Number fully gemmed and a Mr & Mrs Taylor freestanding for the toptable.
Sam is now my number 1 contact if i want something pretty she also just made me some Initials which are stunning.
I got so much from Sam and it really did make my wedding unique and i still have people ask me where i got them from.
Defently worth having a look at.

Anyway hope you all have a great day and wish you the best in-laws

I just checked out that facebook page. LOVE IT SOOOO MUCH!

My mum wanted to get some wooden letters for their kitchen and paint them but these look fantastic, fancy getting the 'MR & MRS' for our wedding to put on the top table and then after put them above our bed.

ruby_eskimo

Hi everyone! I got engaged in December and have yet to set a date, but thought I better show my face over here. We're thinking of getting married in Prague (it's where we got engaged after all!) and have found a few reasonable packages online. One was £4,000 including 2 nights accommodation for your guests, so they would only have to pay for flights (which aren't that expensive).

I'm rather excited to start planning but know that I have to wait a little while!

cherrylips87

srlgh wrote: »

I just checked out that facebook page. LOVE IT SOOOO MUCH!

My mum wanted to get some wooden letters for their kitchen and paint them but these look fantastic, fancy getting the 'MR & MRS' for our wedding to put on the top table and then after put them above our bed.

she is great isnt she i love my wedding stuff and have them in my house everywhere (except the gemmed numbers )

sure sam will be more then happy to help you out there.
have a great wedding hun

Anny11

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]I am impressed by the quality of information on this forum. There are a lot of good resources here. I am sure I will visit this place again soon.[/FONT]

angelcakes_smw

Just wanted to let everyone know about m&s cakes, they come highly recommended by practically everyone I speak to and they are 3 for 2 at the moment. my 3 tier is going to cost just £63!

Amybelle

We saved a fortune by organising our wedding at quite short notice (about 4 months max). Obviously this is not ideal if a) you have a very specific wish list of things that you want and b) you are of a nervous disposition!

The venues with availability on our date were falling over themselves to sign us up and we ended up with the venue that we probably would have chosen anyway at half price. We also paid only Friday prices for food for a Saturday wedding (Bank Holiday Weekend) and the chair decorations were thrown in for free.

Booking late also saved us money on the car (£100) and I saved over £300 on my dress by buying it off the peg in a bridal shop and having it altered by a local seamstress.

Like I say, planning at short notice can be a big gamble if you have a very specific wish list, but we were quite easy going about the actual day; the important thing for us was getting married, spending time with our families and friends and not entering marriage in debt! We had a fabulous day, really chilled out and a lot of fun!

Other money saving tips regardless of planning time!
· Reception - We had our wedding at 2.30 in the afternoon and provided coffee and cakes in the church hall afterwards for everyone who came (about 200 people). We then only provided one meal as people had had their lunch before the service and by this point it was quite late so people didn't need feeding again later in the evening. Tea/coffee and a slice of wedding cake sufficed and saved us the money it would have cost for an evening buffet!
· Table decorations -tall vases of flowers for the tables would have set us back up to £100 each, so we went for cascades of three balloons, which cost £7 each, looked beautiful and kept the children entertained afterwards!
· Children -talking of children, it is definitely a good idea to provide something entertaining for them to do, but the packs you can buy are very expensive. We bought big paper bags that matched our colour scheme and filled them with coloured pencils, bubble mixture, colouring sheets (printed for free from the internet), a little magnetic game (bought in the sales for £1 each) and a windmill. Most of these were bought in mulitple sets from pound shops and so the whole bag cost about £1.50. We put a large tag on with the child's name and this also became their place card on the table.
· Place settings/Favours -Rather than make place settings and favours, I combined the two. We had a budget candy buffet (think variety of different glass vases and bowls containing colourful childhood favourite sweets) so the guests needed something to fill. I bought a job lot of little spice jars from a well know swedish home furnishings company and used ribbon from the colour scheme to tie on a label with the person's name on it. This then acted as that person's place setting until they were seated and they could then fill it with sweets to their heart's content! Hmm, wish I could add a photo of these: they were so cute!
· Friends -We were fortunate enough to have relatives and friends who are professional musicians and photographers so we used them (always offer to pay them though - it is their career after all!). However we also have a number of friends who are very talented amatuers who helped us with the cakes, flowers in the church, invitations, favours etc and for whom we shall be eternally grateful. These people assure me that they loved being involved in our day and helped to make everything more personal.
· Accessories -Hair accessories such as tiaras, combs etc can be extortionate from wedding stockists, especially considering that they are worn for one day and try as I might I have not yet found another use for them! The cheapest elbow length veil I was shown in the bridal shop was £120, whereas I found a very similar one on the BHS webside for £30. Similarly I was overwhelmed by the price of hair accessories at about £50 a piece but found a beautiful comb for my bridesmaid at BHS for £15 and a really unusual, but gorgeous, hairband for me for £7 in Claires Accessories! (Shh, don't tell anyone: my clever hairdresser used it in such a way that it looked far more impressive than that!). Hair pins (the type with pearls on) I ordered on ebay, from Japan and must admit I was concerned as they were VERY cheap, but they were absolutely gorgeous when they arrived and I was glad I hadn't spent £15 per set! Finally, Next do a great range of wedding shoes starting at £30.
My advice would be to decide what your priorities are and spend money on those, whilst saving on the things that you are not so worried about. My husband and I are musicians and having a ropey band would have ruined the day for us, so we spent more on that whereas I'm not that into flowers, so was more than happy with balloons on the tables...you get the idea!

Gosh, this was a bit of an epic! If you've made it this far, then well done, but shouldn't you be getting on with planning your wedding? hehe! :rotfl:

mayforher_2

Amybelle you sound just like me! Do you mind me asking how much your wedding came to in total?

Amybelle

Hi Mayforher! It wasn't a mega cheepy, but considerably below average and defininitely my favourite day so far! It came to about £6500 in the end (not including honeymoon, which I won in a competition!)

July2012

Amybelle wrote: »

Hi Mayforher! It wasn't a mega cheepy, but considerably below average and defininitely my favourite day so far! It came to about £6500 in the end (not including honeymoon, which I won in a competition!)

Ooh - what competition was it and did you have a good time?

LouiseMarie_2

Hello There! Great thread and Tips. Thought I would add some ideas. Hope they are helpful!

I am planning my wedding for August 2012 and to save money I have booked the wedding for a friday. The venue cost and registrar was alot cheaper than the Saturday price. Also as my partner is quite shy I have avoided having a big 'reception' by having a late ceremony (4pm) for 27 guests. By the time we have had ceremony/ photos/ finished the meal it will be quite late so not such a need for a evening reception. Which means less cost but I have still spent the day with the people that matter!

For the save the dates I found some postcards in paperchase which were for the 'royal wedding' but in the sale they were 20p each. The cards just had 'wedding' on but were really pretty. As many as I could I hand delivered which then saved on postage.

I have also made a FREE wedding website which people can see all the details of the ceremony, venue, food menu, schedule of the day, important info, transport details, etc people can rsvp online (saving them the cost of postage and a fancy card) and contact you online and upload their photos of the day onto the website which you can then download for FREE ! You can also have a 'guest book' page where people can leave messages saving the need for a guest book you can print these out and use them in a normal album. The site I used was getting married dot com You can set the privacy so guests enter it only by password (the info of the site I have included on the save the date).

I plan on using silk flowers which work out very economically. You can buy them in advance tailored made to your colours - see bridal bouquets dot com (they are also on facebook) this means beautiful flowers you and your party can keep as a memory of the day (saving money on party favours) and no hassle on the day for anyone needing to collect flowers. Because of the other savings I can afford to buy corsages for all the guests and they are really beautiful and bespoke which they can keep!

For tailor made wedding dresses/ flower girls dresses/ bridesmaid dresses there are many UK sites offering dresses at amazing value. You send them the exact measurements you require and make them to fit AND allow extra fabric in case you need to increase any of the measurements. Because they are tailor made there are no refunds though.

For the cake I am buying plain fruit cake and icing it myself using shop bought rolled icing.

If i find anymore tips I will post them on here! Half the fun is finding a bargain!